One of the key traits of efficiency sales professionals is the ability to listen. Why is listening so important? For starters, the words that come out of your prospect’s mouth can tell you a lot about their values, their worries, their desires, and so forth. Moreover, people like to know that they’re being listened to. If your prospect feels that the conversation is one-way street, you’re not going to build good rapport (and we know how important rapport is in effective selling).
Here are some ways to show your prospects that you’re listening:
- Make eye contact
- Give them time to finish their thought.
- Pause before you respond. (Regardless of whether or not you need time to come up with an answer, pausing shows that you are taking the time to process what’s been said and to come up with a thoughtful response).
- Do NOT cut them off while they’re talking or answer their question before they’ve finish asking it, even if you think you know what they are asking before they’re done talking.
- Think about what they are saying while they are talking to you (as opposed to thinking about what you want to say next).
This last bullet point is very important. I’m sure many of you have been in meetings where you were talking and another person could hardly hold back from speaking over you. You can tell they’re not actually listening. You can see it in their eyes. You can see their mouths visualizing what they’re going to say next. If you want to develop good rapport with your prospects, don’t be that person.
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