Sitting with my morning coffee at the local franchise coffee shop and I was able to overhear a father talk to his daughter about the lack of willingness of the counter staff to listen to what their clients telling them.
As he was ordering a breakfast and he was asked if he wanted the order for here or to go. He wanted his order for here, to have a nice sit down breakfast with his daughter. As he received his order he received a to-go order.
This reminds me of something my grandmother used to tell me: “You have two ears and one mouth. Use them accordantly.”
Stephen R. Covey said it best: “Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.”
When you listen to your clients are you truly hearing them? There is a huge difference between listening to them and hearing what they truly telling you. Do you truly listen to them without any bias and pre conceived notions or intentions?
Active listening truly means to let go of what’s on your mind. Don’t interrupt others before they are finished speaking and strive to understand what the person is saying. Don’t try to formulate an answer prior to the person has finished their part of their conversation.
Be more comfortable with silence when you have a conversation with others and when you think you need to interrupt the silence, ask questions. It is your goal to understand the other person and truly listed to what they have to tell you
So many times this happens to me! I order unsweetened tea and I get a glass full of sugar. Most importantly when reading a message or blog do you just skim a little and not read the whole thing ? How often does your message get misconstrued and a very quick judgement is made. This also happened to me recently just by a title I used. Listening is one thing but really hearing and understanding what the person is saying is another.Maybe another title could have been used but every word beyond the title explained the purpose. Do you really listen ?