Thumbs Down

Since The Prospecting Professor has come into being, we have had 155 different articles that we have posted on our sales weblog. From our humble vantage point, some are better than others. Yesterday's submission, "Running Out of Clients", was not-so-good. In fact, it was awful...the worst we've ever done...Numero Uno according to the Mindless Drivel-O-Meter.

We apologize to you...Dear Reader. It won't happen again.

For today's submission, we'd like to point to an interesting article in the Horsesmouth, www.horsesmouth.com, entitled, "Do You Really Listen to Your Clients?"

The author is Jeff Gitterman, a top-producing agent for ING Financial Advisors. He employs nearly 50 people in his financial planning firm. He attributes his success to one ability...that he describes as Silent Listening.

He describes three types of listeners:

1. The Waiting-to-Talk Listener. This person isn't listening at all. They are simply waiting for a gap in the conversation...a breath...a pause...an opportunity to jump back into the conversation and resume talking about whatever was on THEIR mind.
2. The Active Listener. You've seen this people on TV doing interviews in their role as reporters. They've read an article somewhere, or taken a class that teaches them to nod their head and say, "Uh huh" or "Yes", and appear as if they are actively listening...even though they aren't.
3. The Silent Listener. This person has learned to silence their internal dialogue, make eye contact with the speaker, and lock-in to what the speaker is saying. The only word they speak are open-ended questions designed to dig deeper and elicit more information.

Horsesmouth is a subscription-based service, and for those of you who don't subscribe to Horsesmouth yet, you should re-consider your frugality. It costs about 50 cents a day...which is an infinitesimal price to pay considering the potential benefits to financial advisors.

That's all for now. Ciao!

Comments

[Timberland Outlet]

Thanks for sharing,I really like it..I am ready to read more from you everyday.