One important skill that a telesales professional must possess is the ability to listen actively. Tips and tricks on telesales, telemarketing and cold calling are usually geared towards what you have to say such as asking the right questions. There is not enough emphasis placed on what you should do after asking questions. You only have to listen. It may seem so simple but all fully realize that it plays a vital role to be successful in cold calling.

Communication should be a two-way process. In telesales, this definition sometimes becomes a one-sided ballgame as most telesales professionals overwhelm their telesales prospects with information, depriving them the opportunity to talk. They are too eager to do their sales pitch. They come off as being too pushy, thus driving people away instead of gaining their trust.

Your goal is to get valuable information from your telesales prospects so you have to listen most of the time. A mistake telesales professionals keep doing is half listening. They can hear their telesales prospect talking but their attention is focused on formulating what to say next to keep the sales presentation rolling. When you listen, you should give your full, undivided attention to your telesales prospect.

You can enhance your listening skills by following these guidelines.

Do not interrupt
After asking your question, pause and allow your telesales prospect to talk freely. Do not interrupt them while they are talking. It not only makes you rude and disrespectful; it also shows that you are not really interested in what they have to say.

Ask questions by rephrasing what the telesales prospect said. You can ask "Do you mean that..." to verify that you fully understood the situation. It also helps build rapport as your telesales prospect sees that you care enough to listen to them.

Listen after the telesales prospect is done talking. Telesales professionals have the tendency to talk right away after the telesales prospect is done talking. You think they are done once they stop talking but they actually have a lot more to say if you allow them. So just wait for just about three seconds before you take your turn. You may hear silence but at the end of that silence the telesales prospect start talking again, giving you more information that may be very valuable.

Listen to yourself
Record your own telesales calls and you will be surprised at the "mistakes" you committed or the way you sounded. Listening to your own recordings is a great way to correct your own "faults".

Source: Heinrich Churchill link