Better Listening Skills = More Sales

Today's business environment is intrinsically tied together by ongoing information exchanges between two people. This personal communication is most often facilitated by the spoken word. Understanding this information, as it flows within a dialogue between two people is fundamental to improving one's selling effectiveness.

One of the most significant business information exchanges is between a company's front line sales representatives and either it's existing or potential customers. Information processed between these parties will have a significant affect on many other employees within both party's respective companies as purchase commitments are made.

Maximizing the effectiveness of aural business communication between sales personnel and customers hinges on two fundamental communication process components, talking and listening. It makes sense that no matter how well you articulate a message to a customer, if it is not effectively absorbed by your target audience the probability of sales success is greatly reduced.

Why Do Salespeople Tend to NOT Listen Well?

It is known that humans think faster than they listen. While a sales prospect is talking at an average rate of 125 words a minute, the average salesperson is thinking at a much more rapid rate. The act of listening, the differential between the salesperson's thinking rate and the prospect's speaking rate means the salesperson's brain can and does work with hundreds of other words, in addition to the ones being heard. Often the salesperson is thinking about what they should or will say at the expense of what the prospect is actually telling them.

The challenge at hand for all sales personnel is to learn how NOT to construct their ideas and responses during the most critical stages of their selling process. This is not easy to do given the sales prospect is also subjecting themselves to the same listening distractions. It is no wonder so many sales calls "fall apart" after the salesperson missed a key point made by the prospect and consequently lost or never got the order.

Many business professionals, especially those who make their living selling, depend greatly on their communication skills to enhance their overall job performance and maximize their income. Few salespeople have yet to even scratch the surface of developing their optimum listening skill potential. Many sales professionals have never had the opportunity to learn how to listen most effectively.

Can A Salesperson Learn to Listen Better?

A comprehensive study completed at the University of Minnesota examined the listening ability of several thousand students and hundreds of business professionals. One of the primary conclusions of this study was that immediately after the average person had listened to someone talk, they remembered only about half of what was actually said ? no matter how intensely they attempted to absorb all the information communicated.

Our basic inability as humans to listen effectively requires us to utilize continuous educational reinforcement to truly master listening skills not only in a business environment but on a personal level as well. This means for a salesperson to be most effective in any selling situation a systematic effort must be made to consciously attempt to concentrate more on what is said to them, than what they will say in response ? this simple priority of aural information exchange elements will provide a significant selling advantage in almost every possible selling scenario.

Prioritizing listening over talking in a sales situation is easier said than done. It takes training and ongoing integration into any selling technique process.

Listening Skill Development Should be in All Sales Training

Any training, especially sales training, should improve listening skills development. Like any skill set, practice in a controlled setting can not only build self awareness of listening deficiencies, but it can reinforce required skills to leverage other, associated selling tactics integrated in the sales process. As Vince Lombardi once said, "It's not practice makes perfect, its PERFECT practice makes perfect!"

Six Steps to Improving Selling Listening Skills

Again, with practice and conscious resolve, a salesperson can acquire the mental agility to become a better listener by mastering these six "mental listening exercises":

1) Learn to "listen ahead": By "listening ahead", trying to anticipate where a discussion is leading to, during the dialogue, determining the conclusion in advance of your required response allows you to relax and improve information absorption

2) Learn to periodically validate communicated information: By mentally striving to validate the accuracy and completeness of information points made by the prospect, especially during pauses in the dialogue, (which can be achieved with note taking), you can allow yourself to absorb more information easier, especially information forthcoming in the continued dialogue

3) Utilize "Active Listening" techniques: By periodically, mentally summarizing the major points communicated by the prospect and voicing, reaffirming your interpretation of the points made back to the prospect you add a tremendous amount of clarity to the information exchanged thus far

4) Strive to understand versus "Judging": By working to consciously understand what the prospect is saying versus the natural tendency of judging ? approving or disapproving what is said will allow you to absorb what is actually said more than any other listening development technique

5) Use your eyes to "get the rest of the story" By listening with your eyes, paying attention to the prospect's body language, their nonverbal facial and body movements or hand gestures you can see what the whole body is trying to tell you, not just the mouth!

6) Maintain a mental repertoire of common responses: By mentally developing and rehearsing how you are going to strategically respond to common sales prospect purchase objections, for example, in advance of a sales call, allows you to listen more effectively. A comprehensive mental inventory of common responses will also give you more confidence in any selling situation.

Today's successful salesperson is ultimately an effective problem solver. Whether it is an existing or potential customer, the most successful sales people continuously strive to hone their listening skills to accurately define their customer's business intentions. If properly trained, and with constant practice, a salesperson will quickly realize that how they talk or present their product or service is relatively unimportant when compared to how and what they listen to, when guided by well honed listening skills.

Applying the selling skills developed from these listening exercises can give extraordinary power, not only to the spoken word, but the words listened to, and may be, in practice, provide the only margin of victory in any given sales situation.

About the Author:

Mark Smock is President of http://www.business-buyer-directory.com, the FIRST international business buyer directory of its kind. Business Buyer Directory provides a non-traditional means for proactive business buyers to locate businesses for sale worldwide that meet their exact registered purchase criteria.

---

Get Over Your Resistance to Sales

I have found that there are two best ways to... Read More

How to Reduce Sales Resistance

Sales resistance is a fact of life for most sales... Read More

Just Ask

For the 'big three' automobile sales consultants, the 'employee discount... Read More

Sales 101

For many individuals in business the hardest part is selling.... Read More

The Top 7 Sales Blunders

We all make mistakes when selling our product or service.... Read More

Being Politically Correct When Selling Can Cost You Sales

In our culture it is basically un-American for a prospective... Read More

Getting Them to Buy: The Two Most Important Pieces to the Sales Pitch

Why are some sales pitches more persuasive than others? Are... Read More

Marketing Vs. Sales

Marketing and sales co-exist and work in tandem beautifully if... Read More

Boost Your Selling Power With Your Call-To-Action Phrases

Look at your marketing material. Now, is there something missing?... Read More

Practice Building: Create a Powerful and Targeted Call to Action for Your Prospects

A "Call To Action" is an invitation for your prospective... Read More

Why Salespeople Fail

Since 1990 I have focused on the three primary barriers... Read More

Nine Competencies of the Complete Sales Professional

Have you ever tried to explain to someone what you... Read More

Sales Leads: 10 Sure Fire Ways To Unleash An Avalanche Of Sales

If you knew a few sure fire ideas that have... Read More

Training for Trade Shows - 5 FAQs

Trade shows are so obvious. You go. You hand out... Read More

Sales and Closing Techniques

One essential criteria of being a successful salesperson is the... Read More

The Key to Driving Sales is Understanding What Not How

What does it take to make a sale lately?In Sales,... Read More

TheTop 10 Reasons Why Salespeople Get Outsold

In my business, it has been an interesting and very... Read More

Acquired Expertise: Attitude and Confidence

"I recommend the 5.8 GHz Digital Phone, because it suits... Read More

How to Maximize Sales by Minimizing Windshield Time

During the late 1980's I was a field sales representative... Read More

Whats Your Sales Training Goal - Exposure or Behavioral Change?

When your company invests in sales training, what is the... Read More

Growing Sales Through Creating Connections

Your mission as a business owner is to develop a... Read More

The ?Finding Common Ground? Sales Technique, Is A Myth!

Almost every book, manual, workshop or tape series teaching selling... Read More

Sales Letters - How to Write Them

You could just send out your brochure to potential customers... Read More

A Revolutionary NEW Dimension in Sales

A Revolutionary 'NEW' Dimension In Sales: Make many more closings... Read More

Win More Sales With a 5-Step Sales Process

Facilitating the buying process can be very straightforward and fairly... Read More

You Dont Need Health Insurance!

Seems almost every situation in our lives is centered on... Read More

How Do You Use Your Sales Commissions?

What do you do when you have a big sales... Read More

Do You Fold Like A Taco?

Have you ever eaten a soft taco? The shell isn't... Read More

5 Specific Questions Your Sales Letters Must Answer To Achieve The Best Results

Here's a surefire method to guarantee you achieve the best... Read More

10 Amazing Ways To Jump Start Your Sales

1. Find a strategic business partner. Look for ones that... Read More

The Ultimate Think Differently Sales Tip

Sales drive revenues, and revenues drive companies. Companies, then, are... Read More

7 Steps to Selling Artwork

Selling arwork is easy when you follow a road map.... Read More

11 Proven Sales Strategies to Help You Close The Deal

There are a number of sales closing strategies that you... Read More