Practice the art of listening

Like any skill you want to improve, you will need to practice listening and paying attention to the prospect.

Consciously practice in conversations outside of the selling situation. Find a selling partner, such as a sales associate who wants to increase his or her selling skills, and work on techniques over lunch or early breakfast meetings.

Try to keep conversations going by asking open-ended questions which lead to the other person doing 80 percent of the talking. (The most natural place to practice is with your family. They will love you for it.)

Within a couple of days you will be comfortable enough with this new habit that you will want to do it with all of your prospects and customers. They will love it, too.