It is a known fact that listening is pivotal in sales. In other words, the better you can listen, the better you will sell. If you can learn to become a great listener, you will develop and build more effective relationships. Building and maintaining strong relationships is a key component when it comes to selling. So if being a better listener can help you develop and maintain effective relationships and building and maintaining relationships helps you to be more successful in sales, then by the transitive property of equality, (a=b, b=c; so a=c) the person that is a better listener will be the one more successful in sales.
So now that I’ve shown you the importance of listening, I want to help you become a better listener. Taking your time while speaking is a good start to become better at listening. It is important to slow down the conversation. Don’t rush when speaking, and make some pauses to allow clarification or time for them to speak. If they do speak during a pause, DO NOT interrupt them. First and foremost, it is rude. Then there is the fact that if you interrupt you miss out what they were going to say. What if they were about to tell you something that will help you understand exactly how to create a need for them? Then you just missed out.
When you are listening it is important to pick up on non verbals. You can learn about attitudes and interests from their tone of voice, speed in which they talk, hand gestures, and other non verbal signals. You should also let the person speaking that you are interested and engaged by giving him non verbals and even repeating things they said by paraphrasing. The person talking will appreciate it and share more if they know you are truly listening. One thing that impresses people is when you remember small hints that you can refer back to later in the conversation. This will work with anything from a small story from something that happened at work one day to remembering their son’s name and the sport he plays.
If you can pick up on some of these skills, you can become a more effective listener. I hope you practice these tricks and become a successful listener. Remember that sales isn’t just selling products or services, it could be winning the guy/girl of your dreams.
BoweryJE22
I agree that listening is an extremely important trait that all salespeople should posses. Listening can help a seller figure out exactly what the prospect wants and can help them decide if they will be a good fit for each other or not.
I totally agree that listening is a key trait to a good sales person. By listening you will pick up on little things that will help you close a sale.
Yes! Listening is absolutely essential not only in sales but with any kind of relationship. Being a good listener myself, I can tell you from experience that there is another thing to be concerned about in that you may not know when to speak up. Achieving that balance is crucial and listening is the most important part.
“The better you can listen, the better you will tell”—love that! This post is super helpful, because not only do you talk through great tips about listening better, but you give multiple reasons why those tips matter (i.e. not interrupting, because it’s rude, and because you’ll miss things). Awesome post and post structure.