5 Tips For Listening Effectively

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Imagine how good you feel when you are expressing yourself to someone, and trying to explain what you need, and the person on the other end of the conversation understands your needs 100%. 

Not only do they understand, but they are even curious about your situation, and ask engaging questions to really see the main point. 

If you’ve been in this situation before, you know how empowering it can feel to be truly understood by someone else. In Sales Therapy the number one theme you’ll see throughout everything weI do is always putting the customer in a position of empowerment. 

Whether it is a prospecting call, or a customer with whom you communicate on a weekly basis, you should always be putting the customer in an empowering situation whenever possible. 

You can start empowering your customers TODAY, right away, by simply considering and applying the following 5 tips. 

1. Listen to Understand, Not to Respond 

First and foremost, I did not make this up. You’ve probably seen this in a million LinkedIn posts throughout the years. This is nothing new, of course, but try thinking about it in terms of empowering your customer. 

In order to truly listen to understand, you’ll first need a pen and notepad. 

The reason you will need this is so you can write down key phrases or words the customer uses in their explanation for you to use later on in the conversation. Or, better yet, let’s say the customer says something you don’t quite understand. You get what the words mean, but you’re not exactly sure what they’re asking. 

Guess what? Sometimes the customer doesn’t even know exactly what they’re asking! 

So, you can write down “questionable” phrases the customer says so that you can remember to ask about them later on in the conversation. 

But it’s 2021! Why can’t you just type what they say into a word document, or your CRM? 

Well, have you ever been on the phone with someone while they are typing something up? It’s quite irritating, it’s obvious that the person is typing away on something else, and it quite literally shows you that they are not paying attention to anything you say. 

Besides, if you type while on the phone, even if you truly ARE paying attention to them, the sound of your keyboard will make them feel as though you are not listening to them. 

As always, what you think about how they feel is completely irrelevant. If they feel as though you are not listening… you are not listening. 

2. Ask Clarifying Questions 

This goes right along with writing down what they say in a notepad. After you have taken those notes, you use them to your advantage and you repeat the customer’s exact words to them. Just that alone will show the customer you were listening to them. 

Seriously, just repeating their exact words and phrases back to them is half the battle of showing a customer you are listening to understand them. 

For example, let’s say the customer says something along the lines of, “I’ve tried using COMPETITOR PRODUCT and it really just didn’t work out, so I don’t want to go down that road again,” and they just continue on with their problem without elaborating on what didn’t work out for them. 

In this case, you should respond with something similar to, “you said you tried COMPETITOR PRODUCT and it really didn’t work out for you. I’m curious, what about that solution didn’t work out for you?” 

Notice what that does. A lot of salespeople may ask what they didn’t like about the competition, but it’s usually just to get another piece of “dirt” on the competition to use on a future pitch. 

However, by starting the response with, “you said…” you show them that you are listening. You quite literally told them what they said, and repeated their exact words back to them. Doing that will make the customer feel good about speaking with you, and they will be more likely to elaborate. 

The other thing this response does is prove that you are genuinely curious. By starting your question off with a simple, “I’m curious…” you automatically show the customer that you are sincerely interested in their pains and problems, and want to work with them to improve their situation. 

3. Repeat Their Exact Words and Phrases Back to Them 

This may seem like a repeat of the last tip, but it is not. Rather, this is to elaborate on tip number two. Repeating their words back to them does not necessarily have to be used for asking clarifying questions. 

Instead, you can use their words while expressing your own opinions, or product suggestion. 

As an example, let’s say the customer casually mentions not liking software packages that have all sorts of colors or flashing text fields. They like plain and simple software that just gets the job done, and they aren’t concerned with the aesthetics. 

For this example, let’s say you aren’t even trying to sell them software. Your company doesn’t even make software packages! But, the customer went off on some tangent about software they don’t like because it is remotely related to your conversation. 

A bad listener would say, “yeah, flashy software isn’t always the best. But getting back to…” 

Do not do this! A lot of sales managers and sales coaches may tell you to dominate the conversation and always be closing, and guiding the conversation toward the close. I am not saying those tactics don’t work. I am saying that I have a better way of treating customers. 

Instead, try something more like, “you said a minute ago that you didn’t like software with a lot of colors or flashing text fields. You’re totally right. Why does a software need to look good if it gets the job done correctly? I’m not much of a fan either.” 

Now, does any of that have to do with your product or service? In this example, no, it doesn’t. 

Is this moving the conversation closer to the close? I honestly think so, but it’s just an unorthodox way of getting there. 

So why are we even picking up on such a small detail? 

Well, quite honestly, it is to accomplish two things. Firstly, we are showing the customer how closely we are listening to their words. Even when they are talking about something completely unrelated to the product or service you sell, you are listening to them. When a customer feels as though they are being truly heard and understood, that makes them feel good about you as a person, and as long as your product is as good as you say, they will eventually feel good about your product as well. 

The second reason for picking up on such a small detail is to simply keep the customer talking! I am a firm believer that the more time the customer spends talking, the closer you get to a decision. The more a salesperson allows the customer to speak, the more the customer will feel valued and heard by the salesperson. 

4. Do NOT Try Correcting Them 

This is something that I was extremely guilty of when first starting out in sales. I do pride myself on my intelligence and ability to remember facts or specifications about a product, and I used to think customers would be impressed with my knowledge. 

WRONG. 

The customer will be impressed with your vast knowledge if and when they ask you for your insights or opinion. Nobody likes unsolicited corrections, or criticisms of their opinion. 

Just as a simple example, let’s say that your customer mentions a competitor’s product or service, and they say something like, “that same product from COMPETITOR NAME costs almost double what you charge!” 

Now, as a good salesperson, you have done your research on the competition and you know that to be false. You may even know that the competitor’s product is a few dollars less than yours, and the customer is just getting confused. 

That is perfectly fine! Just think about it… 

Although this is just an example, and it’s meant to prove my point, this does happen quite a bit. When this does happen, I just say something like, “Oh wow. Well, I’m sure they make a solid product and maybe there are some cool features it has!” 

Let the customer remain thinking your competitor is “ripping people off” and that your product is better and costs less money. Also, your response validates their complaint when you start it off with, “oh wow”. That tells the customer that they are right, and that you don’t disagree with them. 

Your other option in this scenario is to say something like, “I know their prices were slightly higher than ours, but I don’t think they are charging double what we charge.” 

Don’t do that. Well, do whatever you want, it’s your sales call. But, I would strongly suggest you don’t try correcting the customer. Would that do you any favors? Would that make the customer feel better about themselves? 

Does correcting them put them in a position of empowerment? No, not in my unpopular opinion. 

5. “Nod Along” Verbally While They Speak 

The easiest way to let someone know you are paying attention to them during a face to face conversation is to nod along with them, raise your eyebrows, or otherwise physically show them your engagement. 

That’s not possible on a phone call. Yes, it is possible on a video call, but even a video call is completely different than a face to face conversation. For the sake of this article, we are focusing specifically on phone conversations. 

So, since we cannot utilize our body language on a phone call, we are going to rely on our verbal cues. However, it is very important to make a distinction between acknowledging their words, and interrupting them to add your thoughts. 

I am NOT suggesting you say, “Oh yeah, I totally agree with that” when the customer says something you like. There is nothing inherently wrong with agreeing with, and making common ground with, your customers, but that can actually throw them off their train of thought and make it seem as though you are interrupting them. 

NOT A GOOD LOOK! 

Rather, what I am suggesting is to simply use affirmative sounds like, “mhm”, “hmm”, “mmm” or any other type of affirmative sound. You aren’t saying a full word, it doesn’t sound like you’re trying to interrupt, and it lets the customer know you are genuinely following what they say and are paying attention. 

It’s the exact same thing as nodding when someone is explaining something to you, or raising your eyebrows when they say something of interest, while speaking face to face. But, since we don’t have that ability on the phone, we have to use what we do have available to us at that time. We have to use our voice. 

CONCLUSION 

Whenever you speak with a customer, you should always be trying to phrase your words and thoughts in terms of the customer. The customer should always be the subject of your words, whenever possible. 

However, sometimes the best way to communicate with a customer is to not speak at all! 

That’s right! If you want to have a more effective conversation with a customer, and want them to consider you a trustworthy and caring person, you need to let them speak as much as possible. 

But, while they are speaking, you must SHOW the customer that you are indeed paying attention to what they are saying. You must prove to your customer that their words, thoughts, and opinions matter to you, and let them know you are hanging on their every word. 

If you do this on every phone call with a prospect or customer, you will see their level of engagement significantly increase. You will start spending more time on the phone with each customer, and you will have much more meaningful conversations with customers and prospects alike. 

Just like any of my tips and insights, will these five tips alone start the orders rolling in? Absolutely not. Will you finally get the million dollar order by following these five tips? Not a chance. 

But, what I can promise you is that neither of those things will happen until you first start having more meaningful conversations with customers and prospects. 

That is precisely what I can help salespeople with. I can help any salesperson, regardless of product or industry, have more meaningful and effective interactions with their customers. Trust me, once you get a good handle on that, the rest is pretty straight forward. 

Yes, you need to have strong product knowledge. Yes, you should know a lot about your competitors. Yes, there are other VERY important elements to sales. However, having MEANINGFUL customer engagement is the number one aspect of sales that will help you get more orders and crush your quota! 

What do you think? Would you disagree with anything said in this article? 

If so, please let me know. I am always looking for ways to improve, and if you think there is something I missed, or there’s something with which you don’t agree, let’s discuss!