How to Discover the Buyer Using Compassionate Listening #499

I have a point of view on selling that may catch you off guard. Just like social work, nursing, or counseling, I see selling as a helping profession. The way I see it, as sellers, it’s our responsibility to relieve the suffering of our customers and clients. Each prospect you meet has some unfulfilled need or desire that greatly pains both them and their organizations. The way master sellers can assuage this suffering is to listen and to listen with compassion. Instead of guessing what’s troubling them, ask and they will tell you what it is they want and they need. Too often sellers are quick to jump the gun and talk about their stuff when it would make more sense to shut up and let them talk. How to discover the buyer with compassionate listening. That’s the topic for today.

Today’s Chapter – Compassionate Listening

Know the features
Yet focus on benefits.
What the buyer values,
exceeds your desire to close a deal.

How do they suffer?
Where do they hurt?
What is the pain that never goes away?

The path to help,
is paved with compassionate listening.
When you know what matters,
you know how to help.

Today’s Story

Chris is a nerd at heart and knows the product inside and out. When asked Chris can speak at length about all the bells and whistles. But Pat could hear that the buyer was getting impatient on the call. There was too much telling selling.

Pat texted Chris,

“Buyers don’t care about features,
just want problems solved,
ask about challenges, walk through the benefits list,
ask if they agree”.

Seeing the text, Chris immediately pivoted the conversation and asked about their concerns and then uncovered issues regarding, slipped schedules and higher costs. When Chris shared how the product was faster, and saved money the buyers immediately perked up. They loved the benefits.

Pat texted again, “Great course correction, go get’m!”

Take Action Quote

It’s easy for sellers to get excited about the cool features that differentiate their product from the competition. It’s easy for sellers to forget that buyers just want their problems solved and desires come true. Professor Theodore Levitt famously said,

“People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole!”

You are selling holes, not drill bits. Zen author Thich Nhat Hahn said,

“Deep listening is the kind of listening that can help relieve the suffering of another person. You can call it compassionate listening. You listen with only one purpose: to help him or her to empty their heart. Even if they say things that are full of wrong perceptions, full of bitterness, you are still capable of continuing to listen with compassion.”

This kind of listening can be hard for sellers. It demands that you don’t interrupt or argue because if you do you lose your chance. Instead, listen with compassion and help them to suffer less. Who knows. Maybe your product can help them, maybe not. But without first listening, you will never know.

How to Connect with Pat Helmers at Sales Babble

Sales Babble shares selling secrets for non-sellers. Masterful selling is deeply understanding what buyers need, discerning if you can help, showing what you have, and helping them make a decision that is both good for their business and yours. See https://salesbabble.com

This is a production of Habanero Media https://habaneromedia.net