Want to close more sales? Simply listen!
We trust that as a salesperson, you are always looking for ways to close a sale. While there are many reasons and just as many excuses for losing a sale, more often than not, if you lose a sale, it has nothing to do with your ability to close or your level of product knowledge -- it has to do with your focus. If you can learn to focus more on your customer, you will close more sales, we promise!
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A SNEWS® Training Center article brought to you by Tom Richard Sales Education
We trust that as a salesperson, you are always looking for ways to close a sale. While there are many reasons and just as many excuses for losing a sale, more often than not, if you lose a sale, it has nothing to do with your ability to close or your level of product knowledge — it has to do with your focus. If you can learn to focus more on your customer, you will close more sales, we promise!
Focusing on your customer means that you are actively listening and that you personally care about the customer.
Your customer will know whether or not this is genuine by your body language and by the tone of voice. If you are listening with the intent to understand, instead of listening with the intent to respond, then that amount of personal attention will reflect in the tone of your voice and in your body language. The tone of your voice, like your body language, plays a role in how well someone receives your sales message.
Best of all, when you are in-sync with the customer by actively listening, then the customer will guide the conversation all the way to the commitment to buy.
Here are eight ways to ensure you are focusing on your customer:
- Relax.
- Find out something personal about your customer.
- Call them by their first name often.
- Find out WHY they are interested in your product and refer back to that reason often.
- Listen to understand the meaning of what it is they are saying.
- If you catch yourself formulating a response before they finish talking, this means that you are not listening.
- Look your customer in the eye.
- Get your mind right. Why do YOU want to help this customer? If the answer is just to make the sale, then start here.
As a salesperson, you need to care about the customer personally and care about meeting their needs before you can ask them to buy from you. Many salespeople are well intentioned but lose focus of their customer somewhere during their conversation. It is this ability to maintain your focus that will not only differentiate you from your competition; it will win you and your store more sales.
