An essential part of any business meeting or sakes pitch is the ability to listen. Listening skills are therefore a vital part of any business and should be developed for success. We often think that listening is just waiting for the other person to stop talking; however, this simplistic approach can cause us to miss opportunities learning and miss open doorways to create better arguments.
The worse thing that you can do whilst someone is talking is to think about what you will be saying once the other person has finished. This is a very bad habit and one that will cause you to lose many a client. Even at a superficial level, they will still pick up your disinterest and will then shut down for the rest of the meeting.
The other bad habit is when someone raises an objection and they are answered with almost an eye-roll to suggest, ‘yes we have heard that one’. Again, you will lose trust and professionalism and this is very hard to retrieve during the meeting or presentation.
In these days of financial uncertainty, customers are less keen to part with their money and so you need to provide very good reasons for them to part with hard-earned cash. Another point is that the negative response is actually a very valuable part of the presentation process. The ‘no’ is actually the client offering a way for you to expand on the good reasons for someone to say, ‘yes’. If you believe in your product and if the product really will fulfill an important need then there will be no problem in presenting good arguments.
Listening skills for business thus involve respect for the client and a willingness to listen to everything that they say and then presenting your case. The smallest amount of disregard will lose the client and will taint future meetings.
Listening also involves observation and keen observation of the client’s posture, voice tone and so on, will yield much information. Another aspect to introduce is for you to ask the client questions; this works particularly well when faced with a negative response. By asking questions, you are allowing the client to open up and their responses can provide key areas for you to enter with fresh arguments.
Listening skills for business is showing genuine interest in the client and offering respect and regard; without these elements, your pitch will never work.
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