Selling by Asking More Questions

Selling by Asking More Questions – Part 2

Part 2 of this free sales training material is designed to develop your selling ability by asking more questions and is also a useful support to skills learnt on sales courses.

Questions for Special Situations

During the course of the development we have established that there are different types of questions that are suited to certain situations. However, there are certain situations which can often prove difficult to handle. Consequently, certain types of questions must be asked before information can be exchanged. The next section is devoted to describing such questions and the situations in which they must be used.

Counter Questions

Counter questions are useful in two types of situations: in price negotiations and when placed under pressure. In price discussions the salesperson must be beware of making hurried concessions. In this case a counter question would be a natural reaction.

Customer: How much additional discount will I receive?

Salesperson (laughing): How much more of the product are you going
to order?

Customer: You will, of course, agree to pay the maintenance
costs?

Salesperson: Have you thought about which maintenance jobs
you will carry out yourselves and which you wish
us to carry out?

It is advisable to use the counter question when confronted with an awkward question:

C: “Why is King getting 3% more than me?”

C: “Is it true that XY terminated its delivery contract with your
company without notice?”

The salesperson will be startled. For an instant they have lost control of the discussion and will answer in an unsure fashion:

S: “Yes, well, we made a special deal with Mr. King three years ago”.

S: “Yes, unfortunately, that is quite true!”

A counter question furnishes the salesperson with the time they need to formulate their thoughts.

S: “What do you think influences us to give extra discount?”

S: “So? Are you telling me that XY kicked us out?”

The customer’s surprise punch has been blocked. Now you can discuss the matter of King and XY.

Projection

Projected questions have the function of exposing an opinion which the customer would rather have kept secret. Perhaps they are the secretive type; perhaps they prefer to keep their ideas bottled up. So do not ask the customer:

“Do you really believe that material XY is so good that you do not need a second supplier?”

but rather

“How do your designers assess the material XY?”

The salesperson should not ask:

“Do you think that the last set of advertisements which your company brought out really fulfilled their purpose?”

but rather

“Were your advertising specialists satisfied with the last campaign?”

Now the customer has the opportunity to express their opinions of other people and other things. The majority of customers take advantage of this opportunity.

Element of Surprise

Eye opening questions or questions which cause surprise are successful if the discussions have not succeeded in getting underway either because the customer is concealing their opinions and problems or because your client is sitting opposite you brooding. In such instances the customer must be shaken out of their complacency.

This happens in the following manner. The salesperson thinks about the customer’s main interest and remarks, in the form of a question, that the customer is on the verge of contravening their main interest.

To a customer who is concerned about the future or their company’s reputation say: “A, B, and C (the customer’s main competition) have bought our product. Surely you are not going to let them take more than their fair share of the market?”

To a thrifty customer say: ”You are about to throw £3,000 down the drain. Do you really want to do that?”

To someone caught up in an internal power struggle say: “Why are you giving your opposite numbers in the company a chance to reject you. After all they have not carried out the most accurate studies of these new technological procedures.”

The customer hesitates. They will not be offended if the salesperson uses the correct tone of voice (we favour a tone of encouragement). Perhaps they will now come around to your way of thinking.

Better Listening

“In general, people do not know how to make full use of a discussion. They pay too much attention to what they say and how they want to reply. In addition, the actual listener is content for the most part with answering, as part repayment of politeness, rather than listening to what the other person said or the way in which it was said (tone and gestures).”

So writes Friedrich Nietzsche in his book “Human. All too human.(Part 11, Chapter 2). The content of the book is concerned with listening and he unwittingly gives a rough outline of the structure of this book. He refers to the mistakes that are made when listening and he reminds us of the various ways we can get a person to speak.

First of all, you should ask yourself certain questions: in particular, whether it is worth the trouble. Are you really going to be more successful at selling if you listen more attentively?

There is an increasing demand being made by people to be well-informed. Merely subjecting people to information and knowledge does not necessarily mean that they will absorb it. In order to do so, they must learn how to listen. We should pay particular attention to the well-known maxim “Listen and learn”.

Despite all the education we receive and the teaching we are given whilst growing up, very few people are capable of listening properly. The art of listening is sadly neglected in today’s fast-moving society.

One way in which we can improve our listening technique is to improve the way we transmit information so that it becomes easier to listen. In addition, we should also refine the way we receive information, i.e. learn to filter out key information. To do this, you are obliged to concentrate.

What are the Advantages of Attentive and Careful Listening?

1. You must be familiar with the customers situation and problem in order to be able to offer the right product, at the right time, in the correct amounts, using the right arguments. How is your customer currently operating? Using what materials? What type of machinery? What methods of production are used? What capacity? How is the company organised? What are the company’s intentions and problems? What is the position of the negotiation partners? Who is in agreement with the proposals? This information, which you need to know, can be obtained either from the customer or not at all. Therefore the first advantage of attentive listening is that you obtain information.

2. The second advantage is that you gain the customer’s sympathy. When a person speaks they want to be listened to, and not just heard. Those who are interested in what you have to say are sympathetic towards you. When you listen and observe carefully, the customer loses their initial wariness of you, if in actual fact, they were wary. They will be more open to your suggestions. They subsequently gain the need and the interest to inform you on their opinions when you introduce an argument.

3. It is important that you know whether the customer has understood your descriptions and arguments. If they misunderstand then nothing you can say or do will convince them otherwise. Do you encounter problem situations with your arguments? Do you struggle with difficulties that really do not exist? Are your suggested solutions to the customer’s problem achievable or are you misjudging the customer’s situation and the decision possibilities?

You can only find the answer to these questions when you cease talking. Instead, try to carefully observe the customer’s reaction’s to your suggestions. The third advantage, therefore, is that you learn whether or not your arguments are falling on deaf ears.

4. How does the customer formulate their opinions? Do they speak in a clear and meaningful manner; in short concise sentences which follow a logical pattern so that you will know exactly what they are trying to say without any trouble? Do their ideas fall all over you like a stack of tumbling cartons? When you discover the deficiencies in your customer’s negotiating style and ask yourself if you have similar tendencies. Do you strive to improve the way in which you express yourself?

In what manner does your customer speak? What is the rhythm of their speech? How do they articulate and how do they modulate their voice? And how about you? Don’t you make the same mistakes now and again? Finally, the customer occasionally reproaches you. Perhaps these approaches are unwarranted and you can easily prove that the so-called deficiencies do not exist. This causes you to ask yourself why the customer makes such unwarranted comments? Where is the breaking point of the relationship? Therefore the fourth advantage: You perfect your negotiating style and your sales technique.

5. A person who listens carefully stands less chance of signing their own death warrant. Consider this anecdote which is attributed to Mark Twain:

“One day a missionary was preaching to a congregation in place of the local priest. The missionary had a splendid voice. He was telling of the plight of the blacks with gripping simplicity. I was so moved that instead of giving an offering of 50 cents, as originally planned, I decided to double my gift. As the missionary’s description grew more vivid, my offerings increased from one to two to five dollars. Finally, when I was too close to tears, I began to reach for my cheque book. But the missionary talked and talked and soon the entire thing began to bore me. I forgot about my idea involving the cheque book and decided on five dollars. The missionary continued to speak and I thought to myself “One dollar will do”. The missionary spoke even more and when he had finally finished I placed my original offering of 50 cents on the plate!”

The fifth advantage is that there is less danger of boring your listener.

What are the Causes of Inattentive Listening?

Having established that your listening performance requires improvement, you now have to identify the cause of the problem. In order to do so, it is necessary to assess your current technique. Finally, you must decide whether the inability to listen attentively is the fault of the speaker or the listener.

Identify the Cause, then Find the Cure

1. A constant need to talk. The person who speaks is unable to listen attentively. If you want to win the listener’s attention, you must curb your need to speak incessantly. Convincing performance is not proportional to verbal expenditure on the salesperson’s part.

2. Self interest and fixation. Many salespeople merely lie in wait for key words when the customer speaks. If you find any to hook into, you concentrate only on your reply, essentially ignoring the rest of your customer’s words.

3. Hypercriticism and prejudgement. It is a general trend for human beings to evaluate everything we hear and see before we can make a competent judgement. A salesperson who has a tendency towards hastily evaluating that which is said and perceived is not only making an error of judgement but also forfeiting the opportunity to learn further information.

4. Rash closing conclusions. For example: the customer states that they would rather prefer to buy from a lower price range. The salesperson rashly deduces from this that they are obliged to offer lower priced products. What they fail to hear is that the customer is willing to try higher price ranges.

5. Hearing what you want to hear. The customer speaks about the salesperson’s competitor. The salesperson only hears criticism because that is what they want to hear. They do not hear that the customer is not actually unhappy. Result: they underestimate the ties between the customer and the competition and fails to work on the weaknesses of the relationship. Hear what is said, not what you want to hear!

6. Prejudice/Hopes/Bias. All too often, people hear what they want to hear and not what is being said. The classic example is that of a salesperson and client in conversation. The customer is rattling on about the unions so the salesperson momentarily switches off. When they finally tune back to the customer’s wavelength, they hear the word union and immediately presumes that this means rationalisation which could lead to all sorts of possibilities. In such cases the motto is “Listen carefully to what is said!”

7. Intolerance. The customer expresses opinions that the salesperson categorically disagrees with, so they switch off. However, it is important for them to listen to how the customer formulates these opinions. They will then be able to recognise basic theories, influences, changes and connections which they can later make use of.

8. Deficiencies in expression. Understanding does not only depend on willingness to listen, but also on the speaker’s ability to express themselves. Long compound sentences, unclear or obscure ideas, sudden changes of the subject or digressions, make things more difficult for the listener.

9. Speech mistakes. Customers sometimes speak either too slowly or too quickly, they don’t speak in a meaningful and logical manner, they indulge in wordy and tautological repetitions or they unnerve the listener by making comments and interjections such as “Ah Ah!”. “Hmm”, etc. Do not let yourself be distracted by trivial things

10. Untidy appearance. Unkempt appearance, halitosis or body odour, unwashed hands and face, irritating gestures and expressions and other annoying traits must be neutralised and eliminated.

11. Disruptions. Occasionally the negotiations can be disturbed by noise: noise created in the background by radios, other conversations, visitors or telephone calls. There can also be optical disturbances caused by reflections of events occurring in the room, behind plate glass, or in front of the window. Strengthen your concentration by looking directly at the customer and taking more notes. Keep your mind on the business at hand

12. Personal problems. Familiar worries, fear of rejection, uncertainty about making decisions, lingering experiences, anticipation and other thoughts and feelings hinder your ability to take things in. Concentrate hard. Handling a business situation unsuccessfully lessens the pleasure and increases the problems.

What Mistakes do You Make When Listening?

Ask yourself these important questions. What mistakes do you make when listening? What mistakes have you yet to correct? Have you found the right solution to the errors your customers make whilst speaking?

Check yourself against the following 12 barriers to great listening. Be honest in your assessment.

1. I talk too much. I do not give my customer sufficient time to express themselves or to describe their problems and situation. My arguments fail to function intelligently.

2. I constantly look for points to criticise in the customer’s comments. If and when I find them, I build on them and only half listen to what the customer is saying.

3. I often make unnecessary judgements. When the customer
speaks I make mental notes such as “correct”, false”, reasonable”, “nonsense”, etc. This school master attitude prevents me from identifying with the thoughts and situation of my client.

4. I am often premature in making my decisions. I listen to a few sentences and then thinking that I know enough, pay little attention to the rest of what the customer has to say. Unfortunately, I often realise that I misjudged the customer’s situation.

5. Again and again my expectations are unfulfilled because, subconsciously, I only pay attention to the positive aspects of the customer’s speech; I chose only to hear positive opinions. All too often I chose to ignore the negative points and counter opinions.

6. My attention wavers when the customer touches on their favourite subject because I do not expect any new comments. Moreover, I have never really thought about how the customer reaches their fixed ideas and opinions.

7. I am unable to quietly discuss an opinion if it differs from my own. I argue with my friends but when I am with a customer, I just let it flow in one ear and out of the other. I don’t find out whether an opinion, contrary to my own, actually makes sense or is true.

8. I cannot concentrate if the customer speaks erratically or with a
drawl. I also fail to concentrate when the customer uses the same cliche in two consecutive sentences, clips the end of their words or if they constantly clear their throat.

9. I realise that I should not let myself get irritated by things like halitosis, body odour, unwashed hands, or annoying gestures and expressions, but I can’t help being distracted.

10. I cannot concentrate if there are distracting noises or disturbances around about me such as conversations that I can overhear or announcements over the intercom. In addition, hustle and bustle occurring in the next room which is reflected in the glass disrupts my concentration.

11. Occasionally an evening meeting can be longer and hotter(stickier) than it should be. Very often my afternoon meal will not be sufficient to tide my over. In such a situation, I am tired, unable to concentrate and sometimes suffer from headaches.

12. It sometimes happens that my personal problems interfere with
my train of thought when I am in negotiation with a customer. More and more, I catch myself thinking about things that have absolutely nothing to do with the person sitting opposite me.

How to Become Capable of Consistently Paying Attention

This section concerns the improvement of one’s listening performance. There are two ways of doing this.

1. We have to think of measures that will cause you to listen to everything the customer says.

2. We should think of measures that will enable you to understand everything that the customer says.

Improve your listening performance

Good sales courses always emphasise the importance of listening skills. Let us begin with the first step. Here are ten suggestions which will help you to increase your attentiveness. There should no longer be a point where you only half listen to what the customer says.

1. Write a list of errors concerning your attentiveness. Compare these with the answers that you gave in the previous section. Beside each mistake make a note of how you can break the habit. You will find similar methods in this section. The majority of the suggestions given here are concerned with how to fight against the bad habit called inattentiveness.

2. Do not evaluate or judge what the customer says. If you evaluate the customer’s opinions using words such as “true”, “false”, “good”, “bad”, etc, you are adopting a counter position. If you really want to understand the customer you must try to put yourself in their position and see things through their eyes. If you succeed in doing this, then your attention has been captured.

3. Prepare preliminary questions for the customer before your visit;
questions which you want to have answered by the customer. Preliminary questions will sharpen your curiosity; you will be giving yourself set aims and consequently, you will improve your attentiveness.

4. Try to leave a warning for yourself on the negotiating table; one which
the customer will not recognise. It should remind you to pay attention, and concentrate: perhaps a large “C” (Concentrate) or an “A” (Attention) written on a piece of white paper would serve as an appropriate reminder.

5. Look directly at the customer when they are speaking. This reduces
the chance of your mind wandering and your concentration being broken.
A glance out of a window can be very distracting. Sometimes it can be easier to concentrate if you don’t look directly at the interlocutor but rather at a fixed point on the table, the wall or the ceiling.

6. Take notes while the customer speaks. By taking down the essential points of the customer’s speech in the form of key words, your concentration is likely to lapse. These key words will then help your train of thought when reconstructing what was said. Reconstructing the conversation or rather reiterating the main points, keeps the interest alive and provides an overview of the situation.

7. Do not stick to your answers. Do not make the mistake of concentrating solely on your replies. Instead, concentrate on the customer’s comments. If you get an idea while the customer is talking, note a key word as a reminder and immediately turn your interest back to the customer. Your answer must tie in with the customer’s last sentence if you want to be effective.

8. Ask questions and show your attentiveness. Gestures such as nodding the head, laughing, sounds of agreement, or comments such as “interesting”, “that’s new to me”, “really”, etc. serve this purpose. In this way you not only prove to the customer that you are paying attention to what they are saying, but you also fuel your own interest.

9. Thank the customer for brief and clear descriptions which are given.
“Mr. Fitzhenry, you have explained the complicated connection with professional precision. My compliments to you!” Compliments never cause any harm or damage, when they are needed. Compliments of this type have the advantage of encouraging the customer to continue speaking in an easily understandable manner thus making it easier for you to listen.

Why is it Difficult to Understand What the Customer Means?

We are now embarking on the second leg of our journey. Before doing so, however, we must take a closer look at the relationship between the speaker and the listener.

Relaying a message

When you speak with a customer, a relationship comes into being that is made up of three parts: you, the customer, and the message which is being exchanged between the two of you. Here is a diagram of the relationship.

This diagram is not detailed enough for our purpose. It does not show, for example, the number of comprehension difficulties which can exist. The message does not contain information about what the interlocutor is thinking or feeling. In addition, the listener is often not in the situation to either understand the correct message correctly or to interpret the actual feelings and thoughts of the interlocutor which are contained in the message.

Put simple we must:

Think - Encode - Speak - Hear - Decode - Understand

We therefore conclude that there is a greater chance you will recognise the thoughts and feelings of the customer:

· The more accurately the message expresses these thoughts and feelings, the simpler the encoding of the message is and
· The greater the possibility is of absorbing and decoding the message.

Perfecting decoding styles

You will see that it is not only possible to improve your empathy for the customer by perfecting your decoding skills, but that it is also possible for you to lessen the degree by which a message is encoded. In this way, it is easier to open up the message and make the truth clearer.

Before we turn our attention to the possibilities of decoding, we should ask ourselves why the customer encodes their thoughts and feelings in the first place; or to be more exact, why we all encode our thoughts and feelings when we speak to someone. There are three reasons for this behaviour.

1. Each listener imagines a concept in a different way to the interlocutor.
If your customer says “beautiful” or “tasteful”, “table”, or “flower”, “profit” or “loss”, the picture that they have in their head, from which they build a concept, agrees with the picture that you have in your head; the picture suggested by a standard concept. However, the customer’s idea of a “tasteful” table” may look completely different to what you are thinking of. The “thoughts” and “understanding” differ.

2. We, and this includes your customer, are not always able to find the right words to express our thoughts and feelings. Often our thoughts and feelings are not fully matured. Very often our speech is not a sophisticated means of transmitting data but rather an attempt to achieve clarity. However, when combined with other factors such as paralinguistics and body language, speech becomes a powerful tool.

3. All human beings intentionally encode their thoughts and feelings. As
a rule we want to partially mask our thoughts: through fear, insecurity, tact, out of consideration for the other person or as a tactical move. We were brought up by our parents and teachers to be polite and learn from our experiences. We are used to expressing our opinions in a manner our audience will comprehend and with which they will identify. We also take into consideration the purpose of our statement and the situation in which we find ourselves. In our society, whoever wants to say what they think will not be seen to be virtuous but rather as argumentative and foolish.

How Do You Get the Customer to Speak?

In order to understand what the customer means, we must learn how to decode their message. In order to do so we have to be sure that we have received sufficient information via this message. In this section you will find some suggestions which will help you get the customer talking.

Getting the customer to talk

1. Raise topics. The most important step to take when you want to establish customer’s opinions on a certain topic is to introduce the topic using questions: “What do you think of the suggestion that you test the material for two weeks?”

2. Ask encouraging questions (questions that give a little push or nudge).
Perhaps the customer wants to spend less time on the subject than you would like. In this case, encouraging them to talk by asking further questions such as, “You have spoken up until now of the regular demands. How do you judge the future?”

3. Keep quiet. If you really want the customer to speak, you must remain
silent. If you interrupt them they will lose the desire to tell you about anything and will also lose track of what they were saying. Listen in a disciplined fashion and concentrate. If a customer says something with which you disagree, let them finish what they are saying, for as long as they are giving you information and looking at you.

4. Show attentiveness. When the customer is giving you valuable information, you should occasionally encourage them to continue. This can be done with small gestures such as nodding the head, laughing, questioning facial expressions, hand movements which say something and comments like “Interesting”, “I find that surprising”, “That’s the way it is”.

5. Label feelings. Label the customer’s feelings which lie behind each
statement “I get the impression that you are very worried about how things would continue with X”. A sentence like this gives the customer the opportunity to get things off their chest. It gives them a chance to be free from the need to encode their messages for a few moments.

If you suspect the right feeling, there is a large chance that the customer will accept your offer. The right feeling will also show the essential motives of your business and make the discussion more personal (something you can take advantage of). However, if you do not meet this feeling, it is useful to try and find it: the customer will appreciate the fact that you have taken the trouble to understand them.

6. Active listening. Using this technique, the listener stimulates the customer to develop their thoughts by repeating a shortened version of what the customer says:

Customer: “I am unable to take on any more items. My warehouses
are full. You can understand”.

Salesperson: “You don’t have any more room?”

Customer: “That is it. The only way I could find more space is if
I were to throw out other articles.”

Salesperson: “You must give up other products to get space.”

Customer: “The problem is, what should I throw out? There must
be some product which is not profitable”

Salesperson: “Items which earn you nothing.”

Customer: “There are naturally some non-sellers if I look around me.
There is always something.”

Salesperson: “There are non-sellers everywhere.”

Customer: “What is up there to the right of the window? I think
that the cleaner was the last person there.”

Salesperson: “It looks relatively undisturbed.”

Customer: “Now that is a place which could be cleaned out.
That is a possibility....”

The customer has come to accept the offer and they lead the conversation. The responsibility lies with them to do the right thing and to decide whether something is wrong. This unusual position for a customer neutralises routine and is a suitable way of developing in them a new power of co-operation.

Care should be taken when exercising this form of listening, as constant repetition can be quite annoying if it becomes a habit.

How Do You Understand What the Customer Means?

You have dealt with the idea of the customer sending you a message but now you are required to decode it. Here are six methods which will help you with this exercise.

Take notes

1. Notes are imperative aids if you wish to be able to follow what the customer is saying. They also give you an overview and summary of the discussion. When you make notes urge yourself to hear the decisive concept. You will soon learn to recognise the essentials. A glance at your key words will show you the customer’s train of thought, at a given time. It will also enable you to recognise the customer’s motives, plans, and business traits.

Also, note key words for your reply: things which remain unclear, things which perhaps are incorrect; arguments, differences of opinion, questions or differences in offers. The customer will be delighted with your notes. They will see that you value what they have to say.

Clear up any uncertainties which may exist.

2. The rule that the customer should not be interrupted while giving you information has one exception. If you don’t understand what they mean, you must interrupt them; “I am sorry for interrupting James but I don’t understand the connection between your relationship with XY and your delivery in Banbury.” or “So you mean that you are having difficulties with the change of drivers because you can’t stick to the strict schedule?”

The customer will not be put off if you interrupt them in order to have something clarified; they will naturally understand.

Define unknown concepts

3. Listeners often have reservations about asking the speaker to clarify or define any unknown concepts. They are afraid that if they do it will look as if they are not intelligent. Overcome this reservation before it becomes your downfall. Usually you have no choice; you must clarify any unfamiliar concepts if you want to understand the customer.

Summarise the conversation

4. You wish to understand the customer’s position, their attitudes, their motives, their plans, their fears, their desires and their arguments. To achieve complete understanding and in order to reach a business arrangement, you should proceed in steps. When you get to the end of one of these steps in a negotiation, summarise the essential points of the customer’s speech.

Carry out one of these summaries on each point of the negotiation, even if you are convinced that you are both in complete agreement. You could introduce your summary or synopsis in the following manner: “So, up to now we are in agreement on the following points – First...... Second..... Third.....” or “May I summarise your opinions?”

Make use of natural breaks

5. It is not just an unpleasant interruption when the customer is disturbed by questions, telephone calls or visitors. It is also an excellent opportunity for you to look over your notes, to consider the customer’s comments, to examine their motives and future plans, to discover uncertainties and contradictions and to prepare your arguments. Use these breaks in negotiation to win an advantage over the customer.

Observe the customer closely

6. As you know, the body tells its own story. Don’t just listen, observe as well. When does the customer laugh? When do they speak and when do they remain silent? When do they attack and when do they apologise? How do they laugh? Heartily? Ironically? Gloatingly? Favourable? From their laugh you can recognise their basic attitude: matter of fact or emotional, aggressive or passive, timid or self-assured.

If you can identify their basic character you will have an increased chance in lines of argument or in the way you handle the business. When does their expression darken? When they speak about their company? About your company? About the competition? About particular people, institutions of business areas? Their face will show you where they see their opposition, dangers, greatest difficulties, something their words also would like to express. Once you have established where they have to struggle, then you have secured a strong position in the relationship.

What Listening Difficulties are Encountered on the Telephone and at Conferences?

Listening does not just take place when in negotiations with individual customers. We must also listen when on the telephone, at conferences and at seminars. What special problems can be encountered in these situations and how can you solve them?

While on the telephone you can not see the person with whom you are communicating and the conversation tends to be shorter. At conferences you are not the only listener and, as a result, the possibility of asking questions during the course of the discussion is reduced.

On the telephone

1. As you can not see your conversational partner, there is a greater danger of being distracted. Prevent disturbances whenever possible. Close the door. Make it clear to your employees and colleagues that you are not to be disturbed while on the telephone.

2. Avoid having other activities close at hand: reading, writing, signing
letters and documents. You should not be able to overhear other
conversations or see your colleagues. It is much more difficult to
concentrate while on the telephone than it is when on client visits.

3. As your partner is not visible during the exchange of information, you
must listen more carefully. Take notes with your free hand.

4. Make sure that the customer has understood you clearly by asking
control questions, repeating things and making summaries of what was
said. Interrupt your partner’s flow of conversation to keep control of
understanding. Remember to apologise if and when you do.

5. As you are unable to observe your partner’s body language, pay
attention to his speech idiosyncrasies. Listen to the rhythm and pitch of
of the speech, to the volume of the voice and to the speed at which they
talk. When does the customer get worked up or annoyed? When do
they take particular care when speaking?

6. As the conversation is continuous, you will not get any breaks to gather
your thoughts. You will understand the customer better and quicker if you
have all the documents concerning the customer before you, prior
to making the call. Have relevant documentation brought to your desk if
they telephone you.

At conferences and seminars

1. Chose your place very carefully: up the front so that you can hear the
speaker, have a good view of the presentation board and projections board; near to the window so that you have sufficient light and air in a
non-smoking section if you don’t smoke. The more favourable the position the easier it is to concentrate.

2. Listen from the very beginning of the conference and not from when
the initial procedures have finished. At the start, the central ideas of the day will be announced. The more you delay, the more you lose out on.

3. Do not write without evaluating the information. Filter what you hear:
take note of the central points of the presentation in the form of key words, abbreviations and signs (e.g. arrows for “influences”, “causes”, “leads to”). Whoever writes too much will understand absolutely nothing.

4. Where possible, obtain documents which the speaker has in front of
him so that you don’t have to search around when you lose track of what
is happening. Avoid looking at the documents when you do not have to
look at diagrams, statistics and pictures in order to understand what is
being said. Listen carefully and read later.

5. Discipline the way you look at things. Do not look at your colleagues
or admire the view from the window. Look directly at the speaker, at a
neutral fixed point or at your documents. It is a sure sign that you are not
paying attention if your eyes wander.

6. Try not to disturb your neighbour and do not let yourself be disturbed
by them. You can talk to them at the break or after the conference. If
you need information (perhaps you have failed to understand a
connection) you could take a quick look at their notes without talking to
them.

7. Tune into the discussion even if you are tired or exhausted. Ask a
question; ask for clarification; state your opinion(s). Active participation
prevents loss of concentration and boredom.

8. Do not try to do other work while at the conference. You cannot
read or write effectively while listening to someone speaking; you will
be distracted. Concentrate on the lecture. You will learn something from each lecture; at the very least you will learn how a presentation should be given.

How To Improve Your Listening Performance

The develop programme is coming to an end…

Before finishing, consider these two final suggestions. The first concerns the method by which you can learn and put into practice listening techniques that you currently lack. The second concerns your attitude towards the customer and whether or not you hear and understand their ideas, thoughts and feelings.

First suggestion

Take another look at the section on “What are your usual listening techniques?” and “What listening problems are attached to the telephone and conferences?” and take a note of the techniques which you don’t use. Also take a note of the techniques which you use unwittingly.

The next sensible step would be to write a number after the techniques which you have neglected up until now. Number them in the order you wish to learn them. Number 1 is what you first want to learn, practise and integrate; measures that you would then like to try are numbers 2, 3 and so on.

You can begin with the techniques that you think is the easiest to learn. You could also put into practice the technique that will be most useful and profitable to you.

We recommend not to take too much on at the beginning, rather pick one technique, concentrate on it and consequently put into practice. Once the technique has been an integral part of your sales discussion and selling technique concentrate on the next technique which you have to perfect.

Check your listening performance after every discussion, after every conference and after every negotiation. How high was your performance? How often did your concentration lapse? Which uncertainties were allowed to pass through without clarification? How much of the conversation can you remember after the discussion? How often have your partner’s thoughts been dismissed and/or stored in a small corner of your mind? What listening techniques have you consciously used and what was the result?

Second suggestion

You can better understand your discussion partner when you accept them as a person. What does “accept” mean?

It means noticing that they are made up of good and bad points, as you are; see them as a source of true and false information, like you; understand their erring ways and their situation which is made up of fears, purposes and narrow outlooks which can hinder. Accepting means being tolerant.

Being tolerant does not mean taking everything your conversational partner says and does as being correct. It simply means others having the right to think and do things differently to you. It means understanding that human dignity is based on the right to have one’s own thoughts and independent decisions.

If you accept your conversational partner as an individual, if you treat them with tolerance perhaps even favourably, then they will be more open with their thoughts and opinions than if they see you as being a type of narrow-minded schoolmaster. Accepting the customer is a prerequisite of understanding them. If you accept them, only then can you put yourself in their situation, a position where you can gain complete or at least partial understanding.

How do you succeed in accepting the customer? Accept yourself. Be aware of your good opinions and features: they are, after all, no less valuable than other peoples’. Awareness of our own preferences enables us to recognise the preferences of others’ and an awareness of what we are lacking, helps us to tolerate the shortcomings of others’.

Want to develop you sales skills further? View our other free downloads. Also and view our range of sales courses by clicking on the link.

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