You don't need to spend thousands of dollars on sales training programs to become a better sales person or become a more persuasive telemarketer. One of the best skills you can learn almost immediately with a minimal effort is Active Listening. If you've ever thought that there must be something that the top sales people are doing that you're not, this is it.

In this article, you'll learn a bit about the meaning and origins of Active Listening and where to go to if you want to learn more.

WHO COINED THE TERM?

The term "Active Listening" was originated by the clinical psychologist Dr. Thomas Gordon in his book, "Leader Effectiveness Training." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Gordon_(psychologist). He was a colleague and student of Dr. Carl Rogers- who's ideas and therapeutic methods are today part of the psychology course load of any major college.

While Dr. Rogers confined himself to the academic and clinical worlds, Dr. Gordon made popular Active Listening for educators, leaders, as well as sales persons with his "Gordon Method."

Today, the principles of Active Listening are so inimical to modern sales training, that they are unavoidable, really.

WHAT TAKES PLACE IN ACTIVE LISTENING?

In essence, whenever you employ Active Listening you cut down your side of the dialogue and instead encourage the other party to continue talking with phrases such as, "go on," "tell me more," and the notorious, "how does that make you feel?"

Of course, there's much more to it. But, you get the idea.

In a clinical setting, Active Listening is applied to help the patient move through a program of self-discovery and realization. This is much more effective than simply telling someone what is wrong with them- which may or may not be accepted and acted upon.

Nobody likes being told they're wrong, what to think, or what to do- well, most people don't.

WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH SALES?

The applications for sales are quite profound. Many sales systems, such as Neil Rackham's Spin Selling, that have sprouted up over the last few decades could be said to be directly derivative of this branch of psychology.

I know that in Neil's book no mention is made of Rogerian psychology or Active Listening, and it may well be that he really came up with his Need-Implication-Payoff trilogy independently, but the similarities are quite striking.

Back to the topic at hand...

"The more you tell, the more you sell" just doesn't wash in today's world of sophisticated and impatient buyers- at least when it comes to in-person or over-the-telephone sales.

WHY IS ACTIVE LISTENING EFFECTIVE?

In his article, "The Power of the Language of Acceptance," (http://www.gordontraining.com/The_Power_of_the_Language_of_Acceptance.html), Dr. Gordon explains quite succinctly the purpose of Active Listening:

"It is one of those simple but beautiful paradoxes of life: When a person feels that he is truly accepted by another, as he is, then he is freed to move from there and to begin to think about how he wants to change, how he wants to grow, how he can become different, how he might become more of what he is capable of being."

Can you see the power of this?

Just by becoming a better listener, you can dramatically increase your persuasiveness.

With Active Listening, you can move your prospects from recalcitrance, argumentativeness, and closed-mindedness to open exploration of possibilities.

Instead of talking at them and TELLING your prospects what they need, help them get there own their own- with a little guidance and prompting from you. Best of all, you'll have less objections to worry about. After all, how can they argue with their own logic?

WHERE TO GO TO LEARN ACTIVE LISTENING

Dr. Gordon felt that training to become good at Active Listening required much time and effort. However, you can get 80% of the benefits by learning just 20% (or less) of the techniques. With a few simple exercises and daily practice in the field, it will become second nature to anyone with a good head for learning new things.

If you take the initiative to learn more about Active Listening, you can quite easily become overwhelmed by the breadth and scope of the topic. But, in reality, you actually only need to learn a handful of techniques.

Parroting, paraphrasing, and feeling feedback (reflecting) make up the core of Active Listening.

Master these, and you will be well on your way to closing more sales.

Ad the 6 Ws and Universal Questions for an even more potent mix of sales skills.