Active listening is according to Wikipedia, “is a communication technique that requires the listener to understand, interpret, and evaluate what they hear. The ability to listen actively can improve personal relationships through reducing conflicts, strengthening cooperation, and fostering understanding.” In its essence it allows the receiver to pay closer attention to what the sender is communicating. Most people hear what someone else is saying, it does not mean they are listening.
What does this mean to clients, prospects, and customers? Sales people are regular people; the vast majority of them are waiting for the other person to stop talking so they can start. There is a rush to spill all the wonderful advantages their product has without listening and evaluating whether or not it will fit into the customer’s life style.
Active listening will slow down the sales process for the good. For the customer it means feeling like someone actually cared about their needs (which you should anyway). We live in a fast paced world, people notice when time and care are paid to them. Its makes them feel special and makes them want to look to you for their questions.
The benefits for sales professional are twofold: First, it eliminates miscommunications between yourself and your customer by cleaning up the channels of communications and double checking the dialect. Two, it bond the customer to you in more than a client/sales definition. They will start to look at you as a friend and a source of good information not just someone set on taking their money.
To be effective active listening requires three things from sales professionals: Concentrate, Repeat, and Position.
One. Concentrate on the customer/client/prospect is saying.
Give them your undivided attention, smile and nod to encourage them to keep speaking. Don’t interrupt. The longer the customers talks the more they will tell you what you need to know to sell to them. Interruptions can cause resets, the “what was I just saying,” type of reset that gets a sale off track. Then you have to basically start at the beginning. Just listen and absorb what is being said.
Two. Repeat in your words what the customer/client/prospect just said.
You were just given all this information. It is important to retain it during the sale. The easiest way, and to make sure you heard everything correctly, is to repeat what they just told you. “You’re saying you need…?” By gaining agreement on the want/need/desire it will be easier to position your product or service as the solution the customer has been looking for all along. It’s a lot easier to connect the dots than to draw a picture on a blank page.
Three. Position your product/service as the answer they have been looking for.
Now that you have concentrated on the customer and repeated their words back to them the third step is positioning your sale. There may be a thousand benefits to what you’re selling but you don’t have to worry about telling them all to your customer now. Since you actively listened to them all you need to do is pick out three to five benefits that fits your product or service into their life like a missing puzzle piece.
Example: “Now Mr. Smith you and I agree that … and … is very important to you, correct? Well my product solves that problem by … etc.” You get the picture.
In sales there is a huge benefit to individuals that can truly listen and evaluate objectively what the other party is communicating. It is the ability to not just understand but to be able to rephrase a customer’s wants, needs, and desires, in a manner that gains mutual agreement that solidifies deals. This is not just good for business but will serve you well in your personal relationships too. Active listening requires patience that once gained and understood you will wonder how you ever did without.
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