Recently in class we have been learning more about leading questions and not making assumptions. Well, I think back to when I was working at a pool store in high school where these skills would have been pretty useful. At this pool store I worked mainly in the pool chemical section. My job was to help people get the chemicals they needed to get their pool or hot tub clear again. As you can imagine most of these customers weren’t happy because they were paying for a pool, they currently couldn’t swim in. Now looking back, I can tell you I made a lot of assumptions. On many occasions, I made mistakes because I jumped to a conclusion quickly instead of digging for more information. These customers would come back a few weeks later with these ongoing problems looking for a new fix. Often, I would then get more information about their issue, but I should have just been better at asking questions the first time. I should have continued these conversations with leading questions such as meaning… or like… that would have really helped me gather more information. Allowing me to be much more accurate in the exact chemicals that could solve these customers’ problems. It was so much simpler than I realized. It’s just a matter of being curious and asking more questions. I also often found myself talking about the chemicals vs what was actually wrong with the customers’ water. One of my biggest takeaways from this experience is the importance of active listening. Learn more about the issue and the customer. All this information would have helped me execute on much higher level in this job, but I’m glad that I’m now able to learn from my mistakes. Looking forward, I know these skills will come in useful in whatever roles my future is filled with.
taylorjt23 
Bondre24 
wheelerne24 3 thoughts on “Learning New Sales Skills”
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Listening can definitely go a long way when it comes to sales! I’ve had many bad sales experiences where the salesperson just didn’t listen to the issues I was having with a product and it’s just led to me being aggravated and upset. Gaining as much information as possible can certainly help diagnose the majority of issues customers face and can greatly help them out. It also can help them to feel better about the company and will keep them coming back to do business.
I agree a lot with what you discussed about active listening and not being too quick to assume. Its very cool that you were able to figure out what you did wrong and try to correct it with future customers even if it wasn’t perfect every time you improved and were able to adapt to different customers. I think that by doing that you prove that you understand the basis of sales because you were able to adjust and figure out that you needed to start being an active listener.
Being able to actively listen is a really crucial skill, and I agree with you. Listening is so important when it comes to the early stages in the sales process, we must be able to do that. When you look back to making assumptions, I agree, I know I have too, and it is good that you got them out of the way now rather than later down the road. It is so interesting to see you look back and fix those assumptions from previous times. I am finally realizing just how important listening really is now, because it is essentially what makes a sales relationship grow and be so much stronger. Nice job on this post.