Active listening develops ‘sales ears’

People buy from people, so a sales relationship becomes difficult if the two people can’t communicate successfully. The greater the rapport you can build and confidence you can instil in your customer, the easier it is to get on their wave length, see their perspective, understand their motivations, and to therefore listen for the key points where your products can create real value for them.

But active listening is a difficult skill to practice. We are often more comfortable talking and tend to believe that the best way to sell is to make a perfect pitch or presentation. Even when we aren’t talking, we are thinking about what we’re going to say next. Every moment spent thinking is one spent not listening. We run the risk of not engaging our ‘sales ears’ and missing buying clues or critical information. We are in danger of missing opportunities.
Two questions which we encourage all sales professionals to ask themselves throughout a call or meeting:

• Did I hear what they said? – If not, ask the person speaking to repeat the information. – This shows you are listening and care about what is being discussed.
• Do I understand what they said? – If not, ask the person to recover that point. If there is a common area of sales conversation you regularly are unsure of – Do some homework on it as the more knowledgeable you are in your field, the more people will want to buy from you.

 
Here are durhamlane’s 3 tips for improving your active listening skills today:

• Give your full and undivided attention to the person who is speaking and, whenever possible, make eye contact. If you are speaking with someone on the phone avoid common office distractions such as emails or looking on social media. The person on the phone will know you are not paying attention.
• Don’t interrupt - No one appreciates being interrupted; when you interrupt someone, you are effectively saying “What I have to say is more important.”  Pause to gather your thoughts and respond thoughtfully.
• Clarify and confirm - Use breaks in a conversation to confirm what you’ve heard and understood.  Asking follow-up questions and clarifying your understanding is a powerful yet simple way to prove you are focused and interested.

 
At durhamlane our methodology of “selling at a higher level” is all built around a simple set of principles – It’s about the quality of the conversations you have not the quantity. The more inquisitive and considered the questions you ask, the fuller and better the answers. The more you listen to the answers, the better the conversation. The better the sales conversation the more successful you’ll become as a sales professional.

If you would like to find out more about how durhamlane can improve your sales skills please get in touch by calling us on 0191 481 3800 or visit our website.