Eye contact plays a major role in the sales profession, and how we use our eyes and eye contact can convey a lot about us salespeople. There are a number of ways we should intentionally use eye contact throughout our sales efforts. This Tip of the Month deals with using eye contact as a listening strategy.

As we all know, some of the toughest skills to develop are effective listening skills. There are a number of reasons for this, not the least of which is the fact that listening is typically a passive activity. For hard charging professionals to slow down and engage in a passive activity is challenging. We can easily find ourselves distracted or worse yet, bored. This is especially true in a Research Meeting, where we are trying to follow the 95-5 Rule (we listen 95% of the time and ask questions the other 5%.)

One of the things we can do in our sales efforts is to begin each call with a commitment to making unflinching eye contact. Decide that for the first few minutes of the meeting, you will make constant eye contact. Don't look in your briefcase for anything, don't look down at your notepad, and don't look around the office. Simply look the person in the eyes and focus on hearing them, and showing them that you are hearing them. This will help eliminate background distractions and sharpen your focus. It will also convey your commitment to listening, which will pay off with the customer, as everyone appreciates a good listener!