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The title of this post sounds like something your mother would have told you. Guess what? She was right. I’ve spent many years making customer and prospect calls with salespeople. One of the most common things I see is salespeople not paying attention to the customer or prospect. Do I need to tell you how detrimental this can be to the sales process? The salesperson has worked for days, weeks or months to secure the appointment and then doesn’t treat the meeting as they should, with sacred respect. Getting in front of a prospect or customer can be difficult; take advantage of the time they are giving you.

Let me break the problem down into three common components.

1. The salesperson runs through their presentation at lightening speed. It’s obvious that the salesperson is bored, and even disinterested, in what they are saying and just wants to get through it. But what the salesperson forgets is that the customer or prospect hasn’t heard it before. The customer or prospect is not bored; this is new stuff to them. Your company has spent a lot of time and money helping you develop a good presentation (well, we hope they have, not always true). Slow down! Give the customer or prospect a chance to absorb all of the information.

2. The salesperson never really makes eye contact. I can’t begin to tell you how many sales presentations I’ve seen where the customer or prospect is literally beginning to fall asleep. I’ve seen others where they were looking at emails during the salesperson’s pitch. Basic presentation skills require that you look at who you are talking to and adjust what you are saying accordingly. If your customer or prospect is not paying attention, change strategies. You’re wasting everyone’s time if you don’t.

3. The salesperson has little or no energy while presenting. One of my pet peeves. Communications 101 says that without energy your message will be less believable, exciting, interesting and motivating. I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve said to a salesperson, “All you needed was a 500cc injection of adrenalin and your presentation would have been much better received.” If you can’t muster some energy and enthusiasm when presenting, you may be in the wrong career.

Slow down, look at the customer or prospect and keep a high degree of energy and enthusiasm during your presentations and appointments. None of these things are rocket science, but they can absolutely make or break your effectiveness.

Tags: listening

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