I had a very interesting conversation today and I think this is one part where a lot of people in Sales really miss. Actually you know what, it doesn't matter whether you're in sales or not this one skill for me it's probably one of the most important part of communication and it's listening skills. You know they say that God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason; we need to be listening more than the actual talking that we're doing. It's amazing how many people sometimes when they talk to people they're too busy talking rather listening to their prospect.
I had something interesting happen, I get a lot of phone calls on a daily basis different people trying to pitch me for different things. I have a background in sales marketing and PR So i can always appreciate a good salesperson and sometimes it makes me cringe when I hear a bad sales person so i had a phone call from someone the other day tell me about this new type of investment.
I explained to them that: I’m curious to hear about your investment but because I’m a visual person can you kindly send me an email with all the information. I will have a look at it if it's something that's of interest then I’ll get back to you.” They replied “well, if you're not ready to sign up right now, then you know we're gonna be wasting your time especially right now. If you don't sign up you're going to lose like $750 because right now we've got a special offer, that if we actually signed you up in the next five minutes you're literally going to get this back in value”.
I said to them, “as I explained to you, I'm a visual person. I’m not going to sign up to anything unless I literally get the information and I have a look at it”.
They answered with: “well if you don't mind wasting $750 or even thousands of dollars”.
I explained to them: “I'm not wasting it, I'm not going to sit there and spend a single dollar on this unless I understand what I'm actually spending it on!”.
They got a little bit upset with me and they actually pretty much hang up on me. Now here's the thing, I could have been a great customer; I have a pretty big circle of influence and if I saw anything that I was excited about I would share it. So they lost a potential customer and you don't know how many customers that customer will actually refer you to. They gave me a bad experience which reflects badly on the company because the salesperson didn't listen.
A better approach would ve been if they said: “I will be glad to send you the information to take a look if you are a visual person; how much time you would need in order to have a look at the information to help you make a decision? Or when would be a good time for me to give you a call back and follow up with you? Or what kind of information would you be looking for to help you make a decision? Just so I know what kind of information I can send through to you.”
So by listening to what your prospect is telling you, you can lose the sale more effectively. A great salesperson is a great listener; spend more time listening to your prospect and listen to what their pain is. I’ll tell you what, by exercising this one skill, it’s going to send your conversion ratio through the roof because someone that feels they are being heard, also feels that you care and when they feel that you care, you’ll make such a difference in your results.