In any sales job, the need to listen applies to both parties. First, sales professionals must ensure that their sales messages are heard by their customers. Because no matter how great the message, if the customer doesn’t hear it, a salesperson’s ability to sell successfully, and his or her job, will be negatively impacted in the process.
That said, salespeople not only need to ensure that their potential and current customers listen to their sales messages, they also need to listen to what customers tell them. As any salesperson can attest, this is not always an easy task. All the same, listening is the most proven method by which salespeople can increase sales. So, with that in mind, below are some techniques which professionals in the field of sales can use to listen more effectively.
1. Stop listening ahead. Salespeople shouldn’t attempt to figure out what a customer is going to say before he or she says it. Doing so will inevitably mean that the salesperson could miss a vital piece of information provided to them by the customer. A salesperson’s goal, ultimately, is to provide the customer with a product or service that will make his or her life easier. This can only be accomplished if the salesperson fully understands what the problem is in the first place.
2. Collect accurate customer information. After a sales pitch, the potential or current customer will inevitably have questions and concerns that he or she would like addressed. During this ensuring conversation, sales professionals should strive to obtain as much complete and accurate information as they can, even if that means taking notes. This information can not only be referred to at a later point in the meeting, but also long down the road.
4. Pay attention to body language. A study conducted at UCLA found that 93% of communication is nonverbal. This means that it is vital that salespeople pay attention not only to what the customer is saying, but also to how he or she is acting. Nonverbal cues could be the difference between closing a sale and failing to do so.
5. Establish responses to common sales questions. Sales professionals know that in their line of work they will come across the same questions over and over again. Having prepared answers for those exact instances means that sales professionals can spend more time listening instead of trying to quickly think of a viable answer to a sales-related question.
Ultimately, in order to increase sales, sales professionals need to hone their listening skills to determine what it is that customers desire from them. Only then will the salesperson be able to provide a product or service that will satisfy the customer’s wants and needs.
