If You Want to Sell Start to Listen

Selling has been around as long as mankind, whether it's in the form of trading, bartering or exchanging services. Regardless, most the majority of would-be sellers are very bad it and lack the sales skills or training they need to be effective.

Arguably, the biggest issue is an absence of listening abilities and the belief that your sales presentation will work. This is true even though the best sales coaches have preached reflective listening skills as the best way to make sales for years. The truth is that almost everyone wants to talk about themselves, including salespeople. The best sales tip we give at effective sales techniques utah is to simply shut up and listen to your prospects' feelings and motivators.

We put together a few tips on effective sales training for you to try in your own strategy and that you can share with your team to make your whole company more profitable. Let's go over them one by one.

The first step in any successful sales transaction, however, is to think about your clients. Do they know they should have your product or service or are they having a problem that's urgent? What other products are for them and are they good?

Now it's time to begin hearing your prospects. Keep these expert sales tips in mind:

  • Learn what your prospects is after. If they are happy with their solutions to the problem you think you can solve, learn more. If not, find out what else they need. If they are only interested in some parts of what you're offering, you need to know this too. In the end, closing the deal is a one-on-one proposition. People who don't feel understood, will rarely continue working with you.
  • Use your own language to rephrase what they say. Called reflective listening, this habit lets the client know you are truly hearing them, that you are concerned about it and are thinking about it, and that you are understanding accurately. Furthermore, this method clarifies what they expect from you.
  • How they feel will close the deal.Your explanations have their purpose, but selling is really about whether your prospect trusts you. This is the truth whether they know it or not. Try to ferret out feelings about stress, worry and fatigue, as these are issues you could help solve. Also, listen for pleasant emotions such as happiness, because this can help you understand your client's motivations.
  • Know their motivations. Besides listening to the customer says he or she needs, find out what the real underlying motivations are. Often, this means boosting the bottom line but it can also mean something like improving inventory control, reducing worry and more.
  • Don't tell people what to do. No one likes to be bossed around, but salespeople often end up doing this when they repeat and repeat their presentations without listening. A better way is to talk about the benefits of your service or product and listen closely while the prospect speaks, coming to believe that, in the process, your solution is the best one. You can guide the prospect along, but don't go further or you could lose it all.
  • Close your mouth!! Most would-be sellers blab on and on, not realizing that they have already lost their customer, who is now just trying to be done with them. You can discuss the benefits of your product and briefly go over how you can offer solutions to their problems, but not unless you know what they want, need and care about.
  • You're not as fabulous as you think you are, at least not to people you don't know. Let go of your ego and remember that you can rarely know how anyone else is feeling and what they want without listening to them. Ask questions often, and don't forget that closing deals isn't about anything more than building relationships. If you really want to make more sales, try getting out of the way more often.

These sales techniques might not be intuitive, but if you try them you will see that they work. Don't forget that most would-be sellers just rush through with their standard speeches, not considering their prospects' ideas at all. These salespeople fail. Join the ranks of sales victory by shutting your mouth and showing that you care.