Listen to Understand your Prospects

From Recruitment Specialist & Sales Development Expert, Alex Cole-Murphy

Prospecting is a critical part of the sales process. It’s easy to hear what your prospect has to say – but are you listening to understand? In selling, there are critical words and phrases you will want to listen for, and based on what you are hearing, you will create the appropriate response. After this brief video, you will be in a better position to listen to understand. 

Find out more below:

Hearing the Cue Cards – Listen to Understand from Anthony Cole Training on Vimeo.

Do You Need Help Developing Your Qualifying Skills?

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR SALES GROWTH COACHING OPPORTUNITIES

Video Transcript: 

Listen. 10 seconds of silence seems like a lifetime doesn’t it?  But silence is one of the keys to becoming a better listener and in selling, it will help you be better at understanding what a prospect wants, why they want it, and how they want it.   

In a conversation with your prospect (or your significant other!) hearing is not enough – you have to listen to understand.  But you also need to know what to listen for and what to do when you hear the right or wrong things. In selling, there are critical words and phrases you will want to listen for, and then based on what you are hearing, you will create the appropriate response.  After this brief video, you will be in a better position to listen to understand. 

So let’s dive in. 

Here is a list of what we call ‘safe words’. They are safe for the prospect because they really don’t tell you anything and don’t commit the prospect to anything. Safewords lack a clear definition.  When a prospect tells you that they ‘should’ get a chance to consider your proposal sometime next week, what the heck does that mean?  Unfortunately, salespeople hear these words and they get happy ears.  Make sure you listen for these words AND dig deeper to find out in more detail what the other person is REALLY telling you – ask another question to get clarity on the next step. 

So here are some words and phrases that are actually really good words but they may sound bad to a salesperson. 

These are good words because now you know where your prospect stands on a topic.  For example, when someone tells you the ‘timing is bad’, you have information to work with!   

• Your response should be – good, when should I call you back, when is the right time? 
• They might say something like – in a couple of months  
• You say great, just so I’m clear – are you asking me to call back because you really want to talk about this or are you just trying to get rid of me? 

Here’s another example- Suppose your prospect says your price is higher than the competition.  You should say – Okay, when you told them they had the business were they happy?  You can count on your prospect saying – I didn’t give them the business yet – which allows you to say – ‘why not’? and gain critical information about what is important other than price. 

More to come on this fascinating topic of hearing the cue cards and thanks for tuning in!