By Kelly Robertson
From time to time I read an article that is so on target that I’m smiling and saying “Yes! Yes!” as I read. Luckily, this particular article was written by my friend and colleague, Kelley Robertson, so I twisted his arm a bit and got his permission to reprint here…
During a sales training workshop I conducted last week, we explored the topic of asking questions during the discovery stage of the sales process and every single participant adamantly stated that they invested time asking their prospect questions.
As the program continued, we discussed the importance of summarizing their new-found knowledge BEFORE launching into their sales presentation.
At that point, one participant admitted that he didn’t really listen to the other person’s responses and that he simply went through the motions to give the impression that he was interested.
“I don’t care about the other guy, I just want to close the deal” were his words.
What shocked me is that several other people piped up and expressed the same sentiment!
If you find yourself guilty of not listening to your prospect I urge you to consider changing your approach.
If you’re going to invest the time asking a prospect questions about his business, goals, challenges and desired outcomes, but you don’t use that information then you will have to work much harder to capture that deal.
You will face more resistance. Hear more objections. Encounter more price resistance. Furthermore, you will sound just like every other sales person your prospect has encountered.
Kelley Robertson helps sales people master their sales conversations so they can close more deals and make more money. Get a free copy of “100 Ways to Increase Your Sales” at http://bit.ly/KzMtMf
