Lately, I’ve noticed somewhat of an unfortunate pattern taking hold in sales. Scratch that, the use of “lately” is misleading; the trend has been more or less obvious for years. Here’s the thing: salespeople don’t listen to learn. Say what?!

Here, I’ll repeat myself – all while looking at YOU, sales pro: you’re not listening to your prospect to learn. Instead, you’re listening to sell. You’re listening to hear your prospects utter what you think are key phrases like, “I don’t use video,” or “I use go-to-meeting…” And too often, you’re not getting any deeper, scratching only the surface of what could be a meaningful and potentially lucrative conversation. Big mistake – HUGE!

If we all believe in the virtues of being “customer first,” then why, during that first pitch, do so many of us spend so much time focusing on our product, our service and what we’re selling – thereby missing what matters most? Bottom line, if you want to land that deal, you need to know (way) more about your prospect.

Start by asking a lot of questions and listen (really listen!) to their answers. Learn as much as humanly possible about your prospect’s approaches, methodologies, objectives, pains, and issues – and this includes the context, not just the data.

Look, you’re not paid to simply take orders; you’re paid to influence the customer to buy. And to become a genuine influencer, you gotta LISTEN TO LEARN!

Did this little bit of advice motive you? I sure hope so! But in the meantime, if you’re looking to hear more from me on what it takes to become a serious, problem-centric sales person (i.e. an influencer in the game), check out my session: It’s the Problem, Stupid!, at the 2018 Growth Acceleration Summit— a sales and marketing event held by ZoomInfo, a leading B2B data provider. The event will be held in Boston this June 18-20. It’ll change the way you look at selling and how you manage deals forever. Trust me.

Learn more here: https://events.zoominfo.com/

Use my promo code, KEENAN100, to save $100 on conference passes!