How to LISTEN
- Be Patient
- Make Eye Contact
- Take brief notes of key points
- Offer nonverbal and verbal encouragement ( facial expressions, head nodding, mm-hmms)
- Read between the lines
- Allow for periods of silence
- Let the customer speak as long as they want
- Ask clarifying questions
- Summarize what’s been covered
- Assume you haven’t understood everything correctly
How not to listen
- Half-listen, filter or selectively listen
- Make assumptions about what customers mean before they say something
- Jump to conclusions
- Be too eager to talk about your solution
- Agree too readily, without hearing the customer out
- Interrupt
- Finish the customer’s sentences
- Daydream
- Take so many notes you never look up
- Distract the customer and yourself by clicking your pen, tapping your fingers, etc…