As young entrepreneurs we tend to love our product or service and can talk to no end about our creations because we are so passionate about it. One of the comments I repeatedly hear from top selling business owners is that the best tools they have are their ears – in order to sell you need to be a good listener and understand what your potential customer, partner, investor really wants.
David Askaripour highlighted this point in a recent post in his Mind Petals blog:
Too many people nowadays simply do more talking and interrupting than listening. It’s a shame, because so much vital information is lost when that happens — when someone feels the uncontrollable need to interrupt, argue, and ask a million questions when someone is trying to teach or explain something to you.
I think that some entrepreneurs need to start practicing the art of listening. To be able to really sit back and absorb, consider, and register everything that a person is saying. Because when you do that, you are able to get a better understanding and become a more enlightened person.
You’ll find that most of the questions that you had the urge to ask about will be answered over the course of the conversation if you do more listening than talking.
The next time you meet with a prospect, take the effort to listen and learn about their business and what challenges they are going through.
Do you have any examples of how listening has helped you close a deal?
Evan Carmichael
