The document discusses the importance of listening skills for salespeople. It argues that modern buyers are looking for solutions, not just products, and that understanding customers' problems requires truly listening to them. The best way to do this is to let prospects talk more during sales calls. Salespeople should ask questions focused on the customer's needs, reaffirm their understanding through stories and examples, and take detailed notes on what was discussed to improve memory and demonstrate engagement. The key is focusing the conversation on how the customer can be "the hero" by addressing their specific problems and expectations.

1. The ART of listening
Elaborado por Ing. José Alberto Cárdenas

2. How important is to be a good listener?
• Do you deal with uninterested prospects?
• Do you lose your prospects interest during your sales pitch?
• Do you have problems with customers because they had different
expectations of your product?
• Have you ever lost a sale because you offered something different than
needed?
We’ve all been there, and we all need to improve our listening skills
Elaborado por Ing. José Alberto Cárdenas

3. How important is to be a good listener?
• Modern buyers aren’t looking for sales people, they’re looking for
SOLUTIONS
• The only way to transform our products and services to solutions for our
customers is to understand the problem, and the only way to
understand the problema is to listen.
• How do YOU feel when a salesman calls ypu and ONLY talks about their
product? (Credit cards, phone companies, etc)
• Adressing directly the customers needs generates
empathy and trust.
Elaborado por Ing. José Alberto Cárdenas

4. Elaborado por Ing. José Alberto Cárdenas
How important is to be a good listener?
According to research by Gong.io about
sales call content, the top performers are
the ones that let their prospects talk more.
In their analysis of more tan 25,000 sales
calls, the 57%-43% ratio when the prospect
talks more proved to be the best when
closing deals.

5. Listening = Customer focus
• “It’s not what you sell, it’s how you sell it” This doesn’t mean you can sell
anything to anyone even if it doesn’t work or they dont need it, it means
focusing your solutions features to your customers needs
• There is a huge difference between what we can offer and what customers
value, in the next figure where both brands give a generic sales pitch with all of
their products features which one is most likely to win the Project?
Product A
Features
Customer
needs
Product B
Features
What the customer sees
VALUE
VALUEIRRELEVANTVALUE
IRRELEVANT

6. Listening = Customer focus
• What if we, Supplier A, switch the conversation to only the features that will be
interesting for our customer, have our chances of closing improved?
Product A
Features
Customer
needs
Product B
Features
Regular sales
pitch
Customer
focused
conversation
What the customer sees
VALUE
VALUEIRRELEVANTVALUE

7. The ART of Listening
•Ask
•Reaffirm
•Take Notes
Elaborado por Ing. José Alberto Cárdenas

8. Ask
• Ask more customer focused questions, remember
that we’re not selling products, we’re selling
solutions, but solutions to what?
• Asking does not mean turning your pitch into an
interrogatory, turn it into a conversation.
• Use conversational language:
• My product -> Your needs
• My solution is… -> Your problem is solved by…
• I’ll focus on… -> Let’s direct our attention to…
• I want to talk about… -> Let’s talk about…
• I’ll explain how… -> We’ll understand how…
Elaborado por Ing. José Alberto Cárdenas

9. • If you feel like you’re loosing your prospects attention or talking to
much, use rhetorical questions to keep them engaged in conversation,
do you agree?
• The key question is: How can i help you become the hero?
• The customers is always being measured, reduce downtime, minimize
costs, increase productivity, we ask this to help them become the hero,
their success is our success.
Elaborado por Ing. José Alberto Cárdenas
Ask

10. Reaffirm
• It doesn’t mean just nodding and repeating the last thing the customer
said, it’s actually making accute comments on their answer and follow
up questions.
• The best way to get a point through is a story, reaffirm that you
understand their problem by telling them a story about how you solved
that specific need before, about how you empathyze their situation as
you’ve been there, use the stories to work in your solutions best
features into the conversation.
• But above all reaffirming is clearing all doubt and explaining in detail
that you fully recognize their expectations, and be honest about how far
can you fullfil them
Elaborado por Ing. José Alberto Cárdenas

11. • Storytelling or sharing your experience through a
Story, is the best way to make an impact on the customer
• According to research 63% of people remember stories after
a presentation, and only 5% remember actual facts
• Data activates only two parts of the brain (language
processing and comprehnsion), storytelling activates seven
(language, sound, scents, colors, shapes, movement, touch)
• It helps creating an emotional connection, and inspires
people to take action.
Elaborado por Ing. José Alberto Cárdenas
Reaffirm

12. • “The cheapest ink lasts longer than the best memory”
- Popular saying
• Taking notes helps the brain retain information specifically key
points about a conversation, mainly because when we wirte it
down we actívate both hemisferes of the brain
• In a study made in a psychology school, some students were told
not to take notes while the rest of them did, surprisingly both
groups remembered the same amount of information, never the
less, the ones that took notes remebered the key points of the
lecture while the ones that didn’t take notes only remebered
random and scattered facts.
• Techniques for taking notes:
• Outlining
• Mind-Mapping
• Sistema Cornell
Elaborado por Ing. José Alberto Cárdenas
Take Notes

13. • You can go way beyond just writing down information by
making visual diagrams about the problem AND the
solution.
• Visual thinking and presenting helps projecting ideas and
facilitates understanding, specially when language or
technical knowdlege is a problem.
• During a sales call, whenever there are commitments made
by either side of the conversation notes are crucial to make
minutes or a MOU (Memo of understanding) to clarify
responsibilities and mainly establish our solutions reach vs
customer expectation.
Elaborado por Ing. José Alberto Cárdenas
Take Notes

14. EMPATHY
ACKNOWDLEGEMENT WISDOM
HONESTY
The true salesman does not sell “ice
in the north pole”, he sells taylor
made coats, treat your customers as
you want your suppliers to treat you
If it can’t be measured it can´t be
improved, the first step of any problem
solving methodology is identify the
problem, and we cannot do so by
covering our eyes to our responsibility.
Trust is as fragile as both
partners honesty to each other,
let’s do our part
A master never stops learning.
Sell with the knowdlege of an expert but
the mindset of an apprentice.
Elaborado por Ing. José Alberto Cárdenas