If someone in a conversation dropped this on you, how would you react?
“So, anyway, I’m only sharing this with a couple of people, but my aunt in Omaha is good friends with Warren Buffet and this is where he said she needs to put all of her money…”
You’d snap to attention.
You’d elevate your listening to a higher level.
You’d zone out everything else around you.
You’d lean in closer.
Because you now want, and must hear what is about to be said.
What caused that was the “Lean In” statement.
You hear these with prospects and customers too.
Do you pick up on them and react the same way?
On a call with a prospect, my ears really perked up when he said,
“Here’s our real problem …”
I leaned forward in my seat, turned up the volume on my headset and took even better notes. I questioned deeper with each response he gave.
By asking money questions we were able to agree that the problem was costing him about $50,000 monthly.
My point here is they will often let us know when they are about to reveal their problems, pains, and desires. I wish it was always as easy as hearing the word “problem.” Sometimes it is, other times we need to focus even more intently.
Listen for the “Lean In” words and phrases that describe pain, discomfort, or dissatisfaction such as,
“We need to do something about …”
“We’ve noticed a downward trend in the …”
“It’s concerning us that …”
“A trouble area is …”
“An area of difficulty is…”
“A dilemma …”
“We worry about …”
“It’s a hassle when …”
“What’s frustrating is …”
“We’ve been unsuccessful at …”
“We’re not satisfied with …”
“What’s disappointing is …”
“What takes time is …”
“It costs us to …”
“We try to avoid …”
On a similar note, listen for them visualizing the result of a solution:
“What we could use is…”
“A solution would be to …”
“What we’d like to achieve is …”
“We could show a savings from …”
“The ideal would be to …”
“We’d show the most benefit from …”
Of course, the best thing to do with all of these, once you hear them, is to keep them talking.
“Tell me more.”
“Explain that please.”
“Interesting. Go on.”
“In what way?”
“How else does that affect you?”
“How do you feel about that?”
Lean in, listen, keep them talking, and they’ll write your recommendation for you.