Sales Coaching: The Secret Weapon for Influencing People

The secret to influence isn't what you probably expect. The big secret to powerful influence is in the way you listen. You have to know how to listen to unlock this powerful influencing force. Effective listening isn't a natural skill and you make it unnecessarily hard for yourself. You make it hard to listen when you allow your mind to be cluttered with other thoughts, your thinking about what you'll say next while the other person is still talking, you're fatigued or in a hurry trying to rush the prospect, and you aren't focused. All these bad behaviors keep you from really listening.

To listen effectively and increase your persuasion you need to be clear about what you're listening for. You're listening for understanding. There are definite questions you need to know the answer to that increase your understanding.

If you really want to improve your listening skills you need to track and measure your progress. As you obtain the answers to the key questions you need to know you have one measure of your progress. People buy for emotional reasons, so the more important key measurement is if you help the prospect to open up and reveal the emotional reason for making a buying decision. Listening is such a powerful influencing skill because it builds rapport and trust quicker than anything else you can do. As the prospect opens up and tells you about themselves you're building trust. They need to trust you to do business with you.

Not only is effective listening is a powerful influencing technique, but it's a no pressure influencing technique too. While you're listening and questioning to understand you're helping the prospect to uncover and discover. They begin to reach their own conclusions guided by your questions that help them to focus and expand beyond their current understanding of their situation.

Prepare for effective listening before you talk. Clear your mind and relax. Know exactly why you're meeting and what you need to learn about your prospect. As you listen for understanding you're also listening for exclusion. If the prospect isn't a good fit thank them for their time and move on to the next prospect. Increase your insurance sales by focusing on obtaining qualified prospects for your business.

The dollars are in the details and sometimes there is important information in the seemingly irrelevant things prospects share with you. When the prospect seems to go off on a tangent that doesn't seem pertinent, realize that they're sharing that information for a reason and that reason may lead to the emotional hot button that motivates them to buy now. It's a good idea to take notes as the prospect talks. Find additional ideas to increase your insurance sales success in the tools below.

About the Author

About the author: Cheryl Clausen can help you get where you want to be. Improve your Sales Techniques get her free analysis. Increase your sales today through Sales Coaching, look here. This article is available as a unique content article with free reprint rights.

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