o you know the difference between hearing and listening? Hearing involves using your ears, but listening involves not only your ears, but also your body and your mind. What's the difference and why should you care?

Achievers are listeners. They hone their listening skills to become attuned to others' needs. Once they're aware of the concerns of others, they can incorporate those concerns into their plans.

How are your listening skills? When meeting with a potential customer do you plan your next comment while they're still talking? If so, you're probably not listening to what they're saying right now.

You may be an unintentional inconsiderate listener: You're so anxious to get your point across, so ready to explain all the exciting aspects of your service, that you may not really be listening to your prospect. Listen to learn rather than listen to respond.

You may think that planning your next comment means you're prepared, but it actually means you're lazy. You may think you can anticipate what your prospect is going to say and therefore don't have to listen, but you really don't know until you listen with your full attention.

Contrary to popular opinion, listening is not a passive strategy, it's a powerful selling tool. Merchants don't need to hear more facts and figures; they need a professional to truly listen to them.

Be sure to listen with more than your ears-engage your mind as well. Rather than push your agenda, pull your prospect into the presentation.

It's very important to solicit comments from customers and really understand what they're saying. Paraphrasing and acknowledging what they said are important tools. Make sure your body language shows your customer that you're listening.

By learning more about your customers and their businesses, it will be obvious which products and services you should introduce to these customers as solutions to their business needs.

Keeping all of the above in mind, how do you know if your customer is listening to you? Have you ever felt that the people you are talking to didn't hear a word you said?

The fact that you're talking doesn't necessarily mean that others are listening. They may not have heard you, but it probably wasn't because they weren't interested in you or didn't think what you had to say was valuable.

They may have been trying to remember your name or to come up with a witty comment. They were focused on themselves rather than on what you said.

People listen for a few reasons and getting others to listen often requires that we offer them something. Most people have a general sense of curiosity. If we as sales professionals can tap into our prospect's curious side, we will have a receptive audience.

Curious people respond well to openers such as "What would you say if I told you how to add three checkout lanes without any additional wires or floor space?"

Some people will listen simply to avoid being rude. They may want to run for the hills when you start spouting "lines per second" or "authorization codes" but they don't want to offend you. These types of listeners give you some slack.

However, don't misinterpret this as an open invitation to monopolize their time. Use this leeway to ask questions that can identify specific topics you should cover.

Many people listen because they expect a benefit. These prospects want to know how they will be rewarded for listening. Show them concrete examples of the incentive for hearing you out.

Everyone can be a listener. It's your job as a sales professional to identify the type of listener your prospect is and tailor your mannerisms, speech and presentation to suit their listening style.