All of us do this, and it is a critical error in sales. Don’t think about your next question until you listen to the answer to your last question. Too much information may be lost. One way to prevent this is by not asking ques- tions that you don’t want or need an answer to. Only ask questions that will bring about useful information. Don’t just ask questions for the sake of asking questions. Ask questions that will benefit your customer and you. Ask questions that make you want to listen.
Have you ever been in a conversation with someone who asks you a question, and then doesn’t listen to your response? And don’t you just love that blank stare they give you like there is nobody home. You know these people. You can just tell that they have no interest in what you’re saying and it drives you nuts. Or they give up the whole “eye contact” thing and begin looking around the room as if the answer to the question they just asked you is somewhere out there.
I have seen many sales representatives act this way with customers. It is as if they know they need to ask questions, but feel that they really don’t need the information they requested, because they already know what the customer is going to say. I have seen this backfire on too many sales reps.
They ask a question and then just keep going about their business as if they never even asked it. They shuffle paperwork, organize their product display, or just nod their heads as if they know exactly what the customer is going to say with a crinkled-up, “know-it-all” face. Don’t do this. After asking a question, drop everything, and just listen.
There is only one thing worse than not listening—
it is asking a question and then not listening.
Now I know that customers will sometimes go off on a tangent in response to one of your questions, and you often feel like you have no choice but to fake that you care. Trust me, I don’t blame you. But don’t get
into the habit of shutting down those active ears of yours. Once you turn them off, it is difficult to turn them back on. And while the customer is reciting the Gettysburg Address, there just might be a subliminal message in there telling you exactly what you should say to get that customer to buy your product. It would be a shame if you missed it because you shut down eight minutes ago.
“A good listener is more than a good talker with a sore throat.”
—Anonymous
Salespeople that know how to effectively question their customers are already ahead of the pack. But to make it to the next level, they have to become even better at listening. You will become an expert questioner and an expert listener. And when you ask questions of your customer and it is time to listen, you will actually listen. Why? Because you will only ask questions that you want or need answers to.
Don’t Fake It
There is yet another breed of sales listener. I call her the “Faker.” She might even dress it up a little with that big “cheesy smile” or lean forward and put both hands on her cheeks like Arsenio Hall during an interview.
But you just know that her mind is a million miles away, and she proves it when the response she gives the customer has nothing to do with what the customer just said. Hello!
Now there are quite a few fakers out there. In fact, I often have to slap myself for doing it. But I am not alone. I have seen many fine sales reps ask a question, fake like they are listening, and then go on with their story as if the customer never moved his lips. While these sales reps were off in La-La Land, all they were hearing from their customers was what Charlie Brown used to hear on the telephone when his grandmother would call (Waaa, Waaa, Waaaaaaaa…Waa Wa). The customer’s lips are moving, but the sales rep hears nothing, and therefore misses critical clues that just might be needed.
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Don’t Interrupt
What’s worse than carrying on a conversation with somebody who con- stantly interrupts you? You’re in the middle of making your point and this bonehead feels the need to either dispute what you are saying or cut you off and finish your sentence for you. Ugh! When this happens, you lose interest in anything the “Interrupter” says. When a sales rep does this dur- ing a sales call, she not only risks having the prospect lose interest, she also risks ticking the prospect off. It doesn’t matter how good your solu- tion is if you have just alienated your prospect.
There are two reasons so many average sales reps interrupt their prospects:
1. They believe that projecting their thoughts and opinions is more important than learning about the customer’s thoughts and opinions.
2. They feel that silence shows weakness.
We need to destroy these myths.
Myth #1—Projecting is More Important Than Learning
“A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after awhile he knows something.”
—Wilson Mizner (1876–1933), American playwright
While your thoughts and opinions are important in a sales call, they are not nearly as important as the thoughts and the opinions of your prospects.
Before you ever meet with a prospect, you already know what you know.
Do you believe that learning something from your prospect is important?
If so, how much can you learn while you’re talking? (Probably not a hell of a lot.) Remember that to be PRECISE means saying only what your customers want to hear. You cannot do this unless you know what your customers are thinking and feeling. So love their thoughts and opinions more than yours. If you do this, you will find that they will often love your thoughts and opinions even more than you do.
Never talk just for the sake of talking—but always listen for the sake of learning.
Myth #2—Silence Shows Weakness
“Under all speech that is good for anything there lies a silence that is better. Silence is deep as eternity; speech is shallow as time.”
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881), Scottish essayist and historian
Make silence part of your sales call. Silence shows strength, wisdom, and confidence. Some of the most influential people in history have used silence as a tool to stir action. Consider in silence everything your prospect says, and don’t respond until you are sure that what you are going to say will be exact and sharply defined. While you are pondering your response, don’t talk. Just think in silence until you feel confident that what you say next will be pure poetry.
Believe me, I understand just how difficult this can be. Silence for me used to be the equivalent of Chinese water torture. I hated any of it when I was selling. You see, I have a God-given ability to speak too much. I get so pumped in a sales call that I sometimes find myself making too many assumptions, too many statements, and feeling the need to fill every moment of silence with the painful sound of my own voice. Trust me, I can inflict pain when my sales game is not “on.”
Silence:
• Prevents you from interrupting, and
• Prevents you from saying something you wish you hadn’t.
Have you ever interrupted someone and said something that you wish you could take back two seconds after you said it? We all have. To prevent myself from interrupting the person I am speaking to and to prevent myself from saying something stupid, I have a quirky little system that makes it easier for me to let people finish what they are saying.
I wait until the person that I am speaking with completely finishes talk- ing, and then I identify the last word he said. I then pause for a moment in
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silence and repeat that word in my mind. This exercise helps me focus on what the person is saying and forces me to listen until the very end. Then and only then am I allowed to think about what was said, work out my response, and then use the least amount of words possible to respond. This prevents me from interrupting people, and while on the job, prevents me from cutting off customers.
The same technique works when I am teaching sales. My classes are interactive, and I encourage involvement. Regardless of what industry or what part of the world I am teaching in, many of the same questions and areas of concern are expressed. My natural tendency is to jump in, head them off at the pass, and try to impress them with my mind reading abili- ties by responding to their questions or comments even before they finish.
By trying to identify the very last word each person said, I am forced to let them finish their thoughts. And by taking a few seconds of silence before responding, I am forced to reflect on the meaning behind their words. This ensures that my response will be meaningful and PRECISE.
Practice with Family Members
The way we listen at home is even more important than the way we listen at work. Do you want to know if you are a good listener? Ask your hus- band, wife, brother, sister, mother, father, son, or daughter what they think.
And when you ask them, focus on their response. Drop everything you are doing, look them in the eye, and listen to every word they say. And while they are telling you the way they feel, don’t interrupt them. Let them fin- ish talking, repeat their last word in your mind, and then take a few sec- onds to think about what they said. For this exercise, you need not respond when they are through. Just smile, maybe give them a little nod, and be done with it. You’ll be amazed at how difficult it is to:
• Not interrupt.
• Listen until the very last word is spoken; and then identify that word.
• Use silence to help you think about what was said.
You’ll also be impressed by how much you learned from their response.