Just how important is listening in business?

Answer 1

Listening is by far more important in sales than talking. Ask any experienced sales professional, and they will tell you that many times sales people will “talk too much” and lose the sale, but no one has ever “listened too much” and lost the sale.

So why do so many sales instructors teach “sales techniques” that involve memorization? Hey, I’m all for sales training… but why not have a course on listening? After all, listening really is the single most important step in closing sales.

In his book How To Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie is very clear on this topic with the principle “Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.” Listening is critical to your success in influencing others.

Listening will make you different, more powerful, and better liked
Remember whenever you are talking to a client or prospect this one simple phrase: “It’s not about you. It’s about the client or prospect.” Renowned psychologist William James once observed, “The greatest need of the human soul is the need for appreciation, the need to feel important.” When people listen to you, you know that they care.

When you listen to people, you show that you care! What a change this will be for the average prospect. Bill Bachrach teaches to “build trust by listening to their story, not by telling yours.”

Yet probably the greatest weakness among salespeople is talking too much. “Over-talking” is driving away people who might otherwise want to do business with you.

Listen instead of talking and you can reverse this effect. You will be come different by listening instead of talking. You will become more powerful because you will learn more about your prospect (instead of them learning about you). And you will become better liked because that’s what happens when people feel important enough to have someone’s attention.

Listening opens the door to human motivation. After 30 years of practice, psychologist Carl Rogers concluded that “listening is the greatest tool we have for releasing human potential in others.” This makes sense—you cannot motivate people to do something they do not want to do. And the only way to find out what someone wants is to listen—which is something you can’t do if you’re talking!

Listening is the only way to find out what motivates someone. Once people understand that you have been listening to them and you understand them, they will begin to trust you.
Listening is the most influential skill you can possess

This trust is critical in any relationship (business or otherwise). “If you don’t have trust, you can tell people the truth but they won’t believe it,” states Bill Bachrach. You probably know from personal experience that not listening leads to pain in both personal and professional relationships.

George Kinder teaches that “there is a kind of rule in human behavior that goes like this: until at least one other human being can be with me, have compassion for me where I’m stuck, without judgment or recriminations, I can’t move to a better or healthier place.” He goes on to teach that empathy doesn’t imply approval of whatever the circumstances might be but is simply one person acknowledging the distress of another and “bringing the balm of empathy” to the pain that they are experiencing.
George Kinder goes on to say that “the fact is that you can’t think and feel at the same time, so feelings have to be acknowledged and addressed before any effective thinking can take place.” I don’t know if that’s really true, but I do that it would never be a mistake to behave as though it is true.

First you have to be genuinely interested in the other person. Once you have done that, here are George Kinder’s four simple steps to practice for empathy

1.Listen. Pause. Then listen some more.
2.Pay attention to what’s happening inside of you when listening to someone who is in an emotional state
3.Say something to the client (once they have truly stopped talking) that lest them know that you were experiencing feelings while listening
4.Do not probe or try to figure out who what where or why. Just empathize. Don’t problem-solve. Listen. When the feelings have been aired and allowed, the prospect will be ready to move on and continue with your work together.

Here’s some more pointers on developing listening skills:
Remember that you cannot perfectly remember nor perfectly understand, but you can perfectly record what is happening. Take notes. Lots of notes. How about having a tape recorder handy—tell the prospect that you always record everything and listen to the meeting completely before recommending anything—just to be sure.

Talk less and listen more—but how much? Bill Bachrach recommends that in an hour’s time, you should talk for no more than 5 minutes and the remaining 55 minutes should be either the client or prospect speaking or silence.

Remember that silence can be your friend. You don’t have to “fill the air” with noise, and you don’t have to “show off” for the prospect. Silence is golden.

Attorney and consultant Jeff Blackman adds the following pointers for effective listening: Hold your comments and judgments until your prospect or client is done speaking; minimize the competition (distractions like telephones or background noise); and use the words “you”, “your” and “yours” often while using “I”, “me”, and “mine” seldom. He also is quick to point out to “never interrupt or argue” and “Maintain eye contact.” He concludes his points with “Work at listening. Practice, practice, practice!”

Listening is a skill—a skill that can be learned. Practice this skill! Take notes, measure your progress on how well you have done. Have a “listening skill plan” to improve your ability to listen your way into sales.

Answer 2

I'd venture to say listening is one of the most, if not the most, important attributes to have. In order to assist your client fully, it's imperative that you understand what they need & want. It also aids you in understanding what they don't need or want.

For instance, in my work life, I constantly get questions about protecting names, logos, slogans, etc. The information about that process is confusing and many clients don't have a full grasp of what to do (it doesn't help that the government issued information is confusing!) and it's our responsibility not only to assist people but also to educate them about what they truly need and don't need.

In respect to co-workers and employees, listening should also be priority #1. Listening to not only what they're happy/not happy about in the work environment but also any suggestions and/or criticisms about the business itself. Personally, doing this has resulted in a number of fantastic ideas that never would have come to me or to the president of the company.

Hope that helps!