I recently heard an interesting point about listening skills. The person making the point simply said that recently he thought the person he was talking to had been listening to him very carefully, only to find out that the person was just formulating what he was going to say at the pause.
Have you ever felt that the person talking to you did not hear a word you just said? He may not have and it probably wasn't because he wasn't interested in you or didn't think what you had to say was valuable. He may have been trying to remember your name, or come up with a witty comment. Basically, he was focused on himself, rather than on what you were saying.
How are your listening skills? When you meet a potential customer are you planning your next comment while they're talking? If so, you're probably not hearing what they're saying.
We may be inconsiderate listeners without even knowing it. We are so anxious to get our point across, so ready to explain all the exciting aspects of our service that we may not be really listening to our prospect. We need to listen to learn, rather than listen to respond. We may think that planning our next comment means we're prepared, but it actually means we're lazy. Break outóit's OK to have a few empty seconds to formulate your responses to what the prospect said.
You may think you can anticipate what you're prospect is going to say and therefore, don't have to listen, but you really don't know until you listen with your full attention.
