{"id":1898,"date":"2020-10-23T15:27:20","date_gmt":"2020-10-23T15:27:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ensmediausa.com\/ens-on-sales\/?p=1898"},"modified":"2020-10-23T15:27:20","modified_gmt":"2020-10-23T15:27:20","slug":"just-listen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ensmediausa.com\/ens-on-sales\/uncategorized\/just-listen\/","title":{"rendered":"Just Listen"},"content":{"rendered":"

While interviewing prospective media sales reps and visiting with seasoned sales reps, every once in a while I meet people who proudly proclaim their strength to be, “I’ve got the gift of gab.”\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0They say this as it\u2019s a strength instead of a potential weakness.<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

In sales, the \u201cgift of gab\u201d can oftentimes be more aptly described as \u201cthe curse of chatter\u201d, or more to the point as someone that \u201cdoesn\u2019t know when to shut up”!<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

Successful sales professionals know that sales is really more about listening than it is about talking.<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

Those with the curse more often engage in product-feature speak than they do in providing customer-focused solutions or opportunities.<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

Customers don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care….and caring is demonstrated by listening.<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

Listening is by far the most important skill a sales professional can learn and practice.\u00a0\u00a0The salespeople who annoy and alienate prospects the most are those who claim to be good listeners but follow every customer objection with a “yah, but…..<\/em>“<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

There is no room for the word “but” in a good listener’s vocabulary.\u00a0To be a professional listener you need to:<\/h4>\n

1.) Be Prepared. Earn the right to ask questions by learning something about the prospect’s business before you make a call.<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

2.) Ask open-ended questions that encourage the prospect to express their views and feelings.<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

3.) Demonstrate you are listening by taking notes. (Always ask permission to take notes, i.e. “Your input is important to me; do you mind if I take a few notes?”<\/em>)<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

4.) Paraphrase and summarize what you hear.\u00a0\u00a0Don’t start a debate.<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

5.) Use the language and needs you hear the customer express when you make your presentation.<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

6.) Make certain that every benefit you present relates to a need you heard the prospect express.<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

There is a lot more money to be made being interested<\/em> than there is in being interesting<\/em>.<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

So, instead of proving that you have the \u201cgift of gab\u201d, shut up and\u2026 Just Listen!<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While interviewing prospective media sales reps and visiting with seasoned sales reps, every once in a while I meet people who proudly proclaim their strength to be, “I’ve got the gift of gab.”\u00a0\u00a0They say this as it\u2019s a strength instead of a potential weakness. In sales, the \u201cgift of gab\u201d can oftentimes be more aptly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[384,529,161],"class_list":["post-1898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-customer","tag-listen","tag-prospects"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ensmediausa.com\/ens-on-sales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ensmediausa.com\/ens-on-sales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ensmediausa.com\/ens-on-sales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ensmediausa.com\/ens-on-sales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ensmediausa.com\/ens-on-sales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1898"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ensmediausa.com\/ens-on-sales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1898\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1902,"href":"https:\/\/www.ensmediausa.com\/ens-on-sales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1898\/revisions\/1902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ensmediausa.com\/ens-on-sales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ensmediausa.com\/ens-on-sales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ensmediausa.com\/ens-on-sales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}