What does your customer really want...Success through listening skills

How many times has an offer been presented to you that you had no need for.  How much time did the presenter spend talking and how much information did he obtain from you in regards to your business, your needs to improve you business.  Very little I am sure or more, did you know what they were even talking about?  Did it make sense to you and did it tap into anything for you?

If I can pass on one piece of information to you that will open the doors of success it is this... Information is knowledge, and with that information you will succeed.  Think about where you do business, why do you go to a particular barber or hair dresser, why you shop at a particular store, where you bank, your lawyer, accountant.  There are people there you know and trust because they know what you need.  You know they care about your best interests. They want to help provide you with the things you prefer, or the way you like to be treated. Now how did those people learn all that about you to create such loyalty?  How did they build that kind of trust?  How the heck did the dog groomer know so much about you?  Why did the prospect pick the other guy instead of you for the same product?!!?

These people were masters at building a relationship, asking the right questions and listening to the answers.

I want to tell you a little story that was one of my great successes.  Not to brag, but to show you the power of listening and what it can do for you.

I represented a line that had six major competitors; all excellent companies, all good products similar in nature and very lucrative, with reps that all had excellent relationships with the customer I had.  I won the account  for this product category.  It was big, it was sweet , it was incredibly satisfying.... it was exhausting!  Most people, even if they know you, don't make snap judgments.  I'm sure you don't agree to buy  something just because someone said "hey, buy my stuff!"  Not only do you need to know the whys,  you need to know how it will help you before you fork over your hard earned cash.  But, listening to incessant babble about why the presenter thinks its a good deal doesn't mean it's a good deal for you.  I had the luxury in my case of  having a great relationship with my customer, and had proven that I could be relied on, gave great service, was honest and cared.  But so did the five other guys.  We were all selling "fiffle fafffle" and they all talked about how great their "fiffle faffle" was.  I chose not to talk about "fiffle faffle", I chose to ask why he was considering "fiffle faffle".   From that one simple question a dialog ensued that gave me an incredible amount of information.  I knew why he wanted change,  I learned about his frustrations, his concerns, the need to grow his business.  I learned what other products I represented that would be useful in the future.  I sat there listening, not speaking, empathizing where necessary, taking notes and started to build a program based on his business as he saw it not how I thought it should be.  So, when I did finally present my "fiffle faffle" there was no need to negative sell the competition, there was no need for endless hours of stating my "fiffle faffle" was the greatest "fiffle faffle" in the world.... just a program that fit his needs and a clear way it would help grow his business in direction he wanted it to go.

The short of  it is folks, you can't sell something big if you don't understand who you are talking to.  If you speak more than ask questions, how will you know anything?  You can email people all day with free stuff, and $5.00 e-books making money here and there, but you've gained? Nothing.  You may have a data base of thousands of leads and prospects,  but do you have any clue what they need?  Do you know what they want in order to grow their business?  How do you know you need to have it to sell if you don't know what it is?  Are you missing an opportunity?  If you asked your base any of these questions, would you know how to communicate with them better?  YES!

Whether you communicate through emails, or through all the social networks out there, or through forums, ask and listen to the responses.  Write down what you learn or use your computer's note pad.  We spend so much time learning the technical aspects of what we do, looking for the easy way to make things happen that we neglect the human factor.  There are people on the other side of the screen folks.  Sometimes we forget that.  If you want to succeed in this crazy place we call the information highway, we need to learn what information is valuable information.

Corie Wallace