In continuation of the 5-week Daily Plan series, this blog post aims to provide specific tactics for building better communication skills that is necessary to be successful in sales.

I’ll continue breaking down the topic into specific tactics for each day of the week.

Week 4: Improve Your Communication Skills

Day 16: Effective Techniques for Active Listening

Task: Learn and implement active listening techniques to enhance your sales approach.

There is a continuum across the selling profession, and it is one where many sales reps begin in transactional selling and progress into consultative sales. There are varying types of transactional sales as well as consultative sales. Generally speaking, transactional sales are smaller-ticket items done in higher volumes, whereas consultative sales are higher-ticket items usually sold in a longer sales cycle. Communication skills are important in both, and active listening has far-reaching implications in consultative sales. Gone are the days where it was enough for a sales professional to be a walking, talking brochure, brimming with product specs, just waiting for the next customer in which to unload all of this product knowledge. Customers today can, and often are, more educated before ever meeting with a sales rep. Therefore, product knowledge alone isn’t enough to differentiate, and as more sellers are commoditized due to omnichannel initiatives, the differentiator is a sales rep’s ability to listen and understand a customer’s needs.

We’ve talked about how better questions can lead to understanding needs, but what about active listening skills? Questions can also be used to acknowledge a customer and confirm a rep’s ability to understand the customer. These are called connecting questions. These connecting questions are broken down into four categories: acknowledging, confirming, positioning, and checking. These aren’t used in rapid succession but are used throughout a conversation.

1. Acknowledging: Acknowledging questions show that you’re actively listening and understanding the customer’s needs, concerns, or preferences. Example: “I appreciate your insights on the challenges you’ve been facing with your current software. Can you tell me more about how these issues have been affecting your team’s productivity?”
2. Confirming: Confirming questions help ensure that you’ve correctly understood the customer’s statements or requirements. Example: “So, if I understand correctly, you’re looking for a solution that can streamline your inventory management and integrate with your existing sales platform. Is that accurate?”
3. Positioning: Positioning questions allow you to align your product’s or service’s benefits with the customer’s needs or pain points. Example: “Based on what you’ve shared about wanting to reduce manual data entry, our software’s automation features could significantly cut down on those tasks. How do you envision these time savings impacting your team’s efficiency?”
4. Checking: Checking questions help you verify whether the customer is on board with the value proposition you’ve presented or if they have any remaining concerns. Example: “Given the scalability benefits and the potential cost savings our solution offers, can you share your initial thoughts on how well it aligns with your long-term growth strategy?”

Takeaway: Active listening shows customers you value their concerns, leading to stronger relationships and more effective sales interactions.

Application Framework: In addition to using the connecting questions above, practice the SOLER technique: Sit facing the customer squarely, Open your posture, Lean slightly towards them, maintain Eye contact, and use a relaxed posture. This signals openness and attentiveness.

Day 17: Using Storytelling to Communicate Value

Task: Incorporate storytelling techniques to effectively convey the value of your product or service.

Facts tell, stories sell. End of story! Well, kind of. The art of storytelling is a valuable skill set in sales. It becomes another great differentiator. While other sales pros focus on facts, they fail to connect the dots in customers minds the same way that stories do. Storytelling does not have to be difficult, but starting out a common story structure that I like to use is rags to riches.

We love success stories because we hope to follow them. The moral of this optimistic tale is “you can do it!”. It also makes a great sales story: You’ve got a problem, we can make things better. But you don’t have to promise wealth to tell Rags to Riches. These tales are not about money; they’re about value.

Takeaway: Stories engage customers emotionally, making your offerings relatable and memorable.

Application Framework: Structure your stories with a clear problem-solution-outcome format. Describe a customer challenge, how your solution addressed it, and the positive outcomes achieved.

Day 18: Utilizing Body Language and Nonverbal Cues

Task: Learn to read and use body language to establish trust and rapport with customers.

Amy J.C. Cuddy, an Associate Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, states in Harvard Business Review:

I study how people judge each other on two fundamental traits, warmth/trustworthiness (Do I like this person?) and strength/competence (Do I respect this person?), which together account for 80-90% of the variance in our evaluations of other people. We make these judgments hastily and base them on our interpretations of someone’s nonverbal behavior.

Takeaway: Nonverbal cues speak volumes and can influence customers’ perceptions of your trustworthiness and authenticity.

Application Framework: Study nonverbal cues and practice mirroring in sales situations. Adopting open postures and maintaining eye contact portrays confidence and empathy.

Day 19: Effective Questioning Techniques

Task: Develop strong questioning techniques to better understand customer needs and pain points.

My first sales role, over 24 years ago, was selling in the home. I sold Cutco Cutlery at the kitchen table with Mr. & Mrs. Jones. These presentations were 100% referral-sourced and on an appointment-only basis (which I set). Little did I know that what started as a Summer job before my senior year in High School would turn into an eight year career, setting the foundation for what would turn into a lifelong passion. The presentation was scripted, and all I had to do was infuse my personality into it and ask a few good questions. When it became time for me to transition into a new role, I went into B2B sales where I was calling on C-level executives. Now for context, I had been really successful prior to this transition. I won Presidents Club every year, numerous national trips, recognized as one of the top reps and managers in the organization. I was young, full of pride and ego- and thought I had nothing else to learn in terms of selling. Boy did I have a wake-up call coming my way. I was wrong of course, I had much more to learn in terms of how to translate my communication skills from the kitchen table to the boardroom. It was in this new role where I learned just how strategic selling can be, and the importance of asking really good questions are to the discovery process. It was in the role where I became familiar with the S.P.I.N. Selling methodology and what I still use to this day.

S.P.I.N. Selling is about understanding the four types of questions that are typically asked in selling transaction and how to appropriately use these questions to understand customer needs. It is a highly effective framework and one where I have trained many sales reps, with a lot of success. The big “ah ha” for many reps that I train on this methodology is the realization of how many sellers focus on two primary types of questions without understanding why certain problems are important and to what extent do customers experiences certain problems. The latter puts sellers in a position to tip the value equation in their favor whereas other sellers get commoditized.

If you are not familiar with S.P.I.N. I recommend it. If you would like to get trained on it, or receive some coaching, feel free to reach out to me and I can discuss getting a 1-on-1 session set up, or if you have a team that may want to get trained we can discuss that as well.

Takeaway: Thoughtful questions elicit valuable information and show customers you’re genuinely interested in solving their problems.

Application Framework: Use the SPIN framework: Situation questions, Problem questions, Implication questions, and Need-payoff questions. This guides customers to recognize their needs and see your solution’s value.

Day 20: Continuous Learning and Development

Task: Stay updated with the latest sales trends and techniques through resources and training programs.

The reality with many tenured sales people is that they have received one year of training just ten times over. Selling is perishable skillset, just like a muscle will atrophy if not in training so do selling skills. One of the aspects of selling that I thoroughly enjoy is just how multi-faceted it is and the learning and development is continuous. 24 years later and I am still honing and improving my skills in selling and thus enjoying my work more and more over time. How exciting is that? Not many other professions can give the same enjoyment that sales can when treated as a profession.

Takeaway: Evolving sales techniques keep you adaptable and enable you to offer fresh, effective solutions to clients.

Application Framework: Set aside time for weekly learning, whether it’s reading sales books, following thought leaders on social media, listening to podcast or Youtube channels, or attending relevant workshops and webinars.

In summary, enhancing your communication skills is a critical aspect of successful sales. By incorporating active listening, storytelling, body language awareness, effective questioning, and ongoing learning, you can significantly improve your sales interactions, build stronger connections with customers, and navigate down sales months with greater confidence and effectiveness.