Listen up

When you meet with someone who is shopping around for legal advice, how much of the time do you talk, and how much do you listen?  According to sales experts, you should be listening at least 50% of the time, and maybe as much as 80%. 

Most people talk too much.  This mistake is especially common when you are looking for new business, and want to explain all the reasons why your firm is special.  But your customer is a lot more interesting than you are.  If you doubt it, just ask her.  So you need to devote most of your meeting time to understanding what she wants, needs, and feels. 

The best way to understand your customers is to “master the art of the easily answered question,” as explained in Kevin Daley’s book Socratic Selling:  How to Ask the Questions that Get the Sale.  Daley covers several different kinds of probing, and offers many examples to get you started with questions like:

•           Tell me more about ____.

•           Give me an example of ____.

•           What else should I know about ____?

•           How does ____ fit the picture?

•           Talk to me about your experience with _____.

•           How do you handle _____?

•           Why is this important right now?

And when it’s time to wrap up the meeting, he suggests that you get agreement and approval with questions like:

•           How does that sound?

•           Do I have it right?

Sales meetings are the opposite of cross examination.  A meeting can be a huge success even if you say very little.  If you meet with the right people, and they begin to like and trust you, you will be on the way to new business.