It's been said that opposites attract, and Hollywood has certainly provided society with myriad mismatches of two people with vastly different personalities and styles who have gotten along swimmingly: Laverne and Shirley, Oscar and Felix, Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett... just to name a few.

These pairings have proven to be entirely entertaining... and exceedingly financially beneficial as well. Each pair has somehow found the key to successfully working together towards a common goal, capitalizing on each others' strengths, and not giving up their unique perspectives in the process.

However, in the "real world," such opposites don't always attract. People think differently. Take the members of your sales staff, for example: each one approaches their jobs differently. Some are analytical; others are relational. Some are experimental; others are more practical. The combinations of these notable differences can often feel more discordant than harmonious, making it seem almost impossible to put a productive sales process in place.

And then you throw the spectrum of customer differences into the mix – it's amazing anyone ever sells anything!

Or is it?

Fact is, there is one surefire, proven way to improve your sales process and help your team succeed: make active listening mandatory.

Listening (truly, actively listening) has been the secret weapon of successful sales professionals for a long time. But not everyone understands its power – or how to unleash it. In fact, few people are effective listeners. According to Wright State University, the average person listens at only a 25 percent efficiency.

Imagine what that means for your sales team. Most of them are missing three-fourths of everything your customers are saying.

Yikes.

But it doesn't have to be that way. It is possible to improve your sales process by making active listening mandatory.

Take a look at these three surefire ways to improve your sales process and help your staff better understand your customers.

1. Know your thinking preferences.
   The first step to being an active listener is understanding your own thinking preferences – and then understanding how those preferences affect your approach to the job, customers, and interpersonal interactions.
   
   Everyone has a "thinking filter" preference that they default to. Some may listen for just the facts; others may seek the implementation process to follow. Still others may focus on the big picture; some may be most attentive to the way people may feel about the situation. This filter affects the way you process incoming information and shapes the information that you impart. Once you have gained an understanding of your preferences, you are then better prepared to put yourself in your customers' shoes, actively avoiding letting your preferences get in the way of truly listening to what your customers are saying. In other words, you'll be able to get out of your own way and adapt your thinking to match that of your customer. It has worked for other organizations, and it can work for yours too.
   
   
2. Consider your audience.
   When you write an email, do you write it for yourself or for the person to whom it's written? If you're like most people, you write emails in such a way that you understand what you're saying, rather than taking your recipient's understanding into account.
   
   One of the first rules of effective communication is to consider and respect your audience and then deliver your message in a manner that they will appreciate. If you feel you're not effectively connecting with your audience, you may want to spend some time thinking about how they may be processing the information you are sharing. What are their strengths? What frustrates them? Tailor your message to their strengths and away from their frustrations. This goes for email and interpersonal communications alike.
   
   
3. Get engaged.
   No, not in the diamond ring sense... but active listening does require commitment. It also requires a desire to put your own biases away for awhile and avoid assumptions. You have to ask questions to learn as much as you can. You have to rephrase and repeat what your customer says. And you have to continue to communicate with your customer in a manner that connects with them.

By striving to better understand your customers, you will build trust between them and your salespeople. For some, the effort will come naturally. For others, they may have to take a cue from odd Hollywood actor-pairings and simply determine to intentionally put their personal preferences aside in order to obtain a profitable result.