Here’s Part 2 of a guest post by regular Telesales Magic contributor Paul Archer of Archer Training, based in the UK. Paul completes this two part look at how to effectively listen on your sales call by looking into beating distractions.

Eliminating Distractions

One of my first sales jobs was working as a financial adviser for a busy estate agent in a major city.  My desk was right by a large picture window opening up to Guildford High Street.  On a Saturday or a busy lunchtime, hundreds of people would walk by, some would stare in at me. Cars and trucks would drive by and there would always be some movement going on outside.And meanwhile I had to use the phone to speak with customers.

I also recall the very next day being told in the morning that the company I worked for was up for sale.  Suddenly the external distraction of the window didn’t matter, as my head was full of internal distractions this time to prevent me from listening to my customer. Its so difficult selling on the phone when the world is full of distractions.

External Distractions

I’m always amazed when I’m coaching people who use the phone all the time, how many distractions there are that can prevent you from listening 100% to the customer. There’s always people coming up asking if you want a cup of tea, people wandering around, some people making lots of noise.  A general buzz.

A useful exercise is to make a list of all the external things that can cause you a distraction and then make some decision about what you can do about them, so as to minimize their effect.  Here are a few examples:

•    Distractions on desk
•    Distractions on screen
•    Noise in the office
•    Colleagues interrupting
•    Watching colleagues

Internal Distractions

Equally annoying are the internal distractions that dominate our thoughts. The fact is we speak at about 150 words per minute, but think at 750 words a minute.  So you can see why our head is always so full of words and self talk.

So how do we fill the gap? Here’s some examples of internal distractions:

•    Daydreaming – half listening though mind wandering off
•    Filtering – hearing what you want to hear
•    Making assumptions – you know what they mean already
•    Rehearsing – thinking about what you are going to say next
•    Placating – right…yes…I know…absolutely…you are being nice and agree with everything

Easier said than done, but the key here is to understand your internal distractions – identify them and then make a decision to fix them.

Summarising to Listen

Because using the telephone eliminates the body language side of communication we have to accentuate certain other communication skills to make up for this.
One of these is the art of summarising.

Observation of excellent call handlers and telephone salespeople shows that not only do they summarise what’s been agreed at the end of the call, which many of us do, but they regularly summarise throughout the call. Summarising throughout the call can:

•    Show the customer you have listened
•    Allow you to keep control of the call
•    Helps you direct and signpost the call
•    Shows empathy with the customer
•    Helps to interrupt long-winded customers.

So how do we summarise?  That’s like saying how do you eat Cornflakes for breakfast?  It’s easy. You poor in the cornflakes and then follow up with the milk.

Likewise summarizing is not difficult… You start one with a phrase such as:

•    “Let me see if I’ve followed you so far….”
•    “OK, let me recap….”
•    “Let me check…”
•    “Let me check I’ve got everything….”
•    “What you’re saying is…”
•    “Can I just go over your main issues….”
•    “Can I stop you and make sure I’m with you…”

Then you summarize and ask the customer if I missed anything. Remember to summarise a little bit more during the call and not just at the end.

Paul is an international speaker, trainer, author and coach based in the UK.  He specialises in rapport selling and rapport sales management and can ignite his audiences large or small.  Find out more about Paul by visiting his website www.archertraining.co.uk

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