Active Listening Is an Essential Sales Tool

Selling is the most advanced form of communication. It requires the utilization of all our senses.

Although you may feel that the greatest barriers to your selling performance may be attributed to

having the wrong product, closing techniques, presentation tools, or even prospects, consider that

the foundation of successful selling is based on how well you listen.

The ability to actively listen has been proven to dramatically improve the capabilities of a

professional salesperson. Ironically, listening is the least developed skill amongst salespeople.

Were you formally trained to listen? Chances are your answer is no. Very few of us were

formally taught effective listening skills. Most of the time we believe listening is simply hearing

the words coming out of the client's mouth. However, if we know that effective listening makes a

dramatic difference, why don't we listen better?

To listen actively and thoroughly takes concentration, hard work, patience, the ability to interpret

other people's ideas and summarize them, as well as the ability to identify nonverbal

communication such as body language. Listening is a both complex process and a learned skill; it

requires a conscious intellectual and emotional effort.

The Price of Poor Listening

Listening well improves the quality of the relationships you have with clients, friends, co-

workers, or family members. Ineffective listening can damage relationships and deteriorate the

trust that you have with your clients. The price of poor listening is many lost selling

opportunities.

It's said that more than 60 percent of all problems existing between people and within businesses

is a result of faulty communication. A failure to actively listen can result in mistakes and

misunderstandings. Read the following questions and ask yourself if any of them apply to you or

to how you listen.

Eight Ways to Limit Our Ability to Fully Listen

1. Are you doing something else while the client is talking? Are you thinking about the next

call, how much money will be made if you make the sale, or personal concerns?

2. During your conversation with a client, do you wait for a pause so that you can spit

something out?

3. How difficult is it for you to stay quiet? Do you talk without thinking beforehand?

4. Do you fake listening to the client just so you can get in your comments?

5. Do you practice selective listening? Do you only hear the things you want to hear?

6. Are you aware of the message that the person is sending apart from their words? Are you

attentive to their body language, facial expressions, eye contact, and vocal intonation?

7. Do you allow background noise or your environment to hinder your ability to listen?

8. Do you listen through filters? When you listen through a filter, your understanding of

what you have heard is based on past experiences or beliefs. When you pass judgment on

people because of their age, success, or how they look; when you invalidate people based

on what you see or based on a similar situation with another client, you build the wall

between yourself and the other person and block clear and open communication and

understanding.

If any of these behaviors seem familiar, you are creating a barrier that If any of these behaviors

seem familiar, you are creating a barrier that limits your ability to fully and actively listen. As a

result, you're probably not maximizing your sales effort -- or your income. Here are a few tips to

become a more effective listener:

Eight Ways to Become the Most Effective Listener

1. Encourage silence to show you are actively listening. Many salespeople only wait a

split second to respond to a client's comments or questions. Instead, get in the habit of

waiting a minimum of three to four seconds before responding. Even count to yourself to

ensure that enough time has elapsed. This conscious pause will make the person feel

heard and comfortable enough to talk more, since your pause demonstrates that you have

a sincere interest in what they are saying. Although many salespeople find the conscious

effort to stay quiet challenging, silence creates the space that will motivate your client to

share additional information. It also gives you enough time to respond thoughtfully and

intelligently to your client's specific needs. Besides, look at the words: SILENT and

LISTEN. Notice that each word shares the exact same letters.

2. Never interrupt while the client is speaking. Obviously, what we were taught as

children still applies. Enough said.

3. Be present. Listen with an open mind (without filters or judgment). Focus on what the

client is saying (or trying to say) instead of being concerned with closing a sale. This

shows that you have a genuine interest in helping them, not just yourself. Otherwise, you

run the risk of missing subtle nuances or inferences that could make or stall the sale.

4. Make the client feel heard. This goes beyond simply becoming a better listener. It

involves ensuring that the person to whom you are listening actually feels heard. To make

someone feel heard, clarify what the client has said during the conversation. Rephrase

their comments or questions in your own words in order to ensure that you not only heard

but understood them. If you need more information for a greater context and fuller

picture, a clarifier can sound like:

• ''For my own understanding what you are truly saying is ...''

• ''To further clarify this ...''

• ''What I am hearing is ...''

• ''Help me understand ...''

• ''Tell me more ...''

Asking questions and using clarifiers demonstrates your concern and interest in finding a

solution for the client's specific situation.

Tip from the Coach: Paraphrase listening works on a similar principal. For example, if a client

laments spending too much time recruiting and training, you can summarize: ''Yes, trying to find

the right employees to help the long-term growth of your business can be very challenging as

well as time consuming.''

5. Become a solution-oriented listener. Spend more time listening for a solution than you

would on the problem.

6. Listen for what is not said. What is implied is often more important than what is

articulated. If you sense that the client is sending conflicting messages, ask a question to

explore the meaning behind the words and the message that you think the client is trying

to communicate.

7. Resist the temptation to rebut. As human beings we have a natural tendency to resist

any new information that conflicts with what we believe. Often enough, when we hear

someone saying something with which we might disagree, we immediately begin

formulating a rebuttal in our mind to obscure the message that we are receiving. And if

we are focused on creating a rebuttal, we are not listening. Remember that you can

always rebut later, after you have heard the whole message and had time to think about it.

8. Listen for information. Consider that during most conversations with clients, we listen

to information. In other words, we only hear their words. However, when you listen for

information, you are looking under the words to explore the implied meaning behind

them. This prevents you from wrongly prejudging or misinterpreting the message that the

client is communicating to you. There are four main things we listen for when speaking

with a client:

1. Listen for what is missing.

2. Listen for concerns the client may have or what is important to them.

3. Listen for what they value.

4. Listen for what they want and need in order to fill in the gap between what they

have now and what they want.

Listening is a learned and practiced skill that will open up new selling opportunities that you may

have never noticed. It allows you to receive and process valuable information that might have

been missed or neglected otherwise. So, invest the time needed to sharpen your listening skills.

Remember, when speaking with a client, you will not learn anything from listening to yourself

talk. Moreover, all anyone wants in a conversation is to be heard and acknowledged. Notice what

happens when you give someone the gift of your attention and listening. They will want to

reciprocate. It's always a great time to begin giving a gift to others that costs nothing to give.

About Keith Rosen, MCC — The Executive Sales Coach Keith Rosen is the executive sales coach that top corporations, executives, and sales

professionals call first. As an engaging speaker, Master Coach, and well-known author of many

books and articles, Keith is one of the foremost authorities on coaching people to achieve

positive change in their attitude, behavior, and results. For his work as a pioneer and leader in the

coaching profession, Inc. magazine and Fast Company named Keith one of the five most

respected and influential executive coaches in the country.

If you're ready for better results quickly, contact Keith about personal or team coaching and

training at 1-888-262-2450 or e-mail info@profitbuilders.com. Visit Keith Rosen online at Profit

Builders and be sure to sign up for his free newsletter The Winners Path.