“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.” – Stephen R. Covey

To succeed in Enterprise sales, it is important to engage directly with power and align your solution to a key initiative or a problem your client is trying to solve.

The challenge, however, is that the moment Executives share their goals or problems, many AE’s get “happy ears” and jump right to the solution.

As the client is talking, our brains are thinking of how best to respond and what we can say to show the client that we can help.

The problem is that this prevents us from actively listening, understanding, and getting to the true reason why a client is likely to buy or do nothing and remain at status quo.

The key to running successful meetings is to practice active listening, and seek to deeply understand before jumping to your solution.

This takes patience, empathy, and practice.

Instead of jumping to your solution, next time a client shares a top goal or priority, take a pause and the following questions:

1. Why is this important to you and your company?
2. Why do need to change now? What happens if you do nothing?
3. When do you need to do this by, and what’s driving that timeline?
4. What can’t you accomplish because of the way things are today?
5. How will you measure success?

In today’s video, I break down what active listening looks like and share examples from a recent win where we sold an employee engagement solution.

Thanks to Armand Farrokh and Nick Cegelski for hosting me on their 30 Minutes to President’s Club podcast.

Link to the full episode is below:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/66-getting-to-power-with-the-right-deals-at-the-right/id1510861233?i=1000534666043