Become a Better Listener for More Sales

Print  | 

Nine points from sales expert Lenann McGookey Gardner

     

Lenann McGookey Gardner

Sales Expert and Executive Coach

     

Here are Gardner’s top tips on becoming a better listener, featured in her book Got Sales? The Complete Guide to Today’s Proven Methods for Selling Services.

1. The type of listening that counts when you’re selling is listening that causes the prospect to feel heard and understood.

2. When listening and conveying to your prospect that he has been heard, keep your opinion out of what you say.

3. Refer to “the investment” rather than the cost or the price.

4. Remember that many sales conversations are awkward because otherwise kindhearted people are afraid of being backed into corners by aggressive salespeople.

5. In selling, you are helping people to bring their Pain to the surface, look at it, understand its implications, and then decide on a strategy for dealing with it – or decide to ignore it.

6. Selling by giving presentations poses significant risks – when you’re presenting you may give your prospect a Reason to Reject. It’s better to have a dialogue than a monologue.

7. Don’t translate what you hear from a prospect into words that are more comfortable for you. Use his words!

8. Avoid jargon – technical terms and acronyms. Only use jargon when your prospect used it first, and you’re pretty sure you know what she meant by it.

9. Don’t allow yourself to become distracted when you’re selling. You may be busy, but do whatever you’re doing – especially talking with a prospect – 100 percent.

Lenann McGookey Gardner is a Harvard MBA, an American Marketing Association “Professional Services Marketer of the Year” award winner, and a 2010 winner of the “Top Performing CEO” award from her state’s Business Weekly. She has two decades of experience helping services providers to grow their revenues and is the author of Got Sales? The Complete Guide to Today’s Proven Methods for Selling Services. She is also an Executive Coach. Learn more at www.YouCanSell.com.

Other press releases from Lenann McGookey Gardner Management Consulting, Inc.

• Test Your Leadership Qualities with YouCanLeadCoaching.com Quiz - August 26th, 2011
• How To Successfully Conduct Sales Follow-Up Phone Calls - August 16th, 2011
• The 90-10-90 Rule for Selling Successfully - August 3rd, 2011
• Lenann McGookey Gardner Now a Certified Speaking Professional - July 25th, 2011
• Can Scientists Learn How To Sell Their Services? - July 19th, 2011