In sales it is a necessity to have strong listening skills.  Especially when it comes to objection handling.

Throughout the course of a sale you should be constantly asking questions to get a better understanding of what your prospective client needs, or wants, from you.

Asking questions is the easy part, however.  Listening is where most people drop the ball in a sale.  You have to let your client finish talking the whole while listening intently with genuine interest.

Make sure your next question or statement is related to what the consumer just said.  Remember it's not enough to just listen, you have to be an empathetic listener as well.

The following are 10 tips to becoming an empathetic listener:

1.  Practice saying, "Take your time, I'm listening." and really mean it.

2.  Set aside your own agenda.

3.  Be available and receptive emotionally as well as through body language.

4.  Try to appreciate the other person's point of view.

5.  Listen without being in a hurry to take over.

6.  Try to imagine yourself in the other's place; feel what the speaker feels.

7.  Help draw out thought and feeling by asking questions.

8.  Have the speaker elaborate for further understanding.

9.  Say, "Let me make sure I understand," and then restate the issue.

10.  Be sensitive to the speaker's feelings.

Being an empathetic listener will help your closing ratios tremendously because the customer will feel you understand their needs and have their best interests in mind.  For more on objection handling please refer to our SalesDogs Training School Kit.

When it comes to success there is one major characteristic that separates the rich from the rest - their mindset.  Your mindset is a conglomerate of your beliefs, training, experiences, etc.  It is the process by which you operate.  It is your past shaping your present.
Successful people have either been born pre-wired or have reprogrammed themselves to believe that they are or will be successful.

If you walk into a sale with the belief that a client is not going to buy, it becomes a likely outcome.  Most likely when this happens you are recalling a previous pitch with a similar client that didn't go well. 

If you are going to have any luck in your current sale you need to focus on what you learned from your previous experience and forget the rest.

If you are not where you want to be in life you need to re-evaluate your mindset.  (For help with the evaluation and re-programming of your mindset please refer to Blair Singer's book "Little Voice" Mastery or attend one of our workshops.)

You also need to evaluate what it is you are and what it is you want to be, so that you can see if your mindset matches your goals.

In Robert Kiyosaki's Cashflow Quadrant, Robert explains that there a four types of workers in this world; employees, self-employed, business owners and investors. 

Not only are these positions but they are mindsets as well.  An employee is willing to trade their time for pay, the self-employed only makes money when they work, a business owner makes money to delegate their work, and the investor makes money by lending money and does little else.

Most of the workers in the world fall into the categories of employee and self-employed, however a vast majority of the world's money lies in the hands of the business owner and the investor.

Look at what you want in life.  Are you content with a simple life - security, family and a hobby?  If so you have the mindset of the employed.  If this is the case you would be horribly unhappy and unsuccessful as a business owner.

One of the biggest problems with businesses today is that most business owners operate as if they were self-employed.  They think they have to be involved in every process of the business (our SalesPartners are experts in assisting business owners in the establishment and automation of the systems that govern your business.  Call today for a free assessment.)  A true business owner wants to make loads of money without lifting a finger.

Ask yourself these questions:  What position am I currently in?  Which position best matches my mindset?  What do I want?  How do I define success?

Your answers should provide you a personal roadmap to success and happiness.