The best salespeople listen way more than they talk.They understand that active listening in sales is a transformative skill. They tune into verbal cues and create meaningful connections that lead to the intended outcome.
My personal experience in sales taught me how to tap into the power of understanding to build trust. Too often, salespeople are waiting for their turn to talk or thinking about what to say next, instead of truly listening to the other side.
To eliminate this habit, I’ve taught the sales reps who have reported to me over the years a very specific skill: active listening.
Keep reading to discover how you can develop this skill, too.
Table of Contents
- What is active listening?
- Active Listening Framework
- Why is active listening important in sales?
- Techniques to Improve Your Active Listening
- 4 Examples of Active Listening
What is active listening?
Active listening is a form of communication that aims to achieve mutual understanding between two or more parties. It is used commonly in professions like teaching, coaching, and sales. With active listening, both parties benefit from the communication by having their needs, wants, and desires heard.
Active listening is important because it has the goal of achieving common ground between two or more parties. In sales, active listening is imperative as it’s nearly impossible to sell anything if you aren’t in agreement on the problem and solution by the end of the conversation.
But it is not as simple as turning my ears on and repeating everything I heard to the other person like a mockingbird. There’s a framework for doing active listening well, and I’ll walk you through it in the section below. First, let’s understand why active listening is essential in sales.
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