Ep 2: Great Salespeople Talk Way Less Than Their Competitors

The Sales Psyched Podcast

Episode 2: Great Salespeople Talk Way Less Than Their Competitors

Selling is about empowering the buyer. Yet, according to a study by Bain, on average salespeople talk 80% of the time in a sales meeting or call. That is absolutely brutal. No wonder prospects feel as if salespeople never listen to them.
In this episode, you will learn:

· Why listening more is important to closing the deal

· Examples of questions to ask prospects to get them to open up

· How buyers make buying decisions

It is important to understand how buyers make decisions and to listen to their needs in order to close more business. Stop talking so much and start listening!

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Additional Resources

For more on salesperson listening skills, check out: The Sales Manager’s Guide to Teaching Active Listening to Salespeople

More About SalesDrive, LLC

At SalesDrive, LLC, we help companies perfect the salesperson hiring process by offering a variety of tools, like a sales assessment and psychologically-based interview guides, that aid companies in never hiring a bad salesperson again. SalesDrive was founded in 2005 based on the single biggest frustration many companies face, selecting sales candidates who interviewed well, only to flame out when placed on the line. Dr. Croner reviewed more than 80 years of academic research as well as his own work in conducting intensive behavioral interviews and discovered that high-performance salespeople shared three innate personality traits. After identifying a gap in the marketplace, he went on to develop The DriveTest® sales assessment. The only sales assessment to measure the three non-teachable traits necessary for new business acquisition.
If you are hiring salespeople, request a free DriveTest assessment today: https://salesdrive.info/free-trial-request
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Transcript

[soft melody theme music]
[00:00] Katherine Abraham: Hello and Welcome to the Sales Psyched podcast, where we discuss strategies for leveraging psychology within the world of sales. Each episode is hosted by Dr. Chris Croner, who has a PhD in clinical psychology and has spent his career helping companies around the world build stellar sales teams.
[00:20] Let's get started.
[deep drum, marching intro music]
[00:30] Chris Croner: Great salespeople talk way less than their peers. Dr. Chris Croner here with the powerful psychology behind that winning strategy.
[00:40] Selling is about empowering the buyer. Buyers feel empowered when they are the leader of the buyer seller relationship. That means that the buyer should be doing most of the talking. But that's not the way most salespeople operate.
[00:58] A study by the consulting company Bain, showed that on average salespeople talk 80% of the time in a sales meeting or call. That is absolutely brutal.
[01:10] As psychologists were taught to ask questions, sit back and let the client talk. That's the only way we're able to get into the deeper motivations that are driving the decisions people are making in their lives.
[01:24] The exact same thing goes for you as master salespeople. You need to ask questions, gently probe and induce the real pain in a prospect's life that he or she is trying to solve.
[01:38] Open-ended questions are always best. What's the outcome you're seeking from this? Why is this particular point so important to you?
[01:47] It's important to remember that the moment of decision to buy is not made from the intellectual side of the buyer's mind. It's made from the emotional side. So the greatest intellectual pitch in the world will inform but it will not close the buyer unless you have listened carefully and matched your solution with his or her emotional hopes and dreams.
[02:11] And that means talking less. A lot less. And listening more. A lot more.
[02:18] I look forward to seeing you next time.
[soft melody theme music]
[02:22] Chris Croner: Thank you for listening to the Sales Psyched Podcast. If you haven't already, please be sure to click the subscribe button and leave us a five-star review. If you found this information helpful, please consider sharing it. We'd love your help in spreading the word.
[02:40] Until next time, take care!