Selling is Listening
by Mary Jane
Mapes
Effective salespeople know that selling is synonymous with listening.
Unfortunately, even the best salesperson can run into problems if they listen only for
what's important to them.
Recently, I worked with the District Sales Managers (DSM) of a direct
market sales company. As the DSM's were doing a listening exercise, I walked around the
room to listen and observe.
Kim, a DSM, was explaining to another manager why she enjoyed being, in
what the company called, their President's Club. The President's Club is reserved for
those DSM's whose territory rank in the top 10% in sales. Kim said that she loved the
challenge her job offered in meeting the staffing quotas, order quotas, and sales quotas.
She then went on to say that, as a result of being in the President's Club, she was
perceived by other DSM's as having more credibility than she had had before moving into
the top 10% because they were now asking her for advice, and she liked that. The DSM that
was listening played back her understanding of what Kim was saying. She said, "It
sounds like you're really excited about your work."
While this was true, the listener had completely missed what was most
important to Kim…namely, that her job provided the challenge she thrived on, and it
gave her the opportunity to attain a position where she could be influential with her
peers. If the listener had said, "You sound excited because your job offers you both
a challenge, and an opportunity to be influential with your peers," she'd have been
right on target. Instead, the listener heard the excitement in Kim's voice, but failed to
fully grasp the reason for the excitement. This lack of understanding became clear by
observing the deflated expression on Kim's face, and her renewed attempt to reiterate the
thrill of the challenge and the excitement that came with the power to influence her
peers.
The listener remained so focused on Kim's feelings, the thing she
undoubtedly zeros in on, that she couldn't hear the reason for Kim's excitement...the very
thing that would have let Kim know that her message had been received and understood.
Active listening implies that we not only hear and understand the feelings
of the customer as well as the content of their message, but that we are able to determine
their primary focus. Both feelings and content are important, but only the customer knows
what's most important. When we play back our understanding of what the customer has said,
if we're on target, they'll respond with words like, "Yes," or
"Exactly," or "You've got it!" And if we're not on target, they'll
clarify, as Kim attempted to do. If, however, we miss the focus or intent of the message
the second time around, the customer may get frustrated enough to give up trying to be
understood and buy elsewhere...some place where the salesperson actually understands their
needs.
©Copyright 1999-2006 Mary Jane Mapes All rights reserved.
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