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| Walk your Talk: Listen! |
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Speech is silver, silence is gold.
-- A Danish saying
An experienced, motivated and knowledgeable salesman believed in his product, had attended countless sales courses, and knew advanced sales techniques. But he failed to meet his sales quotas!
Solving a sales problem is usually simple. The complicated part is finding the reason for the problem. The experienced salesman of our story did not know why he did not reach his goals. To help him find out why, I joined him one day as he performed his duties.
I accompanied him to a trade fair, at the office when he was booking meetings, at meetings with customers and potential customers, and at presentations of his product.
After two meetings, it was very clear why he did not meet his sales targets. He used all the techniques he had learned at the most sophisticated sales courses, but forgot something he had been taught as a child: speech is silver, silence is gold.
He talked too much. And, what was worst, he did not listen to the answers he received to his excellent questions. While his prospective customers were talking, he seemed to be preparing for his next question. Completely focused on his next question and next sales argument, he totally forgot to listen.
The salesman’s customers realized he was not listening and seemed to feel that he was not really interested in what they had to say. And this was exactly the reason for his decreasing sales. He used the most sophisticated sales techniques, but forgot the most basic aspect of sales communication: listening.
Until we meet again, listen!
Lars Hajslund
JCI President
Make sure to visit President Hajslund’s blog.
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