Get More Sales - Reward in Listening

Many years ago I was selling kitchen appliances door to door. I went to a pretty usual appointment and when I knocked on the door, the gentleman asked me straight in to have a look at something really important he wanted to show me.

He then proceeded to take me down into the basement.

Yes I was a little worried too!

To my amazement the basement had a large crate in the middle of it full of bibles. He started to tell me that he was involved with smuggling bibles into China. His whole face lit up with excitement and joy as he told me.

He then proceeded to take me upstairs and sat me down and opened a big book that had the appearance of a large visitor's book. He then proceeded to talk to me for the next 45 minutes about his theories of religion and the afterlife. The book was full of sketches and all hand written himself on his theories.

All this time I was trying real hard to be very attentive at what he was talking about which was very difficult at times.

I kept on thinking if I listened to his passionate story; he may allow me to talk about mine. So I kept listening.

After 45 minutes he turned to me and his wife and said, "How much was is it". He then told his wife to go and get the cheque book.

This was the easiest sale I have ever made. No presentation, no close. Wow.

Now it would have been wrong for me to just sign him up without identifying what exactly was his requirements.

So I went through a clear fact find and clearly identified their needs. I then presented to him and his wife the solution with of course some quality add-on products.

They were very happy and gave me some great referrals.

I really thought about that sale for some time and why it went so well.

The area was off course in the building of rapport. I gave him something that I think a lot of people would not have given him and that is quality time to hear his story, which of course built immediate rapport. Normally when I talked to potential buyers you try to gain some sort of connection with them to build that rapport. This call was rare as it was the buyer who instigated straight away the topic of his choice.

If I was not interested in hearing his story and just missed his desire to share with me, I may have made the sale but not as solid with all the add-ons and good referrals.

Now listen to me carefully now because I don't want you to take this story the wrong way. I am not saying you need to chat to every customer for hours on end. Please don't waste time on people that do not suit your product. The key information was that I had already qualified this potential buyer before I went sat down with him. He had already ticked all the boxes in regards to be ready to buy.