I have been reflective recently. I have been reading some of my posts and must admit what my brother-in-law has said on a couple of occasions, “I really didn’t understand what you were saying.” I read one of them in particular and agree. In almost everything in life, we are asked or at least recommended to listen to something. Maybe an idea or a reason or a matter of fact kind of logic to apply to our lives. We listen and…well, what exactly? Listen and what? Or are we really listening? In sales, we have objectives and it would be easy to just sell stuff, but we have to listen to the customer’s needs. Wait for it…well, yeah! I think this may be the most “dropped ball” in sales. We have the goal. We have the objective to hit a target. We also have our biases. And we have our product favorites (or at least maybe the ones we are supposed to sell that day or week). Do these realities keep us from listening?
If we just stop and listen, the answer will show itself. I heard that somewhere.
Listening is not just a process, it really says something about our relationships. So our next endeavor in the art of selling is “Do we really listen?”
OK, hearing is not listening. Hearing is physiological. It is process when sound meets the ear and cycles through its biological functions. Listening is what you do with the sound, with the words and phrases. It is a type of distillation of sound into meaning. It also leads to an application of that meaning into action or behavior. In sales, the sound is coming from the customer. Sometimes clear, and other times, it is abstract and unclear. Your job is to hear what you are given, distill and then go deeper into meaning (if it is needed) with the goal to provide a solution for both you and the customer. The customer didn’t just show up. They wanted something you offer and your job is to figure out by listening to the customer’s want, need, desire or itch they need scratched.
So what to do?
There is a difference between active listening and passive listening. Passive involves both hearing and listening, but may (emphasize may) not be processing the information to the fullest extent. Someone who is actively listening may very well repeat back what they heard. They might list two or things they plan to do with the information. They may even in the smallest degree just give some type of supportive response to show they are engaged.
Mirroring is very closely aligned with the previous note. This is an active technique by the sales rep to mimic the customer and their mannerisms or use the exact words or phrases the customer is providing. It shows listening is happening, and more than that, it builds an affinity or common ground with the customer based on verbal, vocal and visual language.
There are many sales organizations that require sales rep to make notes during the interaction to show that they are listening, organizing the incoming information and also processing that same information into possible solutions. And to be hyper-operationally sensitive, it also creates a paper trail linking back to the sales rep ability to sell (or in this case, listening to the selling opportunities).
When in doubt, ask questions. Based on how we listen, the environment (or noise surrounding us when we try), our mental filing system and/or our subjective and objective memory, we sometimes just don’t get it. And when we don’t get all the information, we quite frequently do not ask for clarification, we otherwise arrogantly fill in the blanks with what we think the information needs to be. So why do we fill in the blanks? Ego. Therefore, if in doubt, simply ask for clarification or a re-statement. While it may risk making you look like you may not have ‘listened’, it does show engagement, an interest in the relationship and, of course, increases the retention of information.
In sales, customers really, really like to be heard. Therefore, the question to ask is how well are we listening? How would someone else define your listening skills? Would the answer sting a little or a lot?
In closing, how about this situation…I use it quite often. Let’s say the customer comes in and after some acknowledgement and greeting involvement, they say “I just got back from the Caribbean and I realized I didn’t have the right kind of device for all the trips I make.” How many of you would want to know more about their perspective of the “perfect” device? Wait for it…yes, we would BUT that is not the first question. I would want to ask about the vacation and where exactly they went in the Caribbean. I would want to know who they were with, for how long, the weather, what they did and what was their favorite thing about the trip. But they want a new device. Yep, I know. You may not be seeing the point. I want to immediately talk about the trip! They brought up the Caribbean because they want to talk about it. And if they tell me about the trip and who went, my sales opportunity has just gotten bigger. I would get to the device…trust me. Oh yeah, and lots of trips? Really, where to, how often and to what extent (business or pleasure)?
We are not as good at listening as we may think. In sales, listening is a differentiator. I believe a lot of this is due in part with all of the things that must be done in a day and we have to manage our time and that may mean quickening the sale process and interaction. Or maybe here is a line-up of customers. Or maybe, we just fear asking lots of questions because of what it may sound like to the customer.
If only we would listen.
Cheers