Listening
Listening is the highest form of courtesy
Really listening with care and curiosity, mindful listening, is something we’re not very good at. Too focused on getting through our presentation (probably a list of Features), or on our next question, we miss what the customer is communicating.
Listening doesn’t just mean hearing; it means watching for non-verbal signals, it means giving encouraging feedback like nodding, and all those small grunts we make like “Uh-huh?” ,“Yuh!”, “OK!”, to demonstrate that we’re listening.
It means echoing the exact words and phrases a customer commonly uses, NOT paraphrasing them into our language.
It means don’t ASS/U/ME, prejudge or finish people’s sentences for them.
It means always checking you understand what the customer means; your view and their view will probably be different.
So listen carefully for
Comparisons like ‘better’, ‘more’, ‘faster’, ‘cheaper’ etc. ALWAYS find out what that means to the customer; you’ll probably also help them quantify it.
Generalisations like
“Your competitors are better value, and our customers are more price conscious, and demanding better quality from us.”
Which competitors? What does value mean? What does price conscious mean?
Absolutes like ‘never’, ‘always’, ‘everyone’, ‘noone’. When you hear one never let it go, always question it: every absolute has an exception (including this one!)
Apparent Rules like ‘must’, ‘should’, ‘can’t’, ‘have to’.
“I must have your proposal by Thursday” – “What would happen if I got it to you on Friday?”
