Probing and Listening

Like a physician, a good salesperson must understand what information he or she needs, and be adept at obtaining it at a minimum of bother to the customer. A salesperson has a lot in common with a physician. If a physician doesn’t understand what symptoms to probe for, or if he doesn’t know what a particular symptom means when it presents itself, he cannot diagnose the patient’s condition. In a similar way, you can’t fulfill your customer’s needs without knowing what they are, and you can’t determine what they are without effective probing.

But there’s another side to the coin: effectively listening to the customer’s response. Many people think that training and practice in listening is unnecessary. The result is that many sales representatives aren’t good listeners. In this course, you’ll come to understand the need for listening skills that go beyond the level at which the average person listens. You’ll be learning and using effective interactive listening techniques which help you absorb more of what you hear and make sure you’re receiving the exact message the speaker intends to send.

This course will cover key skills for identifying customer needs. In the AMS Sales Training course Making the Sales Presentation, you’ll learn to hone in on those needs during effective presentations and product demonstrations.

In this course, you’ll learn:

• Why probing is absolutely essential
• What makes a probe effective
• How to ensure that your questions are tactful and efficient
• When to use each of the two major types of probes
• What areas to cover in your probing
• Why listening is even more critical than probing
• How to be an active, effective listener