Someone who is paranoid lives in a constant state of fear.  They are surrounded by imagined enemies who are doing everything possible to destroy the paranoid.  Such a person lives in a terror-filled world, a dangerous world, a universe amped to the max with fear, uncertainty, danger, terror and disaster.  

On the other hand, an eternal optimist with a sunny disposition lives in a charmed world, filled with cheerful friends, endless possibilities, lots of fun-filled days, and personal satisfaction. 

The important thing to realize is that each of these people is CREATING the world they live in.  In actual fact, the paranoid will experience hatred, danger, accidents, killing, and doom.  Their life experience will be filled with actual incidents, not just imagined difficulties.  If there is danger, they will attract it.  If there is hazard, it will find them.  If there is a horrible nasty person just itching for a fight, the paranoid will likely draw them in like as moth is drawn to the flame.  Terrible events simply cannot resist the intention created by a paranoid.

The optimist attracts different experiences.  Good things happen to them.  People seek them out to give them things.  Abundance seems to always be in their court.  Friendly smiles, kind words, enthusiastic greetings simply arrive at their doorstep.  They are a literal magnet for good times.

What do you attract? 

Think about it, and honestly evaluate your world.  What have you been experiencing in the last three months? How many friends do you have, and how many enemies?  Do you frequently experience anger, fear, or resentment?  Or do you frequently experience joy, happiness, and serenity.  What is your chronic emotional tone level?   Are you living the dream, or are you suffering through a nightmare?  Write out a checklist, with two columns, a positive and a negative.  How many things can you put in the positive column, how many in the negative? What do you attract?

If you’re like most of us, you are probably attracting a garden variety mixture of good and bad.  Hardly anyone has a clean slate, most of us are saddled with dysfunctional areas in our life, our family, or our careers.   The important thing is to honestly evaluate where we are operating at a less than optimum level, to find out where we are attracting the negative, and to take steps to reverse the story or our lives.

After all, we are the authors of our life story, and we can write the story with either a happy ending or a sad ending.   We pick the words, we frame the thoughts, we visualize the outcomes, and we choose the reality we live in….really!

It has long been understood in the business world that people will perform according to the expectations that others have for them.  It’s a psychological fact that something called “The Pygmalion Effect” can account for huge differences in performance.  When management has limited expectations of their employees, they receive limited results.  When expectations are high, employee performance becomes exceptional.  

For a fascinating account of how this changed culture at Dunn-Edwards, I invite you to watch the training film “Pygmalion Effect: Managing the Power of Expectations” by CRM Learning.  In the film, you will see how a manager treats his high-potential employees completely different than the employees he considers are marginal performers.  And along the way, his expectations of employees turn out to be true.   It is amazing when you consider the performance level of your associates and employees.  What expectations do you have about them, and how do these become a self-fulfilling prophecy?

In a series of startling and well-publicized experiments, The Pygmalion effect (also called the Rosenthal Effect) was studied at length with elementary students, which proved conclusively that teacher’s expectations of their students became a self-fulfilling prophecy.  In a blind test, teachers were told in advance that some of their students had high IQ’s, and some had low IQ’s.  Even though this information was false, the educators behaved differently towards their students based on their expectations, and subsequent IQ testing found that the students who were “bloomers” achieved higher test results and the students who were labeled “late bloomers” had lower test results and lower IQ’s.  In short, the expectation of the TEACHERS determined results by the students. 

What impact might this effect have on your Sales Performance?

Why not ask yourself the following questions:

•  
  •   What emotions do you feel when you think about customers?
  •   What feelings do you associate with Prospects or Cold Calling?
  •   Do you think your customers need to be “educated” about your product to purchase?
  •   Do you sometimes feel your customers are too stupid to “get it?”
  •   Is the economy so bad that it’s killing your sales?

If you’re honest while answering, and my expectation is that you will be, I think you might detect some of your own expectations, and how they are impacting your sales performance.  If you expect the worst, you will probably get it!  And if you expect success, you’ll thrive!

The Thought Police were well aware of the power of an idea, the force of thought, and they were determined to stamp out contrary thinking to preserve the status quo.   However, they failed to achieve their objectives because the tools they used — primarily surveillance videos to monitor speech and facial expressions – could not actually detect contrary thought.  They could only detect the outward visible expression of the thought, not the actual thought.

As we all know, our deepest innermost thinking is both private and secret. We may believe, deep inside, that our boss is an egotistical tyrant, but unless we vocalize that idea, he/she will never know what we truly believe. We may think that our prospect is a moron, but that’s just our own private thought, isn’t it? We’re always believed that what we’re thinking is just for us, and has little impact on the outside world. Or does it?

In a fascinating and brilliant work by Japan’s Dr. Masura Emoto called The Messages of Water, our conventional wisdom regarding thoughts and emotions is severely challenged.  In this beautiful book, filled with exotic full-color pictures, he presents graphic evidence that our thoughts create a significant impact on the physical world.

Dr. Emoto has conducted hundreds of experiments with frozen crystals of water.  His method is relatively simple.  He exposes pure distilled water to spoken and written words, emotions and even photographs and then he freezes the water.  Then, he removes one of the water crystals and photographs it with a high-resolution microscope.  The resulting crystal images are dramatic. 

When the water is exposed to the word “love”, the crystal is beautiful and symmetrical.  When exposed to the word “hate” the water is distorted and ugly.  When a group of Monks chanted “peace” to the water, the resulting crystal images were astoundingly beautiful.  The same water, exposed to curses and anger turns ugly and discordant.   Both the written word (taped to the water bottle) and the spoken word (stated at the water) created the same effect on the crystal images. 

The experiments included playing recordings of music at the water.  Heavy metal music resulted in crystal structures that were bizarre and angry.  Playing of baroque music results in beautifully formed colorful and symmetrical crystals.  One of his more famous experiments included taking samples from Fujiwara Dam in Japan.  The water was polluted and when photographed the resulting crystal structure was dull, dark and ugly.  However, when Dr. Emoto asked priests from the Jyuhouin Temple to pray for one hour beside the dam, and samples were taken, the change was stunning:  a clear, bright-white hexagon crystal emerged.

Dr. Emoto’s conclusion is that ideas, words, and emotions (including sounds and visual images) create an effect, at the molecular level, on physical objects.  This is graphically demonstrated in thousands of images from the water crystals.  And, since the human body is approximately 70% water (on average)  it is an inescapable conclusion that these same effects will be felt by our bodies.  Whether you choose to call it ESP (extrasensory perception), telekinesis, or simply label it the “woo woo” effect, here is dramatic evidence that those “secret” and “hidden” thoughts are actually being transmitted and FELT by those around us.

 Here’s what we learned were the biggest Time Wasters (note: see if you’re guilty!)

             — Unscheduled Email Interruptions

            — Excessive Web Surfing

            — Unscheduled Phone Calls (not business related)

            — Procrastination

            — Multi-tasking

            — Texting at Work, Email on the Cell Phone

            — Spending time with the Wrong People

            — Social Networking (unfocused, not in time blocks)

            — Working personal issues, distracting

            — Socializing, random chit-chat with co-workers or clients

            — Too Many Meetings (especially without an agenda)

            — Non-focused networking meetings

            — Attending Meetings that don’t begin or end on time

Here were the biggest Productivity Gainers:

            — Dedicate time for return phone calls

            — Blocked time for emails/texting

            — A written plan for each day/week

            — Segment tasks into A, B, C priorities

            — No more than 10 major items per day, focus on the 2-3 most critical

            — Know your Critical Success Factors for the day, make sure they are met

            — Focus on Results

What do you think?  Got any to add to either list?

 We’d love to hear your comments…

In our main topic of Listening, we’ve been discussing the concept of “mindfulness”, which is a very ancient concept stemming all the way back to Buddhism.  To exist in a complete state of Mindfulness, we are required to become fully aware, so we’ll now explore this topic.  

The word itself means “having knowledge or cognizance of ______”.  There are millions of books, articles, stories, and documents which explain in vast detail this very simple word.  One of the more interesting tidbits is the archaic definition, which means “to be on guard, to be vigilant (as in war).”   If the soldier who is guarding the castle is not aware for any reason (asleep, drunk, distracted), the enemy can attack with impunity, because there will be no defense.  Since no one was aware of the danger, nothing was done to prevent the attack.   To be aware, to be vigilant was a vital skill in staying alive!

Today, nothing much has changed.  Having full awareness of the here and now, becoming vigilant, enables one to operate at peak performance levels.   The lack of awareness will allow “the enemy” to attack and there will be no defense against the negative consequences.

In his bestselling book The Power of Now,  Eckhart Tolle writes about “The State of Presence,” which he describes as “a state of intense presence, you are free of thought.  You are still, yet highly alert.”  He also describes presence as “anchored in the Now.” 

This ability to be fully aware, anchored in the here and now, is a very rare ability for Homo Sapiens.  Some researchers have concluded that the normal person taps into this heightened awareness level only under extraordinary conditions, perhaps as little as .05% of the time.  The rest of their time, unfortunately, is spent in various levels of “unconsciousness.”   

Please note that when I write about being fully aware, I am talking about three levels of awareness:  body, mind, and spirit. 

At the basic level of the body, all of the physical sense channels need to be fully engaged in order to have full awareness of the present moment:

            Hearing

            Eyesight

            Touch (Kinesthetic)

            Smell

            Taste

At the next level, your conscious thinking mind, you are aware of the signals being sent from your sensory channels and paying attention to what they are sending.   If you are thinking about past memories, dreaming about imagined futures, daydreaming, or lost in thought, it will be virtually impossible to receive the messages being sent.  If you are not “tracking” on the current message stream, you will miss valuable information.   Being lost in thought will result in the complete inability to deal with what is right in front of you.  Your mind is responsible for analytical thinking (positive) as well as reactive thinking (negative) and it’s where you store all your memories.

At the top level, your spiritual awareness or the actual “I”, you are aware of not only the body and the mind, but also the greater range of perception or awareness which could be classified as the ‘non-physical.”  This can include analytical capabilities, your ability to dream, and your ability to “sense”. This is where intuition comes into play, and this is where the upper range of abilities, such as ESP and telekinesis, can be experienced.  This is the highest level of awareness and is also the realm of the metaphysical and the paranormal.   This is where higher-level emotions such as universal love or serenity can be experienced.

In our next post, we’ll explore how these awareness levels impact your ability to listen and perform with maximum efficiency.

             1.  Listening to the Now

            2.  Mindfulness vs. Mindlessness

Many of you are probably wondering what this has got to do with improving my sales performance.  So I thought I’d address that common question in this posting.

One of the biggest causes for losing a sale is flat out missing the close.  You are banging along in your sales presentation, making some important points, building more and more value for your prospect when suddenly WHAM it hits them!  They get it, they see what you’re talking about and they decide right then and there to buy!

If you are not paying attention, if you’re not fully present in the now, you will miss the buying signs that are clearly right in front of you, and you may keep talking.  The prospect simply wants to sign the order and receive your product/service, yet you keep talking on and on and on.   Worse, the prospect may even TELL you that he wants to purchase, and you STILL continue talking.

I have seen this very scenario played out in thousands of sales situations, and believe me it is very grim.  The prospect practically BEGS to purchase, and the salesman insists on continuing his presentation to the absolute end no matter how long it takes. 

Clearly, if the salesman was paying attention, he would observe the evidence and simply move to complete the order.

There is another compelling reason to be in the now, focused on your prospect, and that’s because it’s the best method I know of to ATTRACT people to you.  If you are absolutely fascinated with the person you’re listening to, if you are hanging on their every word and showing them by your manner that you are truly interested, this will naturally draw them into your “space.” 

People enjoy being around people who enjoy them.  The moment your prospect senses that you are really truly interested in them, not just to sell them something, they will open up like a flower and will in fact become drawn to you.  In short, if you can get your ego out of the way and make them the most important person in the room, they will many times reward you by giving you the sale.   In sales, it comes down to the relationships we build, and if you take the time to build a relationship, your chances of making a sale increase exponentially.

So, pay attention, listen, be interested and watch your sales numbers increase!

Here I'm standing next to one of the World's Best Listeners

Aloha!

While vacationing on the Big Island of Hawaii, I had the time to recharge my batteries, calm the inner voice, listen to the silence, and appreciate the sheer beauty of this island paradise.  I also learned the Hawaiians have a term which perfectly describes the skill of Listening Attentively:

             Ho’olohe ka pepeiao

 If you’ve been following what we’ve been expounding, you know we strongly believe the ability to listen effectively is critical to success in virtually any endeavor.    In the absence of good listening skills, we are beset by a host of dastardly, demoralizing, and downright demonic problems.   Here are some of them:

 Lack of Understanding

 If you can’t or won’t listen to another person, your understanding will suffer.   Here’s a simple example: 

             You have just met with your boss and he gave you a performance review.   During the conversation, he states:

              “You need to work on punctuality.  We can’t keep waiting for you to arrive at meetings, always late, so you need to improve on that.”

 What you heard him say is “You need to work on functionality. We can’t keep waiting for you to arrive at meetings always late, so you need to improve on that.”

 What you thought you understood is your boss wants you to improve the functionality of your meetings.  In other words, they should be made more functional, more effective, and you should work on that.

 What your boss really said was that you need to work on being ON TIME (punctual, not functional).   Result:  Confusion. Your grasp of the meeting, and your bosses understanding are quite different! In later conversation, he may remind you about the discussion you had about being “on time” and you will be confused about what he is referring to. 

 This is just a simple example, but it demonstrates the point.  When two people are conversing, it is very easy for a word or words to be used that are  not understood, misunderstood, or just never listened to.  In all cases, there will be a lack of understanding and potential problems down the road.

 Life Problems

 When you aren’t listening, it is very easy to make assumptions that are untrue.  This adds a huge amount of problems, tension, and stress to your life.  The classic example is the student who is a “poor learner” in school, which is most often caused by poor attention and deficient listening skills.   Bad grades pile on bad grades pile on bad grades, all leading to more and more stress.   Once the hapless student is labeled a “problem,” they tend to become the problem, and this pattern frequently leads to drop outs, drugs and alcohol abuse, teen pregnancy, and a feeling of failure.  Highly motivated teachers will often detect these problem learners and correct the problem on the spot, but too often the problem escapes notice.  Most poor learners are also poor listeners.

 Lack of Motivation

 If you have poor listening skills, it is very easy to lose your zest for life.  Since you are not clearly tracking what is happening, you frequently run into problems and circumstances that are frustrating.   If you just don’t “get it,” it’s hard to stay motivated.   Without your active participation in the conversations of life, you remain distant and alienated. 

 Motor Mouth

 If the world revolves around “me, me and me” then most of the talking will be by you, yourself, and I.   One of the most common causes of poor listening is excessive talking, because you simply can’t talk and listen at the same time. You frequently encounter this phenomenon at social gatherings, networking groups, or parties. There’s typically a “star of the show” present who insists on being the center of attention,  rattling on and on about themselves.   It’s curious that such people tend to assume that everyone listening to their dialogue is fascinated, when in fact most of the listeners are simply bored. 

 Self-Centeredness

 This condition tends to be a common human failing, but it is compounded by poor listening skills.  Why would you bother to listen to anyone else, when you are completely consumed with thoughts about yourself?  If the theatre of your mind is endlessly fascinating,  it would make no sense to pay attention to another “movie” which is not so interesting as yourself.  Also, in the absence of input from outside oneself, you tend to introvert and listen to yourself, and if you’re listening only to yourself, guess what?  You can’t be listening to someone else at the same time!

I’m convinced that human beings were designed poorly from the start.

Everyone knows that we are endowed with two ears, two eyes and just one mouth.  This is supposed to teach us that listening and watching are more important than talking, right?  Since our ears and our eyes outnumber our mouth by a 4 to 1 ratio, this should be a clear indication of what is important.  Our sensory channels are flooded with input from the outside world, and therefore we should be excellent listeners and learners.  The input channels far outnumber our output channel, to be blunt.

However, that’s not the way human beings are wired. 

The problem is that we’re also endowed with a brain, and this mechanism can throw a monkey wrench into the mix.  When sound waves are received by the eardrums, the vibration is transmitted to the inner ear and then modulated into “brain waves” which are then interpreted by the brain.  (I’m not a doctor, so I’ve probably left out a step or two, but you can get the idea). 

Certain sections in your brain are responsible for “recognizing” the audio messages, and other sections recognize the visual input, (as well as olfactory, tactile and other sensory input).  The entire mix of signals is then assembled, analyzed, evaluated, and compared to previous experiences.  In addition, opinions about the messages are created, preconceptions are reviewed, bad experiences from the past are reviewed, emotions, attitudes, decisions, and a myriad of other thought processes are applied against the sensory input. 

After your brain has completed its processing work, the “refined” message is passed along to You.   By You I mean the central identity, whatever you perceive to be “yourself.”  The psychiatrists would identify the “I” as the ego.  Spiritual leaders might identify this beingness as the individual soul.  In simple terms, this is who you identify as yourself.  This is quite easy to demonstrate in two steps:

1.  Think about, or imagine, a dog or a cat.  Get the mental picture firmly in your mind.

2.  Who is looking at that picture?

Fact is, SOMEONE looks at the mental images that are produced by the brain, and that someone we can identify as You.

What is important about this is to realize that what occurs in the external world is one thing, but what you eventually perceive is quite another.  Virtually everything that you have ever seen, heard, felt, smelled or touched has been “interpreted” or filtered by your brain.  In short, the accuracy of your information is almost completely dependant upon what the brain tells you. 

And that is the crux of the problem.  

Since our birth, we human beings have been receiving information that is filtered by our brain, and the “self” or the “ego” then makes decisions about what to do with the information.   Because we have all learned from childhood that we are the “center of the universe”, we are all to a certain extent self-centered.  Many of us are downright egotistical.  The cult of “me”, “me”, “me” is one which most of us belong to.  Most everything we experience is viewed from the standpoint of “what’s in it for me.”  Selfishness and self-centeredness seem to be the birthright of the human race. 

If we were able to receive information straight from the source, without filtering by our ego-driven brains, we would probably be recognized by our peers as being amazingly perceptive.  Who knows, with this ability we might even be viewed as a genius! 

In upcoming posts, I’ll be discussing techniques to directly access external reality, bypassing the filtering effect.  To master the art of Active Listening, we will drill deep into everything which prevents the exercise of this vital skill. 

As always, I invite comments, suggestions, disagreements, and encouragement.

Until my next post,

Patrick

Many of you have already read and used the advice I wrote about in my first two books: 

            – Precision Selling: 21 winning strategies to achieve Peak Performance

            — Find Lost Revenue: Uncover hidden causes to Common Sales &

                Marketing Problems

And I’m happy to add that ALL of the comments were positive!

I decided over a year ago that my next book would be an evolution of my thoughts regarding sales and sales management, and this book would be devoted to the “higher side” of selling.  Some would call this the mental side, some would call it spiritual, and some might term it attitudinal.   At any rate, my third book was intended to be an innovative and fresh look at how we might use the considerable power of our minds to create positive outcomes in sales and management.

 Along the way, I discovered that I was researching a book about Life, not just sales.  In fact, I was researching topics that were core to living a successful life in general.   I also realized that I needed help, and that’s where you come in!  

I am inviting all of you, my subscribers, fans, and supporters to contribute to the effort.  Today, I’m launching a new blog series dedicated to the Art and Science of Listening, and I’m inviting all of you to participate and contribute to the action.   I’m calling the blog series “The Active Listener,” and I am planning to post at least one article a week on this important topic. 

Below is my first post.  I hope you enjoy this article and the series.  If you don’t please tell me!  And if you like the series forward it to your friends and share your comments, observations, and suggestions!

                                                *****************************

The Active Listener Series

Blog Post #1

When I first envisioned writing this book, it was intended for salespeople and sales managers because that’s who I’ve been working with practically all of my adult life.   After coaching, training, managing, mentoring and baby-sitting salespeople for over 30 years, I felt uniquely qualified to write a book which explained in very explicit terms the biggest problem that all salespeople suffer from. 

Please note that I wrote “the biggest problem”, singular case. 

How would you like to know, with certainty, the single common denominator of every lost sale you’ve ever experienced?  What would it mean if you could understand fully the “hidden reasons” for a lack of sales performance?  If you are managing a sales organization, what would be the impact if you suddenly understand the single biggest reason for poor performance by your salespeople, and your managers? 

I’ll give you the simple truth right now:

The problem you and practically every salesperson and manager in the world suffer from is Failure to Listen.  

 Let me repeat that, because I’m almost positive it didn’t yet register:
Failure to Listen.

 “No,” you’re thinking.  “I’m not an idiot, it can’t be that simple.  There must be another reason.  I’ve preached the value of listening to my troops for years, and I’m certain they got the message.  My people listen, I’m positive of it.  I’ve watched them during sales calls, I’ve listened to their sales presentations, I’ve seen them close deals.  Maybe some other sales organizations have this problem, but we don’t.  We’ve trained our people to listen, I’m certain of it.  If we’re losing sales, it’s because of something else.  We don’t have this problem. You’re wrong about this.”

I will repeat this truth once again.  It is absolute, irrevocable, and undeniably true in every single case:

            Failure to close sales is directly caused by a Failure to listen.

 My purpose in writing this blog, which will eventually turn into a book, is to prove, beyond doubt, the veracity of that statement.  We will examine the extent of this problem, and discuss the impact it has on your organization.  Then we will explain the complete anatomy of listening and will break out all the gradient steps necessary to master the art of listening.  We’ll also include exercises, drills, techniques, surveys, and questionnaires designed to keep you involved and contributing.

During my career, I’ve managed or coached thousands of salespeople in a variety of industries.  For a long time I believed, like you probably do, that there were many common reasons for sales failure:

            — failure to close

            — lack of product knowledge

            — selling to the wrong customers

            — giving up

            — laziness

            — lack of training

However, I’ve discovered that all of these apparent “reasons” are simply symptoms of the main problem:  Failure to Listen.

I also discovered another interesting fact.  Failure to Listen is not just a problem with salespeople.  It’s a problem with managers, top executives, politicians, doctors, nurses, lawyers, teachers, students, parents and spouses.  It affects clergymen, CPA’s, Bankers, professors, psychiatrists and janitors.  It’s factually an affliction that is common to every human being on this planet. 

Would you like to know more?  Then continue reading The Active Listener Series.

Your Comments, suggestions, and ideas are most welcome!

This is also the first article in my new Series entitled: Peak Performance Listening

Shut Up and Listen

“The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn’t being said.”

Peter Drucker (1907 – 2005)
Economist and author

You are all working way too hard at selling. If you’d stop flapping your mouth for a while and shut up and listen, you would be amazed.

If you’re on this planet and you’re alive, your absolute priority at all times is to LISTEN. It’s hard for me to emphasize this point too much, but I will try.

When a person is speaking to you, what are you thinking about? Are you hearing and thinking about what they just said or is your attention elsewhere? If you’re like most people, only part of you is listening. Part of you is not present. Here are the most popular OTHER activities you might engage in while appearing to listen politely to the other person:

•  Thinking about what you’re going to say when they decide to shut up
•  Thinking “get to the point”
•  Thinking about why in the world you’re stuck listening to this person when there are other much more interesting people in the room.
• Thinking about how you can escape being trapped in the conversation
• Thinking about what you should really be doing with your time
• Thinking about past events
• Planning future events and activities
• Wondering WHY they are talking about this subject to you
• Wondering what their real motivation is
• Fantasizing…in general 

You probably saw yourself on that list. I can assure you that NOT listening to your customer is costing you business. Any classes you may have taken in high school or college on communication dealt with the written word, not the spoken word. Until now, it hasn’t been considered too important to actively learn how to listen.

This is one of the most important lessons in Precision Selling: Learn to Listen.

There are several levels to effective listening. To become proficient you need to function at all of these levels. Let’s call this “active listening” or effective listening. Here are the basic rules of effective listening:

1. Be there, in that time and in that space, with that person.
2. Convey your interest and support. Make it “safe” for them to communicate with you.
3. Listen and analyze the exact words and nothing more.
4. Don’t judge the person.
5. Listen to the other person, not your own thoughts.
6. Don’t interrupt. Wait for your turn.
7. Don’t get “dumped on.” Politely interject an acknowledgment and move on.
8. Listen with empathy. You should be aware of the emotional level of the person you are interacting with.
9. Listen beyond the sounds and the emotion. What else is being communicated? This includes non-verbal signals and body language.
10. 10. What is the person thinking? Can you sense their attitude or decisions? How perceptive can you become?

            Do you see what I mean by active listening?

Now, as professional salespeople, you know the importance of connecting with your prospects. What does this mean? It means Active Listening. You observe, you watch, you perceive their reactions and you listen in on their thoughts. Even though you are speaking, you are also listening to your customer and receiving his/her feedback.

I once mentored a rookie salesperson (an intern) who called on a major petrochemical company. This rookie had been trained in all the technical details of his product (a disk drive), and brought along an 84-slide presentation and two very thick books of technical specifications. He was ready to brief the customer on the minutest of details of the product.

During the first 15 minutes of the presentation, a senior manager stood up and asked for the price. The rookie didn’t listen to the question and proceeded with his presentation with the caveat that pricing would be covered at the end of the meeting. In another 10 minutes, another manager stood and said: “Son, these look good. I think we’d like to get delivery of 20. When can you have them here?”

The rookie froze, and once again did not listen. With a cross voice, he told the manager he’d cover delivery after he’d finished his entire presentation!!

Fortunately, I pulled him aside, got him to shut up and listen to the customer. We ended up taking orders for over 100 of the new disk drives……because we listened to the customer! He told us we were done with our meeting and they were ready to proceed with purchasing, and that’s what we did.

In my sales experience, I have seen countless sales LOST because the salesperson fell in love with the sound of his own voice and failed to listen to the customer. Don’t let that happen to you!

            By now I hope I’ve convinced you of the power of listening and why this amazing ability can change your sales efficiency. What, you may ask, does one listen for? You can’t simply listen to every word with the same intensity. What are the most important items to focus on in a selling situation?

            Here’s a short list of hot topics to be on the alert for:

1. What are the key issues the client has on her mind?
2. What problems are killing productivity in the company?
3. What changes have recently occurred?
4. What is their buying cycle?
5. Who makes decisions and why?
6. How does work get done at “Company X”?
7. If problems aren’t fixed, what will happen?

Of course, your questions will be directed to these topics. But if you master the art of listening, you will find that most prospective customers will be more than happy to tell you far more than you will ever need to know about their company. A sympathetic, active, and engaged listener is a prized commodity! People love to talk and for that they need a good listener. Be that listener, and you will see a huge positive impact in your life and in your sales ability.

By now, I hope we’ve convinced you that everyone is a  salesperson and that these rules apply across the board. Your listening skills need to be finely tuned and utilized well to accomplish whatever you set out to achieve.  To be successful, you must absolutely master the Art and Science of Listening.