Salespeople love the sound of their own voices. Sometimes that’s a good thing. But to close deals, the best salespeople have to know when to talk and when to listen.

The following tips will help your salespeople put the customer’s interests first and close more sales.

1. Have a conversation, not a presentation. Presentation implies a one-sided transaction. Your salespeople should be doing only 20% of the talking by asking good questions. Pointed questions will encourage prospects to tell salespeople what their needs are and how they can be filled. Being prepared to ask the right questions is key.
2. Listen between the lines. A lot can be discerned from what’s not being said. Do prospects look engaged? Are they speaking quickly? Do they seem frustrated? What’s their body language revealing? These are questions salespeople should be asking themselves while listening. Non-verbal feedback will often tell them where to go next.
3. Focus, focus, focus. Urge your salespeople to maintain tunnel vision when they meet with prospects and customers. Sometimes they’re forced to meet in a busy environment. They should turn off cell phones and minimize distractions whenever possible. Encourage them to concentrate on what prospects are saying and how it impacts their ability to serve them.
4. Keep an open mind. If selling meant walking in, presenting a product and signing on the dotted line, anyone could do it. It doesn’t work that way, especially in this economy. Prospects and customers are more likely to raise objections than they did in the past. Objections spell opportunity, and salespeople who listen well can take an objection and use it to close the sale.
5. Take notes during a presentation. The devil is in the details, and it could be a minor detail your salesperson forgot that makes the difference between a sale and failure. Salespeople who take good notes can always look back on what was said with absolute clarity.
6. Know when it’s time to close. If your salespeople follow the first five tips, they’ll know how to present the sale in a way that is mutually advantageous to all parties involved. Because they’ve been listening closely and responding appropriately, they’ll know when it’s time to ask for the sale.

Adapted from Magnetic Selling by Bob Bly

Tags: Bob Bly, closing, communication, Listening