Only one-third of the speaker’s meaning is conveyed by words. Two-thirds is conveyed by body language, indicating emotional tone. Listening will directly impact your potential for sales and prospecting for new associates or distributors. Becoming a good listener requires practice, patience, and a genuine interest in other people.
Here are three ways to enhance your listening skills:
- Make the speaker feel comfortable and important by being courteous and respectful;
- Show your attentiveness to the speaker by nodding your head or saying, “yes” or “I see” from time to time;
- Listen between the lines to detect when someone is being dishonest or evasive with you.
By honing your listening skills, you can catch hints in your speaker’s voice, attitude, or body language that indicate a lack of interest or enthusiasm for your product or company.
Many clients aren’t selling or recruiting because they are not listening to the truth when they hear it. They simply hope that what they are hearing isn’t what it sounds like. Our distributors or associates may miss the “not interested” message completely because they either don’t want to hear it or really don’t hear it because they are so focused on what they intend to say next.
Listening Types
Reflective and paraphrase listening will assist you to communicate to your prospects that you are, in fact, listening to them and are aware of their concerns and points of view.
Reflective listening is repeating some words your prospects or customers use as you listen to them speak. Reflective listening builds rapport in three ways:
- It shows that you are paying attention and understand what the speaker is telling you;
- It keeps someone else talking long enough for you to evaluate whether they are a prospect who is serious or just curious; and
- Paying attention and listening is a good investment of a few minutes of your time in the interviewing stages.
In paraphrase listening, you paraphrase what your prospect says. I teach my clients how to interview their prospects to see if they are people they would like to work with. Many people confuse “interview” with “interrogate.”
By practicing the shared listening technique, you will find that all of your questions get answered without your prospects feeling they are under a microscope. Shared listening allows you to turn a questioning process into a conversation.
Developing a conversation, rather than asking one question after another, is a great way to get a person to open up. Your prospects will feel more comfortable revealing information to you if they feel you have something in common and lets them see you as a real person.
Listen closely and make brief notes as your prospects share in your conversation. You will soon discover your prospects’ motivators – or lack thereof – as well as their “hot buttons,” which you can repeat back to them when it’s time to as for a decision or close.
Continue listening even after your new distributor or associate has signed their application. You’ll be able to recall names, places, and other information with little or no effort because when it was first given out, you paid attention.
Are you interested in selling Verizon Wireless services? Call us at (855) SELL-VZW or fill out the form below. We look forward to talking to you soon!
