Reflective Listening to Close the Deal

Selling is as old as mankind, whether it's in the form of hawking jewelry, procuring food or sharing information. Nevertheless, salespeople lack the skills or training they need.

Arguably, the biggest issue is ineffective listening skills and thinking your sales pitch will close the deal. This despite the fact that experts have recommended reflective listening skills as the only good way to make sales for years. The truth is that most people like to talk, including salespeople. But the best sales tip we can 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 that you can implement in your own strategy and that you can share with your team to make your whole company more successful. Let's go over them one by one.

Let's think about the pre-listening groundwork. Know your customers and find out what they think about products like yours. Do they know they need them? Do they have an issue you can solve in a new way?

Next, you need to start listening. Think about this:

• Find out what your prospects want. If they are pleased with their solutions to the problem you think you can solve, learn more. If not, find out how you can do better. If they want parts of what you're offering, understand that as well. In reality, making any sale is about persuading one person at a time. People who don't feel understood, will almost never continue talking with you.
• Use your own words to rephrase what they say. Called reflective listening, this habit lets the prospect know you're hearing them, that you are concerned about it and are considering it, and that you are understanding accurately. Furthermore, this technique clarifies what they expect from you.
• How they feel will seal the deal.Your explanations have their purpose, but closing deals is truly about whether your client trusts you. Try to ferret out signs of stress, worry and fatigue, as these are issues you could perhaps solve. It's also smart to listen for positive emotions such as happiness, because this can help you understand your prospect's motivations.
• Know what they want. In addition to learning what the prospect says he or she wants, find out what the real underlying motivations are. Often, this means boosting the bottom line but it can also mean something like improving efficiency, reducing stress and more.
• Don't boss people around. No one likes to be bossed around, but salespeople often essentially do this when they just go over their sales pitches without listening. Rather, discuss the benefits of your product or service and listen while the client 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 forever, not even knowing that they have already lost their prospect, who is now just trying to hang up or get away. You can discuss the benefits of your product and briefly go over how you can offer fixes to their problems, but not unless you know what they expect.
• You and your product are not as fabulous as you probably think, at least not to people who aren't familiar with what you have to offer. Relax and realize that you can almost never really know how anyone else feels or what they need without listening to them. Clarify often, and don't forget that selling isn't about anything more than fostering relationships. If you really want to make more sales, you should probably get out of the way more often.

These sales strategies might not be intuitive, but if you just give them a chance you will see that they work. Remember that most would-be sellers just rush through with their pre-written pitches, not considering their prospects' ideas at all. These salespeople are never successful. Realize sales victory by closing your mouth and showing that you care.