Shut-up and listen. So simple in theory, yet so difficult for many salespeople to practice. Often we want to talk about how great our product is, how successful our customers are, how much ROI our clients have received, etc. Yet we forget the most important part of our job--listening. As I learned in my first sales job: “if you’re talking, you’re probably losing.”
I was reminded of this concept during a meeting a few years ago. My Customer Success Manager (CSM) and I went to a brand new customer’s office for the first post-sale meeting--also referred to as the kickoff meeting. I had signed this customer in a competitive deal, and this was the first opportunity we had to start building the post-sale relationship.
Once I got the meeting underway and the customer started talking, there was a moment when the CSM interrupted the customer and asked “is that like XYZ product? Because I’ve used that product before and I know a lot about how it works.” As soon as the customer was interrupted, his train of thought vanished. The conversation had been shifted to the CSM and their experience with XYZ product at a prior job. Worse, the customer didn't get to the point of what he was trying to tell us.
Rather than interrupting the customer and jumping to an assumed conclusion, a better approach would have been to take notes of what the customer was saying. Then, after the customer had completed her/his train of thought, your CSM might say something to the effect: “you touched on a number of topics there; can we back-up so that I make sure I’ve heard everything correctly?” Almost always, the customer will say yes. You’ve now demonstrated 1) that you heard what they just told you and 2) that you are dedicated to commenting on their specific situation.
The customer is the expert in their business. There is no worse customer experience than to listen to a sales rep talk about features and functions, when those specific functions mean nothing to the customer's business. It’s much better to listen carefully to what someone says and then tailor a response to the specific situation.