The purpose of listening for effective Selling

In selling, you should be listening with purpose. Not just to build rapport, not to be polite, not to flatter, not to seduce, but more strategic acquisition of important and useful information.

Here are several of the most important things to listen for:

• What keeps him up at night to sleep, bile crawling up his esophagus from frustration, anger and resentment? Remember, relief of pain sells more than potential gain.
• What does he fear and worry about most? Remember that, fear is the most powerful of all motivation forces.
• What overriding value is most important to him, as demonstrated by his behavior and prioritized actions, not just lip service-is it family, marriage, career achievement, wealth, security, what?

Then you listen with your purpose. And you'll be able to quantify and measure your listening effectiveness. After a first conversation with client, I measure mine by how many things I was listening I heard and remembered. Because measurement automatically improve performance, you'll become a much more effective listener with this discipline.