A Sales Secret: Don’t Wait to Talk—Really Listen

Conjure an image of a successful salesperson, and it’ll probably involve someone who is an expert at communicating. Loud, commanding, social. The salesperson has to be a talker, right? They have to tell us all about the product they’re selling and its features and how it’s going to help us solve all those problems we’re having. And so many people believe that the successful salesperson is probably going to be an extrovert, someone for whom talking comes more naturally.

 

But in recent years, this image has been dismantled as a misconception. In reality, what makes a successful salesperson isn’t the ability to talk but rather the ability to understand customers’ needs. Introverts usually excel at this—they’re often great at reading between the lines and uncovering unspoken desires, and they’re generally more patient and willing to listen.

 

The 80/20 Rule: Why Introverts Might Make Better Salespeople After All

 

Part of the reason we expect salespeople to be extroverts is that we overvalue talking and undervalue listening when it comes to sales.

 

The 80/20 rule can be applied here. Salespeople should spend 80 percent of their time on calls simply listening and only 20 percent of the time talking. Looking back on your last hundred sales calls, are you noticing the opposite ratio? You’re not alone. But consider that you can only provide the information a customer needs by understanding where they’re coming from. That means listening, not talking.

 

Extroverts might be able to “sell” themselves, but a more important skill is the art of active listening, and this skill has been expertly honed by introverts. In fact, introverts might find that they can find greater sales success when selling complex products because they are able to develop the kind of deep, long-term relationships that foster trust and loyalty.

 

It can be easy to over-talk, especially when we’re so keen to land a sale and convince the customer how great our product is. But you never know what you’ll learn if you prioritize active listening rather than just waiting to talk.

 

3 Strategies for Harnessing the Power of Introversion During a Sales Call

 

Introverts might find that listening comes more naturally, but anyone can improve this skill to make better sales calls and form deeper connections with leads and customers. Start with these strategies:

 

1. Turn small talk into big talk.

The quick sell might rely on easy-to-understand concepts and memorable phrases, but not every sale should be quick or even easy. A great salesperson will aim to explore possibilities with a lead, guiding them from a shallow understanding into deeper understanding. They might use small talk to break the ice, but once that’s done, they’ll want to go deeper and understand the customer’s pains and interests.

 

This can only be done through active listening. Only by listening will you understand what kinds of questions you should ask to find out more. Listening to a customer’s tone of voice and even their nonverbal communication will give you insight into their state of mind and how they’re feeling about your product or service, even if they aren’t saying it outright.

 

2. Don’t be scripted; go with the flow of the conversation.

When you’re practicing active listening and turning shallow conversations into deeper ones, your responses (when you do decide to contribute your thoughts) will inevitably be deeper, too. You might take something the customer has said and expound on it. You might seek to uncover the deeper meaning behind the customer’s description of a pain point.

 

That’s because your responses shouldn’t come straight out of a script—your responses should be tailored to whatever has come up during the conversation. Planning a sales call is good practice for taming nerves and knowing your subject matter, but over-planning your responses won’t help you forge a relationship of trust with the person who is giving you their time.

 

3. Use data to listen better.

Active listening will help you move away from robotic, scripted, untrusted sales talks and toward organic, two-way conversations. That doesn’t mean, however, that you can’t use the tools available to you to aid those conversations. You likely have a variety of statistics, case studies, and use cases for your product or service, and listening will help you choose the right solutions to highlight without overwhelming the prospect.

 

Successful salespeople prioritize listening over talking. This leads to them truly meeting customers’ needs rather than just having the feeling like you’ve met them (and, yes, closing the sale). So, if you’re someone who doesn’t fit the traditional mold of the ideal salesperson, that might just mean you’d be great at selling.

 

Jeff Winters, CRO of Abstrakt Marketing Group, understands that lead generation is crucial for businesses. He collaborates with clients to customize strategies that generate high-quality sales opportunities.