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Talk Less, Listen More

Avoid dominating conversations with your sales prospects. Listening will help you build rapport and gather invaluable information.

Talk Less, Listen More

Passionate people love to talk about their passions. If you’re in the efficiency industry, you may be passionate about efficiency. One of the habits that I’ve noticed among passionate salespeople is that they dominate the conversation waxing poetic about their business. While it is great to show your passion, being verbose is not always the best way to create interest in your product or service. People value what they ask for more than what they are offered unsolicited.

talk-less-listen-more

So, what does this mean for you? Suppose someone asks you what you do for a living. Rather than launching into a long spiel about your business, give a short response and ask them what they do. People love to talk about themselves, so you can build rapport by asking your conversation partner about his or her own business.

Once you learn a bit about the business in question, focus on something you can relate to. Perhaps you’ve worked with clients in your prospect's industry. If so, you could mention how much your product or service has benefited those particular clients. Chances are your prospect will be intrigued enough to start asking you questions to get more information.

This is just one example of the many ways in which you can create interest without explicitly saying why your product or service is interesting. Let the person with whom you’re speaking want to hear more and they’ll be more inclined to ask you questions.

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Mark Jewell

Mark Jewell

Mark Jewell is the President and co-founder of Selling Energy. He is a subject matter expert, coach, speaker and best-selling author focused on overcoming barriers to implementing projects. Mark teaches other professionals and organizations how to turbocharge their sales success.

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