The art of listening is perhaps the hardest thing for a professional sales representative to learn. The good news is that there are few things which will more dramatically and quickly increase sales than sharply improved listening skills. Interestingly, our research has shown that listening is only half of the equation. The DSR who knows how to ask the right questions, also listens better. The right probing skills will yield information that enables the DSR to respond to the customer's concerns, dissatisfactions and needs specifically, thoroughly and promptly. Combining the right questions with skillful listening will enable your DSRs to understand their customers better, and increase sales and profits.

Areas discussed:

• How listening effects the selling relationship.
• Understand basic listening skills.
• What to listen for and why.
• Understand the difference between talking about facts and feelings.
• Ask the right questions and listen to the answers to understand how to impact the customer's bottom line.
• How to confirm that you are interested in the customer through listening.

TRAINING AREAS:

Awareness

1. Exercise: develop an understanding of the effects of poor listening habits
   1. Case Study: establish relationship between listening and sales results
   2. Case Study: establish impact of listening on customer rapport
   3. Case Study: establish types of mistakes that occur from poor listening
2. Exercise: understanding the effects of good listening habits;
   1. establish what good listening tells the customer about you
   2. establish impact of good listening on competitive position

Strategy

1. Exercise: identify what we can learn from listening regarding;
   1. customer product and service needs
   2. customer business circumstances, plans and trends
   3. customer attitude and perceptions
2. Exercise: listening for facts and feelings
   1. Case Study: identify when feelings are more important that facts
3. Exercise: Identify how are we listening?
   1. marginal
   2. passive
   3. active

Tactics

1. Role-play exercises: determining what the customer really meant to say
2. Exercise: Identify how to improve our listening?
   1. Develop an understanding of basic listening skills
   2. Develop tactics for improving listening skills
   3. Develop questions that assures we are listening to the right information
3. Identify ways to confirm listening for the customer

Action Plan

1. Exercise: participants develop a list of open-ended questions that promote listening
2. Identify five accounts for action commitment
3. Exercise: Analyze potential impact on sales income
4. Discuss follow-up plan with managers