Are you a good listener?
I received a huge compliment this week from a long time customer. The customer explained that one of the top reasons he continues working with me is because I am one of the few vendors he works with that really listens. Something a lot of us forget is the difference between listening and hearing. Hearing is a sense, it’s something we do involuntarily. Listening is a skill. When you interact with your prospects and customers, are you listening, or simply hearing?
One of my favorite examples of listening vs. hearing is from one of my favorite movies, Despicable Me. The main character, Gru, needs his mad scientist, Dr. Nefario, to build him “cookie robots” to infiltrate his nemesis’ compound. Dr. Nefario clearly didn’t listen (or he can’t hear) because instead he builds Gru disco dancing “boogie robots”. As cute as those boogie robots are, they were not what the “client” wanted.
Listening takes time and patience, and attention. Listening is critical to customer relationships, and something we strive for – to listen to the actual need of the customer. Many times in ACT! projects what a customer calls for isn’t what they actually need or want. It is critical to listen when the prospect says “I need to train my team. No one is using the system.” I hear they want training, but I need to listen to the whole story, because it may really be that the database isn’t built in a way that is helpful to the sales team. We do our best to make sure we let the customer talk, while we listen and note their goals. Ultimately, this information becomes part of the customers or prospects history in ACT!, so not only do we listen, we remember and can refer back. Do your customers feel you listen?
It may seem like Sales 101, and something you may already know – listen. In this crazy, dual monitored, multi-tasking world it’s easy to just hear. Be sure tune in and listen to your prospects and customers. It may mean taking our hand off the mouse, closing your social media site, and actually tuning in. Believe me, our customers notice and remember, and they’ll stick with you because of your listening skills.
