'Listening' for the Solution

If you're talking, you're not listening, and as a result you're not learning anything that you'll need to reply in a way that progresses a sale, you're not earning your prospect's trust, and you certainly won't earn the right to ask for the business.

Ideally, you should talk 20 percent of the time; ask questions and listen 80 percent of the time. Then and only then can you tailor your sales presentation to the prospect's real needs, and in the process, earn their trust and the right to close the sale.

Keep your questions brief and concise. The more complex the question, the less likely you are to get the information you need. Simple sentences generate complex answers, and this is what you want to hear because the customer will be telling you how to solve their problem, but you'll hear it only if you're really listening and not multi-tasking mentally.

Until you know what they do, how they do it, where, when, with whom and why, you have no business -- or credibility -- telling them how you can help them to do it better.