Active listening is a prized attribute in a salesperson. The best seem to have an innate ability to hear what’s being said, affirm their understanding, simultaneously building rapport and staying focused on their sales objectives. To sales newcomers it may seem that these winners have super powers of some kind. My observation is that instead, they have a superior power to be aware in the present moment of all the factors at play.
Were they born that way? Maybe, but most likely they had some early training in the form of repetitive play that they later combined with their growing understanding of the world and skills practice. Think about it. Many of us have spent a considerable amount of time “pretending”, “playing acting” or imagining how we’d act in a given situation.
Early on this takes the simplistic forms like playing house or having favorite toys that get named and may have elaborately created lives of their own. As we grow older these “active imaginings” become centered on goals and achievements. Team members, scholars and just about everyone will get focused on the “how” of attaining a desired outcome and seek to get better and better at executing a “winning form and replicable technique” until it becomes “second nature” or embedded within. The result then is that in a given situation regardless of outside forces a certain advantage is accessible because of repetition and muscle memory.
I believe this means the super powers are — interest, adaptability, persistence and a desire to achieve or win the prize. And that’s just the shortlist. By playing, practicing, pretending, role-playing, and improvising again and again sellers combine their awareness, knowledge, tools and active listening skills to succeed. As discussed, by Dave Delaney in a Bold Talk for InBound called, “Improve with Improv.” The first action to take is to accept the present condition. In the case of sales, it means having to accept the challenges of the moment and the client’s universe before skillfully improvising toward a satisfactory conclusion. Trained active listeners do so confident in knowing that the odds are in their favor. Because they “play” in the moment where all change happens, using all their tools. They know too that should they come up empty this time they’ll surely do better in the next act. In sales as in life not winning every time is a key part of the process of winning overall.
A great acronym (Thank you again Dave Delaney) to help stay on track and become a better active listener is of course, L.I.S.T.E.N.
L = Look Interested
I = Involve yourself by responding
S = Stay on target
T = Test your understanding
E = Evaluate the message
N = Neutralize the feelings
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