In Josiane Feigon’s new book, “Smart Selling on the Phone and Online,” she focuses on  listening as part of the Sales 2.0 world.  With information overload, complex buying cycles, an uncertain economy, she says that customers often don’t want to listen, and salespeople stop listening.

Active listening, she writes, is  ”really hearing what the other person is saying, evaluating it in your mind, and responding appropriately.”     Josianne  says two kinds of questions help reps actively listen and dig deeper.

  • Paraphrasing.  Restating the person’s statement in your own words.  Using phrases like:  ”If I understand you correctly…?” or “What I hear you saying is…”Other clarifying questions:  ”Can you clarify this?”  or “Is this the problem as you see it?”  ”As I understand it, the plan is….and (restatement); am I hearing you correctly?”
  • Asking Precision Questions.  ”How Specifically do you….?”  ”What Exactly is your goal?”
    • This can also dig through some of the vagueness, or “fuzzy words”  salespeople can encounter during needs discovery, which obscure the customer’s real needs.

In listening to sales reps calls over the years, I know that it can be really clear when a rep is truly listening, or simply going through the motions to move through the sales process to  hit their outbound call number for the day.  Here are  Josiane’s “Top Ten Bad Listening Habits.”

  1. Interrupting
  2. Jumping to conclusions
  3. Finishing the customer’s sentences
  4. Becoming impatient
  5. Providing “me too” or “one up” interruptions
  6. “All about me” listening
  7. Presenting advice and solutions too soon
  8. Pseudo-listening (pretending to listen)
  9. Being judgemental
  10. Not reacting

When it comes down to it, these not so great listening habits apply to other areas of life, too….but that’s another post!  Thanks Josiane, for the great insight!

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