BECOMING A LISTENING SALESPERSON

QMany salespeople, including myself, tend to talk a lot and not realise we take away too much time from our customers.

How can we be more of the listening type as advocated by many modern business schools? How can we overcome this habit of too much talking and learn to listen more? — Loose Cannon

AIt is always easier to talk than to listen in any situation, simply because talking requires less efforts compared with listening, which requires thinking. Another reason is that we have been heavily exposed to and influenced by people who talk more than they listen. So we, in turn, do the same to people in our lives, including our customers.

There are too many downsides when we talk too much. The most major one is that it makes the conversation a self-centred one that focuses on the seller and his product with little on the potential buyer.

Bottom Line: The way to go is to make a shift to customer-centered conversation. Doing it this way will put the customer in the limelight. A conversation of such kind relies on asking questions instead of making statements. Be alert to the responses the customer gives you as this will enable you to pick up a keyword to build your next best question.

When you do it in this fashion, you are keeping a very tight conversation that takes both of you deeper into the relationship. In this way, your customer’s needs are uncovered and discoveries are made. Thus, selling the right product in the right quantity becomes possible. The customer will be happy to buy, and you are happy to sell!

Powerful Questions:

• What will your questions be to uncover their needs?

• How will you ensure that you understand clearly what your customer is telling you?

• What do you want to be mindful of to make yourself more of a listening than a talking salesperson?

• What are the benefits when you become one?

SELLING WITH THE HEART

QThere must be something missing or something that I am not doing right to become an accomplished salesperson till this very day. Everything in the sales cookbook has been followed, but yet it’s “status quo” for me.

How can I move from this stalemated position? - Missing Link

AI get this feeling that you may be applying what is in the sales cookbook mechanically. Without putting in feelings and emotions in your sales effort, you will get nowhere. Selling, like any other activity, needs the human touch. Without this, you become too focused on achieving the results instead of building a strong client relationship, which is more important.

Bottom Line: The way forward is to use your heart (not just the head) in selling so that you will come across as an authentic partner to your prospects.

Using your heart means a number of things. It means exercising patience and calmness, and speaking slowly to show that you are not in a hurry to close. This will give your clients the impression that you have all the time for them to ask you anything they want. With the use of the heart, the techniques in your sales cookbook will come alive.

Powerful Questions:

• How satisfied are you with the way you are selling now?

• What do you want to be able to do that will make it satisfying for you?

• What is missing in what you are doing now that you want to be able

• What are the steps you can take now to close this gap? CORPORATE COACH ACADEMY is conducting a 2-Day Coaching Power Tools workshop on Jan 25 to Jan 26. Call 03-62054488 or log in www.corporatecoachacademy.com. Read the ‘Stories That Coach’ at www.mikeheah.com.