First we want to start by making mention of the known phrase “people do not care how much you know until they first know how much you care”. This is so true. If you start a conversation about what you have to sell or your service as your initial pitch, you are in trouble. The first thing you have to learn is to be a good listener, to hear what type of need that the potential prospect has. Also to see if you can address a serious need that they have. You have to have a genuine concern and believe me the potential customer will feel your vibes and if you respect there pain or just waiting for a chance to throw up on them. Not literally but with your sales pitch.
This quality in itself is so lacking and this is sad news,it is important to master this skill. Our instincts within us wants us to always voice our opinion without thought and our potential customer will fill the non concern on our behalf. If you have ever been told that you do not listen, as a man it most likely came from a woman, you be reminded that this blunt criticism needs to be taken to the heart.Your customers may also be saying this within themselves. Most men have a need to fix attitude and wants to be the one who always solves problems with little listening.For men,unfortunately, this is where our competitive instincts shoot us in the foot.Because when it comes to selling, nobody wants to hear you tell them what they need, until you have first listened to them.
Maybe you have heard the saying that”buyers are liars” well, the real reasons they respond the way they do is they have never went to buyers school. They do not know what to ask and they are always on the defense as most are afraid of getting ripped off especially if they have ever experienced a bad deal before. So they ask us to tell them about our product and we in return think they really want to hear our answer.The more we talk the more we lose ground. The only person that the customer really would like to talk about is himself. Keep this in mind and avoid telling and selling. There was a study made by a telephone company once to find out which words where most frequently used. The results was that the personal pronoun I was used 3,900 times in 500 telephones conversations. When you see a group photograph that you are in, whose picture do you look for first? There was a quote made by Alfred Adler as he states,” It is the individual who is not interested in his fellow men who has the greatest difficulties in life and provides the greatest injury to others. It is from such individuals that all humans failures spring.
The customer has a idea that you are selling something and they will buy in their own time. Meanwhile you will not be heard as to being serious about their needs or to have a solutions to their problems until first you have done some serious listening yourself.People do not buy based on price, unless you fail to offer anything else. They want even buy based on features and will not for anything admit this, especially if something more powerful is available. If you had a product at the same price and offered some similar results that your non listening competitor does , you would win every time. Buyers not only want a good product or feature, or even a great benefit. What they really want is to feel great about having made a purchase with someone that really showed genuine hospitality and concern with you as the most important party in the transaction. The best way to sell is to care. People judge caring by how well they feel listened to. So keep in mind that solving a problem or addressing a need or concern without really listening will result in less sells.
