Communication Skills

Effective communication is essential for a successful sale but is probably one of the most overlooked, underdeveloped skills in professional selling. We cannot take communication for granted simply because we are fluent in the English language—but we do. The cornerstone of effective communication is sensitivity to the needs of others. It begins with an understanding of the communication process. Encoding occurs when a sender translates thoughts into a message. The receiver must decode the message and try to understand what the sender intended to communicate. Communication is effective only when the receiver accurately understands what the sender intended to transmit. It's not uncommon to hear someone say, "Yeah, but that's not what I meant" or "I thought you said this ..."

Communication in selling involves more than presenting your product or service; it involves an active, two-way exchange of ideas and thoughts. However, research suggests that in most calls salespeople do up to 60% of the talking. ^[1] Wrong thing to do. Remember PEZ, Please Excuse my Zealousness. We often think of ourselves as good communicators because we have the gift of the gab. I know of several people who were encouraged to pursue a career in sales because they were great talkers. We equate speaking with control and power, assuming the spotlight is focused on the talkers rather than the listeners. Our society recognizes and rewards great orators, actors, singers, public speakers, and news commentators who excel at one-way communication. There are lots of books and seminars on developing public speaking skills but when did you ever hear of a seminar on public listening skills? They don't exist. Unfortunately, listening is not the sexy part of the communication model. I would suggest that the biggest violation of the communication model is poor listening skills.