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Consultative selling is an extremely effective sales technique used across a variety of different industries. Consultative selling is built around listening and building a relationship with the customer. In many ways, sales can be compared to communicating with your significant other. In order to reach a solution that both parties are happy with, it is important to do at least as much listening as you do talking. 

80% Listening In The Beginning

If your position entails working in any capacity to close large deals, it is important to start the sales process off on the right foot. Particularly in early-stage meetings, it is crucial to learn about your client’s pain points. Your client wants to feel heard and understood before you ever try pushing your agenda for their potential solution. 

At High Performance Sales, we go as far to recommend that 80% of your initial client meetings are spent listening. At this point in the process, your job is to learn as much about the client as you possibly can so that you can better customize your solution to fully meet the client’s needs. Listening will help you understand the buyer’s social style, which is one of the easiest signs to tip you off on how to approach the rest of the sale. 

Further Benefits of Listening

Simply put, listening makes you likable. We’ve all been around a friend who we simply can’t get a word in with. It is part of our human nature to want to talk about ourselves, and we feel great when people genuinely listen to us. It is also a good way to find similarities you might have with someone. This is a great opportunity to pen up further conversation and really make a client feel comfortable. 

It is also a great way to stand out from your competitors. Very few salespeople learned sales using a consultative technique. Because of this, listening does not come as naturally — spending 80% of a sales meeting listening may feel highly unproductive to them. However, doing this will help you take the first step toward building a relationship and stand out from competitors. 

Tips

Do Your Homework

Before you enter into an initial sales meeting, it is important to have an understanding of the industry and market and the effects that your solution could actually provide for the client. Depending upon what type of client you are working with, it is important to have a good idea of their target market, general monthly revenue, and what type of questions that they might ask you during your first interaction. 

Asking Open-Ended Questions

A simple way to make the listening process easier on yourself is to ask open-ended questions. Particularly when working with introverted buyer types, asking yes or no questions will get you almost nowhere. Nobody wants to work with salespeople who assume they know everything. Asking open-ended questions is a great way to build trust with the client and let them know that you are not the assertive salesperson that they may have pictured. 

Next Steps

If you are interested in learning how to improve on your listening skills in relation to sales, and practical ways that you can use those skills within your sales process, you’ve come to the right place. High Performance Sales specializes in online sales training courses that can be tailored to help nearly anybody learn how to sell. 

Whether you are interested in improving your personal consultative selling skills or have an entire team that could use a solid foundation in sales, our highly experienced instructor Karl Uselman can help you get there. Please visit our site if you are interested in reading more about our courses!