Recent studies have shown that people who listen are thought to be more attractive, smarter, and better looking than people who spend most of their time talking… I hear your silence!

Did you know that the word “listen” contains the same letters as the word “silent“.

To be a great listener you need to be a good questioner, otherwise you won’t be able to meet the needs of your customer fully.

How do you know what your customers’ needs and wants are? Do you know why the customer is after your service?

In order to clarify your customers’ needs and preferences accurately, you need to do the following with every internal and external customer:

• Acknowledge them
• Ask appropriate questions
• Actively listen
• Show empathy
• Use reassurance
• Confirm their needs or wants

When actively listening:

• Give the customer your full attention
• Let your customer do at least 75 percent of the talking
• Accept what the customer is saying
• Think about things from the customers point of view
• Understand the customer’s feelings form their “emotive words.”

The EAR model is a useful tool for effective listening:

E – EXPLORE using open-ended questions such as “why” “what” and “how”

A – ACKNOWLEDGE by paraphrasing

R – RESPOND appropriately

So hopefully you have picked up a few tips on how to actively listen. Practice is the key point here, learning to keep ones mouth shut when you are busting to share some information is one of life’s  greatest achievements – I am yet to conquer this fully.

However, I love to listen to our customers as we continually learn so much about their businesses and their needs. I wouldn’t swap jobs for the world! If you would like to be listened to and feel the need to fill any gaps in your business through education and training, please feel free to contact me or my team today at hello@catherinemolloy.com.au

“The most important thing in communication
is to hear what isn’t being said”. – P. Drucker