{"id":12831,"date":"2021-07-02T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-02T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandler.dsstaging2.com\/case-study\/eight-ways-salespeople-can-sell-more-by-listening-more\/"},"modified":"2022-10-24T22:26:21","modified_gmt":"2022-10-24T22:26:21","slug":"eight-ways-salespeople-can-sell-more-by-listening-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandler.com\/blog\/eight-ways-salespeople-can-sell-more-by-listening-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Eight Ways Salespeople Can Sell More by Listening More"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Here are eight powerful strategies for more effective listening during conversations with prospects. The most effective sales professionals, in my experience, have higher closing ratios because they make a habit of employing all eight approaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\" type=\"1\"><li><strong>Make it about them. <\/strong>There is a saying you may have heard: \u201cMost people, instead of truly listening, are simply waiting for their turn to speak.\u201d Think of \u201cmaking it all about them\u201d as the <em>opposite <\/em>of waiting for your turn to speak. It means not just giving your conversational partner your complete, undivided attention&#8230;but also devoting the conversation itself to the buyer\u2019s best interests, even if that means you lose some opportunity in the short term. However, by doing this, you will win something much more valuable: a long-term business relationship.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Listen like everyone has the answer except for you. <\/strong>As salespeople, we may be tempted to commandeer the conversation. We may convince ourselves we know the right solution to the problem. Usually, though, we don\u2019t even know the problem! This is not fifth grade. We don\u2019t win points for being the first to speak up. In fact, we <em>lose <\/em>points. If we can learn to listen as though we <em>don\u2019t <\/em>have the answer, because we know we\u2019re still looking for it, we are much more likely to build an emotional connection with the prospective buyer.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Adjust your listening style to fit the person you are speaking with. <\/strong>Every prospect is unique. Some people prefer a fairly rapid, back-and-forth dialogue; others need the opportunity to speak at length without interruption while we pay close attention to what they say. Of course, there are lots of gradations in between too. Be patient enough to figure out what suits the person you\u2019re talking to!<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Prove you are listening by making occasional eye contact and smiling authentically. <\/strong>Don\u2019t stare at people like you are memorizing their face. It freaks them out. Send positive, appropriate, and approving nonverbal cues.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Ask good follow-up questions. <\/strong>These include: \u201cCan you tell me more about that?\u201d \u201cCan you give me an example?\u201d \u201cHow long has that been a problem?\u201d<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Listen for emotional words. <\/strong>Whenever the other person tells you about something that <em>frustrates <\/em>them, makes them <em>unhappy, disappoints <\/em>them, <em>worries <\/em>them, or makes them <em>angry <\/em>or <em>concerned<\/em>, lean in. You are about to hear something important. Ask them to tell you more.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Ask for details about how much the problem has cost them. <\/strong>Think of this as \u201cdollarization.\u201d The higher the dollar cost, the more likely people are to take action to solve the problem. Of course, there are plenty of \u201ccosts\u201d that have nothing to do with money\u2026but money is not a bad place to start.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Take careful notes, especially about the costs of inaction. <\/strong>People don\u2019t argue with their own data! Make sure you capture all the proof they offer in support of the business case for your solution.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>For more on the neglected art of building listening into your sales process, check out <a href=\"https:\/\/howtosucceed.libsyn.com\/how-to-succeed-at-listening-intelligence\"><strong>this podcast, How To Succeed at Listening Intelligence<\/strong>.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here are eight powerful strategies for more effective listening during conversations with prospects.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":167,"featured_media":12832,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1120],"tags":[1182,1077,1057,1141],"class_list":["post-12831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-closing-sales","tag-communication","tag-professional-development","tag-sales-strategies"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - 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