The secret to influence probably isn't what you expect. The way you listen is the big secret to powerful influence. To unlock this powerful influencing force you have to know how to listen. Listening isn't something you're naturally good at. You hamper your listening skills when you clutter your mind with other thoughts, you think about what you'll say next while the other person is still talking, you try to push your prospect to hurry up, and you lose your focus. These bad listening behaviors keep you from effective listening and powerful persuasion.

When you listen for understanding you increase your persuasiveness. Effective listening requires a clear purpose for what you're listening for. If you're going to understand the prospect and their needs there are definite questions you need answers to.

Track and measure your progress as you improve your listening skills. One measure of your progress is obtaining the answers to the key questions you need to. A more important key measurement is your ability to get the prospect to open up and reveal the emotional reason for making a buying decision. Listening builds rapport and trust quicker than anything else and that's why it's such a powerful persuasion skill. When you get your prospect to tell you about themselves they begin to trust you. As their trust in you builds they become convinced that you have their best interests in mind.

Effective listening is a no pressure powerful influencing technique. As you listen and question to understand you're helping the prospect to uncover and discover. You're helping them to reach their own conclusions guided by questions that help them to focus and expand beyond their current understanding of their situation.

The best way to have effective listening skills is to prepare to listen before you hold the appointment. Before you hold your meeting clear your mind and relax. Both you and your prospect should have a clear understanding about why you're meeting and what you need to learn about your prospect. Rather than worrying about being rejected focus on listening for exclusion. You want to exclude prospects that aren't a good fit quickly. Focusing on obtaining qualified prospects for your business will help you to increase your insurance sales success.

The dollars are in the details and sometimes there is important information in the seemingly irrelevant things prospects share with you. When the prospect seems to go off on a tangent that doesn't seem pertinent, realize that they're sharing that information for a reason and that reason may lead to the emotional hot button that motivates them to buy now. It's a good idea to take notes as the prospect talks. Find additional ideas to increase your insurance sales success in the tools below.