I had just closed a car dealer on working with me for a second year. In the work I do, there are no salaries or benefits. You work gig to gig, retainer to retainer. Every gig was a big deal for my wife and me–nothing, including income, is guaranteed.
(Actually, nothing is guaranteed even for the salaried. We all work for ourselves. But that’s for another post.)
As we wrapped up, the car dealer exclaimed, “You’re a helluva salesman!”
I was shocked and corrected him with a laugh: I wasn’t in sales.
(Actually, we are all in sales. Again, that’s for another post.)
“No, you sell, son.” he said. “You’ve got the one skill you have to have. You listen.”
His kind words still ring in my ears from time to time.
Allow me to encourage you today:
Go listen.
When you listen to customers, you learn
- the motivation at the heart of a customer’s request
- the objections keeping them from the purchase
- the reasons a competitor’s product or service appeals to them
- that the impressive sales pitch you have prepared has nothing to do with the customer’s wants and needs, and you should just shut up and keep listening.
Perhaps just as important, you also give the customer a gift: They feel heard.
Time and again I have seen a customer relax and proceed with a purchase just because they finally found a salesperson who understands them (i.e., listens).
Salespeople who don’t listen are just order takers.
Plato’s dialogues feature his mentor, Socrates, in conversation with various students and opponents. He always starts with questions and listens to the answers. He eventually teaches–but he stays humble and curious, always wanting to get to the heart of the matter.
The scholar David V. Hicks says that half of the heart of classical education is a “spirit of inquiry.” That is, you must have a general curiosity about things and be willing to explore them.
Socrates and classical education apply equally to both professors and salespeople. And to you.
I don’t know what you do, but I know you need the ability to listen. Parents understanding their children’s hearts. Managers learning their employees’ motivations and needs.
Human beings striving to better understand the world around them.
I’m glad I listened to my car dealer. Not only did I make a sale, but I also learned one heck of a saying to wrap up this encouragement:
Ripe fruit is dead.
If you think you’ve arrived, the scary news is that you just might have. You’ve peaked.
But if you’re willing to stay humble and curious, the sky is the limit. Listening is a skill you can learn.
Go listen today.