Stop, Look and Listen

Paying attention to details could help you close thatsale.

"I'm listening" may be the catch phrase forfictional TV psychiatrist FrasierCrane, but it should also be themantra of every successful entrepreneur.Listening is the singlemost important component of any interaction with aprospect orcustomer.

一个有效的销售会议或电话有两个成分nts: askingquestions andlistening to the answers. If you do both well,you'll build trust and rapport.By asking the right questions,you uncover your prospect's needs and find outwhat he or shereally wants. Listen for facts, feelings, beliefs and desires soyoucan respond and frame your next questions appropriately.

Here are four ways you can use listening to help a prospectovercome objectionsand agree to close the sale:

1. Paraphrasing.Like you, customers want to feelthey're understood. Asa good listener, you can demonstrate yourempathy throughparaphrasing--validating your prospect'sstatements by rephrasing them in yourown words. For example,suppose a prospect tells you he's hesitant to switchsuppliersat this time for fear of missing important deadlines duringthetransition. Your response might be, "I understand.Switching to thewrongsupplier right now could berisky." This communicates to theprospect that you understandhow important it is to meet deadlines--and thatyou could be theright supplier if he decides the benefits of change outweightherisks.

2. Lead-ins and endings.Use these handy verbal toolswhen paraphrasingto provide conversational bridges and to stress toyour prospect your desire tounderstand and fulfill his or herneeds. Lead-ins include phrases such as "Itsounds as if"and "What you're saying is..." These phrases showyou've beenlistening. Endings include such phrases as " .. . isn't that right?" and " . .. wouldn'tyou?"

Say you're a bridal consultant meeting with a bride-to-beand her mother.You've drawn them out with open- andclosed-ended questions, and the bride'smother has given you along list of desires for her daughter's wedding, plus anumberof concerns about everything from the cake to the tablecloths. Youmightsay, "It sounds as if, while we should carefully reviewall the checklist itemsfor the banquet, your main concern is thateverything from the food and decorthrough the cake should be uniqueand of the highest quality within the budgetwe discussed, isn'tthat right?"

3. Case histories.These are stories of ways you'vesolved challengesfor clients or customers in the past. Write downenough case histories tohandle the typical objections you'llencounter in prospect meetings.

Let's say you've created a line of herbal bath productsand you're meeting witha retail prospect. The prospect says theonly problems with her presentsupplier are their time-consumingordering process and high minimum orderrequirements. Your best betwould be to tell a case history explaining howanother retailerbenefited from your policy of low minimum orders and easyorderingby fax.

4. "Just suppose" statements.These are usefulwhen proposing solutionsto meet your prospects' unique needs.They combine paraphrasing, lead-ins andendings into one powerfulbundle.

If you were the herbal products entrepreneur described above,you might say,"Just suppose you could get the same productline you've been happy with aswell as easy, 24-hour ordering byfax with no minimum to buy. You'd like that,wouldn'tyou?" Your prospect would respond, "Yes, I would."And you'd be readyto close.

By listening carefully and proposing custom solutions,you'll build strongrelationships with customers that lead tolong-term sales for your new company.