Listen

Why is listening so difficult?

Growing up we were all implored to listen carefully. Our parents told us, our teachers told us,even the woman running the corner candy store told us. Today our spouses tell us, our bosses tell us, and our customers tell us. How can something so simple be so tough to do?

Do you know that we remember only 25% of what we “hear”? Why is that? It’s because our thoughts move four times faster than we speak—we’re already moving on to the next topic.

While we’re supposed to be listening, we’re too often unfortunately thinking about the next thing we want to say. Listening requires our full attention. It involves formulating a response based on what is being said, rather than the response your mind was working on while you were supposed to be listening—hearing is not the same as listening.

If you’re the type of salesperson who maps out the meeting from start to finish in your mind, more than likely you’ll hear how the customer reacts, instead of listening to what he’s really saying. Sure, you may adapt somewhat, but you’ll likely just keep going in the direction you mapped out. By using LAUNCH you’ll be listening to learn how to connect with the customer’s needs, to identify how you can help him.

You must train yourself to listen carefully the second your customer begins speaking and continue to listen carefully throughout the entire sales process. During the introductory part of the sales call we must find common ground with the customer—such as our host’s sports, hobbies or other interests. However, this is just an icebreaker. Now it’s time to get the customer to start talking—about himself, his interests, his business, in as much detail as possible, as if he’s trying to sell you. Force yourself to refrain from talking about your business, products, or services. No catalogs, brochures, or even why you asked for the meeting. Of course, there’ll be certain situations where you start the meeting with a general sense of why you’re there, such as a cold call.

We never get a second chance to make a first impression.

For heaven’s sake, leave your Sales ego at the door. You want a centrist state of mind, between outgoing and retrospective, extraversion and introversion. You want to mirror your customers, be adaptable as the meeting progresses.

Here’s what you’re trying to ascertain:

Business or personal outline, including history with as much financial information as he’swilling to give.
Organization or family details, as applicable.
Product/service offering, or personal requirements, including what you don’t think you can provide value to.
Capabilities and current activities.
How they differentiate themselves, how his personal needs are unique.
Markets and customers served, or in a personal situation what is his expected outcome?
The users and the end use of the product/service, or if the customer’s company itself is the end-user.How will they use our product/service?

During this phase of the meeting you’regaining credibility and building trust; you must be genuinely concerned about the customer’s business, or his personal situation. You must have a deep desire to learn as much as you can at this point, because you don’t know whether or not your product/service can help him.

You’ve removed barriers by creating connections. You’ve created an emotional connection through personal engagement. Most of all you’ve made the customer the most important person(s) in the room. He felt that way before the meeting even started, but now you’ve underscored that feeling, which makes your connection to him even stronger.

Dale Carnegie said, “Talk to someone about themselves [sic] and they’ll listen for hours.”

You’re qualifying the person (people)you’re listening to. Is he the right person (people)? Is the decision maker(s) in the room? Is there anyone in the room whom you can identify as an ally? Whom are the potential deal killers?

You must identify anyone in the customer’s organization you haven’t been given the opportunity to listen to, but it’s vitally important that you do. Or in a personal situation, is there and influencer(s) you should be listening to? Every individual who’ll be involved in the sales decision must be brought into the sales process. Be painstaking in collecting data—what appears to be the most innocuous detail may be relevant and important in the other phases of LAUNCH.

You’ll be challenged not to offer answers or solutions while listening, but control yourself. The opportunity to offer the solution to the customer’s problem will come soon enough, if you’re patient.

There will never bea time whenthe customer won’t want to talk about himself or his business. Using LAUNCH you’ll develop a relationship that goes waybeyond the sale. Evenif there’s nota sale this time around, there will be opportunities, even referrals, down the road.

Tools

LinkedIn—if you don’t have a good, up to date profile, call me, I’ll tell you what to do. You also should use LinkedIn for its powerful networking value. Aftera sales call, send the people you just interacted with an invitation to connect on LinkedIn. Use LinkedIn’s Advanced Search capability to increase your knowledge of their organization, to help build your business capture plan.

If it’s a personal situation, Facebook would be an additional social-networking tool.

Whatever tool you use to manage your prospects, contacts and customers, whether it’sresident CRM software or Cloud based, always keep it up to date and use the damn thing!

Tips

You’re listening, but what do you do when the customer stops talking? Force yourself to remain silent for a short period of time, even up to two minutes. Silence is your friend, especially when you’re negotiating or asking for the sale. The customer will be compelled to fill the vacuum, which will provide additional key information.

To master the art of listening, learn to listen to what’s NOTbeing said.

When the customer says something important, your eyes should light up, you just heard something brilliant.

You must become an expert at non-verbal communication—body language, facial expression, and eye contact or lack of eye contact. Both yours and the customers. Pick up all the non-verbal cues you can;they’ll help pinpoint what’s NOT being said. As you’re listening, mirror the speaker’s positive body language, both posture and movement, but not if it’s negative or defensive—folded arms, clenched hands, et cetera.

Just as important as non-verbal communication is,so is a basic understanding of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). This is a very complicated subject, but in regards to the selling process, it’s fairly simple. The three NLP modes (modalities) you must to be concerned with are: kinesthetic, auditory, and visual. The key is to mirror the speaker’s mode,so you can connect and bond. NLP is a fascinating science.

It used to be you’d wear a suit and tie for a sales meeting; however, nowadays, the smart salesperson mirrors the attire of the prospect/customer. When in doubt, dress up, as opposed to dressing down. But with technical people, who are easily intimidated, it’s the opposite. Conservative, subtle colors are usually best. Warning: red ties often cause the prospect/customer to be defensive. There’s a way to wear the correct color tie in every country in the world.

Other common-sense basics to keep in mind are: (1) Keep some mouthwash and breath mints in your car at all times; (2) Shower and put on deodorant every morning; (3) Always be punctual; (4) Get your car washed and keep it neat; (5) Selling and alcohol don’t mix. All these common-sense basics add up to Respect for the people you do business with.

You should request everyone’s business card at the initial meeting. If someone doesn’t have a business card with him, write down all of his information. Make sure you have a signature sheet with you—title, phone numbers, and email. You must be fully aware of decision makers and organizational responsibilities.

Tactics

Note taking: you must take detailed notes—this displays to whoever is speaking your riveting interest. Nothing will make a speaker feel more important than seeing someone writedown what he’s saying.

If the prospect/customer gives a PowerPoint presentation, ask him to email it to you so you can engage in an email exchange. If he’s not giving a PowerPoint presentation, find another reason to get him to email you.