Hearing & Understanding

You Hear What I Say…
Do You Know What I Mean?

You’ve met with your client and you feel confident that your services are exactly what they need. After submitting what you feel is a workable proposal, you call your client only to find out that they decided to use another company. Bewildered, you ask why. They respond that the other company was able to more specifically meet their needs. Too often in sales and customer service we interpret based on our experiences, rather than ask for clarification to most accurately determine a customer's needs.

Active Listening is the process in which we gain true meaning from the receiver's message. One of the best active listeners that I can think of is the t.v. detective Columbo. Columbo didn't listen as much to what was said, but rather to what wasn't said. If someone said, “I'm pretty happy with who we're doing business with right now.” Columbo would ask, “Pretty happy. It sounds like you’ve had a problem in the past.”

Active listener's don't guess, but use questions to clarify. If a client says that they would like a durable product, what does durable mean? To the sales person it may mean a product that will last twenty-five years. Yet, the client may have wanted something that will last three. Unfortunately, we have a tendency to interpret based on our perceptions rather than ask questions.

Active listening is a critical part of effective communication, and is essential in understanding resistance to suggestions. The first stall that a client gives you to a recommendation only has a 3% chance of being the true objection. We need to ask questions to clarify. After we have asked a second question, we have a 70% chance that the response is the true objection. And, by the time we ask a third question, our chances of uncovering the true objection has reached 99%. Yet, so many sales people accept the first response.
How do you do on the following common objections? If you can’t immediately think of a clarifying question, practice these until they become second-nature.

Client response: I want to look around first.
Suggested question: “What are you looking for that you haven't found with us?”

Client response: “Call me back in a month or so”
Suggested question: “What do you see changing in a month from now?”

Client response: Send me some information.
Suggested question: “What will you be looking for in the information?”

You’ve met with your client and you feel confident that your services are exactly what they need. After submitting what you feel is a workable proposal, you call your client only to find out that they decided to use another company. Bewildered, you ask why. They respond that the other company was able to more specifically meet their needs. Too often in sales and customer service we interpret based on our experiences, rather than ask for clarification to most accurately determine a customer's needs.

Active Listening is the process in which we gain true meaning from the receiver's message. One of the best active listeners that I can think of is the t.v. detective Columbo. Columbo didn't listen as much to what was said, but rather to what wasn't said. If someone said, “I'm pretty happy with who we're doing business with right now.” Columbo would ask, “Pretty happy. It sounds like you’ve had a problem in the past.”

Active listener's don't guess, but use questions to clarify. If a client says that they would like a durable product, what does durable mean? To the sales person it may mean a product that will last twenty-five years. Yet, the client may have wanted something that will last three. Unfortunately, we have a tendency to interpret based on our perceptions rather than ask questions.