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Sales people talk too much. Watch an untrained sales person work and the prospect never gets a word in edgewise.

If all products were one-size-fits-all, the motor-mouth approach might work. But most accounts are custom jobs--especially when they involve technology solutions or financial and consulting gigs.

That's why the best sales people are disciplined listeners. They know how to ask open-ended questions. Then they shut up.

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The best open-ended questions encourage prospects to lay out their problems, hopes and fears. They do the talking, not you. They're on the couch and you're the shrink. (Shrinks have it easier--they get paid no matter what. Sales people actually have to offer a compelling solution or else they don't get the business.) If you don't know what's truly eating customers, you have no idea how to help them. You might make a sale, but if the customer isn't satisfied, that sale will come back to haunt you.

My favorite trick for getting customers talking is what I call the Harry Potter question: "Mr. Smith, if I gave you a magic wand, what would you do to improve your business?"

It takes patience to be a good listener. Once you get prospects talking, let them roll. Take notes, nod your head, look concerned. (Better yet, be concerned.) I've let people wax on for 45 minutes about their strategies before opening my mouth.

Years ago I attended a sales management class at the Xerox (nyse: XRX - news - people ) Sales Training Center in Leesburg, Va. The copier jocks studied their sales force hard. What they found: New sales reps spent about a year learning the products, cozying up to customers and figuring out what they were looking for. Then, there was a dramatic jump in performance: Deal size went up, as did closing rates. This went on for about the next year and a half. Then, at about the 30-month mark, performance dropped off--substantially.

These were skilled, trained and motivated sales representatives. Why were they failing? The answer was simple: They stopped listening. Effectively, the sales calls had become rote; boredom set in. They began answering questions before they were asked. They began talking too much. And customers didn't like it.

My favorite in-the-trenches example about the power of listening involved a guy named Bob. After 27 years, Bob was ready to retire. The building-material distributor he ran pulled in $50 million a year in sales and was nicely profitable. He was well-respected in his industry; his employees loved him; and his wallet wasn't thin.

I didn't broach a sale at first. Instead, I asked Bob the Harry Potter question. He told me his hopes and dreams for his legacy: He wanted to be sure his employees were taken care of. He recognized he didn't have the skills to take the business to a higher level, but he didn't want to go on permanent holiday, either. Ultimately, he wanted to reduce his risk (most of his net worth was tied up in the business) and have a bit more time on his hands.

Once he finished explaining all this to me, I said: "Bob, if I could show you the way to meet all of your needs, can I help with the sale?" He said yes.

Over the next six months, we sold a 50% stake in the company to a private equity firm. Bob would assume the role of chairman, while his very capable, hand-picked No. 2 would become president. Employees got the ability to earn equity in the business as it grew over time--a key component to Bob's legacy. Better yet, we structured the deal so that, in three to five years, Bob could either 1) sell the rest of his stake when the investors exited; or 2) recapitalize and double up. And, of course, he got to take a well deserved vacation.

As for me, I managed to land a valuable, repeat customer. Good thing I shut up.

Glenn D. Porter has 25 years of professional sales and sales management experience, much of it with IBM. He is the founder of Dolphin Nextgen, a business advisory company. He can be reached at gdpor3811@aol.com.

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