Welcome to Part 7a in the blog series entitled, “Win Clients with Ease”. (Part 7b is coming soon after this one, Confidence: The Foundations of a Healthy Mindset”).
How well do you listen?
I mean, REALLY listen?
Listening involves paying attention to a sound or taking notice enough to hear something, i.e what another person is saying to you.
Listening – without interruption – is one of the most important skills in communication but it is all too often overlooked. Many people are all too often focused upon what they are going to say next, almost like waiting for their turn to speak without truly listening to what the other person is saying.
STOP!
Focus on the other person and allow your mind to be clear.
Listening is a silent skill and you will be amazed at how much impact you can make on another person simply by the way you listen and the way you respond. Listening is also a powerful tool to help you build rapport and engage with a prospective client.
It is very powerful when you are able to feed back to another person what they have just said, using their keywords and phrases. Note, this isn’t summarising what the other person has just said using your own words and phrases, it is about using theirs.
That demonstrates to the person that you are really paying attention to what they have said and lays the foundation to build trust, appreciation and rapport which paves the way to a fruitful business relationship and an increase in your client base. When speaking with a potential client, REALLY listening is key. It enables the other person to realise that you are someone that will listen to your needs and be customer focused.
When you listen, you can really empathise too. People love being listened too, even if you’re not saying much yourself. Ask people questions about themselves. If you at a business event and you find yourself networking with a variety of other business people, ask questions about them, a little bit of small talk rather than launching into a sales pitch. Look for common ground where you can build rapport. It is a way of opening the communication channels.
What happens when you really listen?
Why is this relevant?
It’s because customers buy from you based on their emotion, trust and liking of you. Business relationships are often built on knowing someone, liking them, and trusting them.
Ask open questions to find out more and to engage the person who is speaking:
“Tell me more about that?”
“How did you feel when that happened?”
“Why is that important to you?”
“What plans do you have?”
“What do you look for when looking to hire a business to help you with certain services?”
“What would it mean to you if you could have someone help solve X problem for you?”
Listening will enable you to:
It takes a quiet mind and a strong sense of confidence to be able to really listen effectively.
Listening with confidence is one of the pillars of a healthy mindset which will enable you to communicate more effectively in your business relationships.
Want to find out more? Have a look at “Win Clients with Ease: Discover the Powerful Mindset Behind the Scenes” available on Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/Win-Clients-Ease-Discover-Powerful/dp/1527201821/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1533563844&sr=8-1&keywords=desi+christou
*(Credits: Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash)