As you wrap up your day at the office, your boss asks how your sales calls went. You go completely blank. You remember the calls and the jokes you were telling. You remember building rapport, talking about golf, and how entertained your potential client was with your cheesy ass jokes.
But wait, you forgot one thing. You were supposed to be making sales calls and CLOSING DEALS. How the fuck can you sell anything if you don’t know what the customer wants, their needs, concerns, upsell opportunities, etc?
Damnit, you made the most critical mistake, you had all sorts of random shit coming out of your mouth, but you didn’t ask/listen to a damn thing your customer had to share. While you were all Chatty McFuckingCathy, you never let your customer talk. Did you even pay attention to the sales training when you started?
The key to selling is listening. Sell with your damn mouth closed and your ears open as fuck.
Of course start with with a little ass kissing to build rapport, but beyond that remember this is not time to sit around and bullshit. You make money by selling and damn it how can you sell if you don’t know what the customer wants because you never stop to actually ask them what they need!?
You need to engage the client by asking smart questions and actively listen like a motherfucking pro.
It’s not rocket science, unless you are selling complex components for the next space shuttle well then maybe it is fucking rocket science. In that case, these goddamn rules still apply.
Here are 5 genius sales tips to improve your listening skills:
1. Listen to yourself or your call recordings (if possible).
If you’re doing more than 70 percent of the talking, shut the fuck up. Make it a goal on your next call to ask more open ended questions.
2. Focus on the solution to their problem.
Find the hot buttons of your client. Find where the pain exists and continue to ask how much their problem is costing them in time, money, freedom, etc and what it would mean to solve this problem. Then, really wrap the goodness of your solution around their fucking problem.
3. Ask for help from someone who is a great listener.
Suck up your fucking pride and surround yourself by people who are doing better than you. Take notes. Listen to their calls. Ask them how they do what they do so fucking well.
4. Take more notes on your sales calls.
Notes are the motherfuckin jam. Take notes on keywords, phrases, pain points etc and use their language when speaking to them. It’s called matching and mirroring. We’ll get to that later.
5. Improve your listening skills by trying to “understanding their world”.
What do they believe is right, wrong, good, bad. How do they make decisions? How do they go about change? The better you listen, the better you understand your client, and the easier it is to close that baby!
Now get your ass on the phone and LISTEN.
Then, of course, close some fucking deals!