During a sales presentation, one of my colleagues made the statement ?f you are telling you ain? selling.?/i> These wise words started me thinking about selling from an entirely different perspective.

         When sales people stop telling and start listening, they can begin to separate the suspects from the prospects. Depending upon your sales cycle (the time from the first contact to the actual closing of the sale), removing wasted time is another benefit when changing your approach to double your sales results.

         Now that you know you have a prospect (someone who has a need) you can sharpen your listening skills to hear what is not being said. As you ask open ended questions and probe for your prospect to begin to share all of his or her challenges (what some sales experts call pain), you are actually facilitating a dialogue where you are building a relationship. During this rapport building conversation, the focus is on the prospect and off your services or products.