Communicate to Motivate Your Staff

“Setting and communicating the right expectations is the most important tool a manager has for imparting that elusive drive to the people he supervises.”

– Andrew S. Grove

Recently, I have been thinking about and studying the subject of effective communications.  Where most managers, leaders and marketers go wrong – and are guilty of ineffective communication – is quite simple:

They give an order, or write a memo, or place an ad and … they presume that the message is communicated.  They assume that the order will be acted upon to their satisfaction; that the memo will be completely understood by all who read it (if they do read it) and that the ad will naturally generate orders for the product or service.

NOT!

Communications is a participatory sport.  At a minimum it involves “give and take” from two parties.  You give me an order and I take away a clear understanding of what you want me to accomplish; how the task is to be done and when it is to be completed.  Simple enough, right?

WRONG!

How often have you been disappointed when your staff did not complete a project the way your wanted it?  Quite a bit if yours is the typical office or store.  Why?  Who is to blame?  What went wrong?  How could they possibly not understand me when I said, “I need this done ASAP!”  How, exactly, did you define ASAP?  Are you sure that you communicated your exact interpretation of ASAP to your employee?  Did he or she tell you what was exactly possible from their perspective? Does their ASAP match your ASAP? If not, you have a problem – that needs to be fixed – ASAP!

This is how communications break down.  This is how morale starts to slip in the workplace.  This is not the right way to motivate your staff.

Let’s examine the opening  words of the Andy’s Grove quote that I used to start this post:

“Setting … and communicating … the right … expectations…. ”

Each word packs a lot of power.  And the power to motivate is included in each one:

“Setting expectations.”  Confident managers and leaders don’t set expectations by themselves.  They involve their individual employees or their team members when setting their expectations.  They ask questions.  They evaluate skill levels and potential.  They are aware of other – possibly conflicting – goals that employees are working towards for other departments.  Today, leaders set expectations in consultation with their staff.  They still make the final decision, they maintain control, but… they actively invite participation in setting expectations.

“Communicating expectations.”  Effective leaders are skilled at communicating clear, concise and precise direction.  And they make sure that their staff completely understand – and are committed to fulfilling – these expectations.  Confident leaders choose the right words when communicating.  They choose the words that work – the words that their team “hears” and understands. The words that the team responds to.

“The right expectations.”  Expectations that are challenging and interesting – but achievable.  Expectations that help the team to grow, learn additional skills and build self-confidence.  And confident leaders realize that they must coach and praise their team members as they work towards meeting the right expectations. 

Offering specific and timely praise for positive performance is the strongest force for motivating your staff. 

Use these tips as tools for “imparting that elusive drive to the people (you) supervise.” 

You will love the results!

Let me know what works for you – and why it works.  Drop me an email – danny@thecompanyrocks.com or post a comment about this article.  Share your thoughts with your fellow readers.

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The Best Career Advice – Ever!

“Don’t be irreplaceable.  If you can’t be replaced, you can’t be promoted.”

– Anonymous

Someday, I would like to meet Mr. or Ms. Anonymous.  All of that wisdom!  Such common sense!  They have clarity of thought and are direct in their communication.  I wonder where Mr. or Ms. Anonymous lives and works?  I really do want to meet them … and often, I think that I have!

Anonymous took their own advice here.  Rather than taking credit for saying something brilliant, they simply moved on – to a higher place – they got promoted.  They now belong to all of us – they have become the wisdom of the ages.  They are everywhere … always.

Within these two sentences, you will find the best career advice you could possibly gain.  Want to be a better manager?  Make yourself replaceable – learn to delegate.  Train your team members how to do the job that you used to do.  But, encourage them to try to do it better or differently.  Remember that you were promoted from being a staff member and made a manager.  Don’t continue to do the same tasks you did as a staff member.  Delegate.  Make yourself replaceable!

Want to get ahead in your career?  Make your boss replaceable.  Start solving their problems.  Don’t continue to bring them your problems, bring them possible solutions.  Let them see that they are replaceable – by you!  Let them move up a rung on the career ladder.  And if they are smart, they will bring you along with them on the journey up.  They will be your mentor.

And of course, since you are also smart, you are training, coaching and mentoring your own staff.  Striving to make yourself replaceable.  You are learning to delegate tasks and encouraging your staff to take chances learn how to solve problems by themselves.  You are their mentors.  You are building trust with those above you in rank, those below you in responsibility and those who work alongside you.

You are learning to become replaceable.  You are demonstrating that you deserve to be promoted.  You are building your career.

Good luck!  You deserve it.

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The Long and the Short of It

“I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.”

– Mark Twain

Touche, Mr. Twain.  You are correct – it is difficult to condense your message into a few words.  Namely, the right words – at the right time – for the right audience.

Words pack power.  Actually, choosing the right words will help you to deliver a powerful, memorable and actionable message.  “It's not what you say, it's what people hear.”  That is the subtitle for an important new book by Dr. Frank Luntz – “Words That Work.” 

You may recognize Frank Luntz as a prominent pollster and adviser to Republican candidates.  Put politics aside – many Democrats openly admire and envy his ability to shape a focused message and coach his clients to to stay-on and deliver that message with clockwork precision.  We can learn a lot from Luntz's book.  Regardless of your profession (sales, marketing, education, politics, communications, etc.) or your personal preferences, you need to acquire skill in order to persuade others adopt your ideas, products or services.  One chapter of the book is titled, “Twenty-one words and phrases for the twenty-first century.  A few of them are:

“Imagine”

“Renew, Revitalize, Rejuvenate, Restore, Rekindle, Reinvent”

“Patient-centered”

Buy this book.  Learn the lessons Luntz teaches.  People will start to hear what you say.  They will buy your products; accept your ideas; take the actions that you propose.  You will gain power – you will persuade!

The world in which we live and work does not allow us to “beat around the bush.”  If we have a point to make – or we want public opinion we must learn to cut through the clutter.  Don't give your customers 10 reasons to buy your product.  Give them one.  Or, at the most, three.  They will never remember ten.  Get them to remember … get them to buy … get them to take the action that you recommend:

“If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever.  Use a pile driver.  Hit the point once,  Then come back and hit it again.  Then hit it a third time with a tremendous whack.”

– Winston Churchill

I love quotations – and use them frequently to make or illustrate a point.  They are succinct.  They are memorable.  They add to my authority and credibility when I use them.. They are powerful.  They persuade.

 

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Are Your Salespeople Biased?

Of course they are!  They're human.  All humans are biased to think and act in certain ways.  We offer biased opinions.  Our reactions are biased, to a degree, upon our experiences and environment.  However, if you are a salesperson – or you employ salespeople – your bias is costing you money and profit!

How?  And how do I correct this?

OK – before you get concerned – I am not talking about discrimination or other odious practices.  I want to draw your attention, in particular, to how your salespeople behave when they are not on the floor selling.  Or when they are not out in the field selling.  Why?

Because they way that they behave when they themselves are shopping or making decisions has a direct connection to the way that they sell  and the manner in which they relate to customers.  For example:

1) What kind of shopper are they?  Where do they shop for personal items?  Do they brag about the great deal that they got on XYZ?  Do they only shop at “huge discount stores?”  Do they dress and look like they just came from the bargain basement?

2) How about the ability to make decisions?  Do they say, “I'll have to think about this some more before I can make a decision?”  Do they give this response more times than not?  Many more times?

Well then, there is a high probability that they will respond in a similar manner during a sales call.  They will show their bias.  They will project their own preferences onto the customer.  How?

“Serial Bargain Buyers” place a high value on a low price sticker.  For many, this is the only thing that they value – the lowest price possible.  Do you employ any “serial bargain buyers?”  If so, do they project their bias onto your customers?  Just because they shop for bargains, they may presume that everyone shops for bargains – i.e. they are biased to believe that everyone wants the lowest possible price – all the time – or else they will not buy.

Does this happen in your store or place of business?  Do you have some salespeople who constantly complain about losing sales to the competitor down the block who has a lower price?  If so … I would start to do a background check – on their attitudes and shopping habits.  If you find that they are a “serial bargain buyer,” I would suggest that you encourage them to seek employment at another business that offers lower prices than you do.  They are beyond redemption.  You can not train them to change their attitude.

This is an extreme example made to illustrate a point.  It is natural that each of us tend to think that people that we meet or work with share the same outlook on the world that we do.  When you do your training – and I sincerely hope that you do train your staff – try to spot these natural tendencies towards bias.  Sometimes just pointing the reaction out – making them aware of their words, actions and non-verbal responses will be sufficient.

Last year, I made a few presentations to musical instrument dealers on “How To Compete with Internet Pricing:  Lose the Sale?  Or Lose the Profit?”  I have attached a sample page from that presentation as a file for you to access or download.  You can get the entire slide show on my website – www.thecompanyrocks.com

I asked the retailers to visualize their staff.  How many of their salespeople were “gigging” musicians?”  How many of these salespeople / “giggers” had any money?  How many of them actually knew anybody who had money?  How many of them – really – thought thought that your store's prices were too high?  How many of these salespeople / “giggers” actually purchased any equipment from your store – or did they go to the Internet or a competitor to get a lower price for themselves?

Unfortunately, many of the retailers in my audience nodded in agreement – I had just painted a picture of their sales staff.  And … they had a sales staff that was biased!  And they projected that bias onto their customers.

That is the real key – projecting your bias onto the customer.  Frankly, I don't care how you shop for yourself and your family – that is your decision.  Nor do I care how you make decisions at home.  As long as … you do not bring your bias to work.  Do not assume that everyone is your identical twin.

Successful salespeople ask question and listen to the answers their customers give to determine the best product or service for each individual customer.  Successful supervisors make a real effort to discover the factors that motivate each employee.  And they coach and communicate with the employee accordingly.  They do not show their bias. 

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How Well Do You Communicate? I Don’t Hear You

“It is the recipient who communicates. The so-called communicator, the person who emits the communication does not communicate. He utters. Unless there is someone who hears, there is no communication. There is only noise.”

– Peter Drucker

As always, the late, great Peter Drucker put his finger on the key issue. Unfortunately, too many speakers, salespeople, marketers, supervisors and spouses ignore this point – at their peril!

Communication is a two-way process.

Speakers may speak, but they are only words … unless the words that they speak reflect the experience of their audience. Salespeople may try to sell, but there will be no sale … unless their prospective customer perceives that there is a value for them. Marketers market everywhere everyday … but unless they market the right product to a receptive audience, it is just a waste of advertising dollars. Supervisors try to supervise daily … but most of the time their employees fail to respond in the way the supervisor hoped they would. Why? We know that spouses and significant other talk past each other on a regular basis … and to what result? The divorce rate is at an all-time high.

“What we have here is a failure to communicate!” This is a famous line from the movie, “Cool Hand Luke.” And it comes back to Peter Drucker’s observation:

“Before we can communicate, we must, therefore, know what the recipient expects to see and hear.”

No one can move an individual or an audience from Point “A” to Point “B” unless they really know the audience’s definition of Point “A.” It’s exact geographic and emotional location!

And this may vary from individual to individual in each audience and from audience to audience. If you want to be successful in sales (and who doesn’t?), you should spend more time asking questions of your potential customers than practicing your (one-size-fits-all) “spiel.” Successful marketers spend a considerable amount of time identifying – and locating – a “target” audience – one that has a high likelihood of being receptive to a (personalized) message. When the “communication” is “on-target” a demand is made – that the consumer makes a purchase or, at a minimum, asks for more information.

I am reminded of a book in my library by John Wooden – “You Haven’t Taught Until They Have Learned.” It’s the same principle at work here (as per Peter Drucker): Continue reading “How Well Do You Communicate? I Don’t Hear You” »

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Start Strong with Your Ending in Mind

“By your entrances and exits shall ye be known.”

– William Shakespeare

When you deliver a presentation – or make a sales call – the two most important segments are:

Grab the audience's attention with a strong opening.

Make your closing statement memorable and actionable.

It's really that easy.  However, most presenters flub both segments.  Why?  Perhaps it is stage fright that causes them to stumble at the start.  They have not taken the time to “mingle” with the audience ahead of time – which helps a speaker to relax and relate to their audience.  Or they put too much faith in their ability to “just wing it” or worse, “tell a little joke.”  Never attempt either of these beginnings!  It is the rare – and gifted, and practiced – professional comedian who can deliver a good joke with exquisite timing and a perfect sense of the audience.  You are not that comedian.  Don't start your presentation with a joke.  You can't afford to “just wing it.”  You can't afford to blow your opportunity to make a strong first impression.

You could start off with:  an interesting statistic, a current (and pertinent) event, a (relevant) story, a question, a quotation or even … a dramatic pause.  These techniques will work – if you put the effort into crafting their content and delivery.  Even if your delivery is less than perfect it is preferable to “It's great to be here in Cleveland tonight,  How are you?”  You never know how many people in the audience hate being in Cleveland – or wherever – that night, so don't start out this way!

Start out with a purpose!  Start with the end in mind!

“A speech without a purpose is like a journey without a destination.” – Ralph C. Smedley

What is the purpose of your presentation?  If you can't (succinctly) answer that question … then don't make the presentation!  If you don't know your purpose, how do you expect your audience to know it?  What do you want your audience to do?  To think?  To feel?  You have to tell them.  They have to get it.  They have to want it.

But first … you must  know the purpose of your presentation – right from the start!

You can end your presentations with some of the same techniques I suggested you use when you start to speak:

1) An interesting statistic. – that relates to your topic and captures the attention of your audience.

2) A current (pertinent) event – these could relate directly to your speech or the conference.

3) A (relevant) story – that will reinforce your message.

4) A question – in this case, a rhetorical question would be effective.

5) A quotation – that relates to your message and is memorable.  Also memorize-able!

6) A dramatic pause…

But don't … ever… end with “Well, my time is up, so I guess that that is all I have to say.”

Learn to be know – practice your entrances and exits.  It worked for Shakespeare.  It will work for you.  And you will get more work – or sales, or gain more influence.  Simply because you have learned how to start – with your ending in mind!

 

 

 

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How Do You Keep the Music Playing?

The New York Times has published two remarkable stories about young musicians in the past few days.  The first, in the Sunday edition, is “Face-the-Music Academy” and it is the story of the young music fellows in the New World Symphony based in Miami, FL.  In today's edition, we learn how “In New Orleans, Bands Struggle to Regain Footing.”  This is a story about High School Band Musicians from the New Orleans public schools and their indomitable will to keep the music playing and the bands marching.

The young musicians profiled in each story come from very different backgrounds – in Miami, extremely talented graduates from leading conservatories studying with the finest music instructors.  Thanks to a generous donor, they live rent-free in a Miami Beach Hotel converted for the exclusive use of the New World Symphony fellows.  In New Orleans, we read about 17-year old Montreal A. Givens, a trombonist and drum major who lives by himself in a FEMA trailer so that he can finish out his Senior year with the band.  He is an honors student and his father, also a musician, lives in Houston, TX.  He says,

“I came back here (to New Orleans) for the music.  I took a hard hit, but I couldn't stop my life because of the hurricane.”

I am not writing to point out seeming inequities or different social situations.  I am drawing your attention to these two articles so that you can discover the personal stories of individual musicians as they struggle to keep the music playing.  And to point out the important role that music plays in defining a city's life force.

The late Ted Arison, the founder of Carnival Cruise Lines, and his wife donated over $62 million to found the New World Symphony as a training opportunity to help talented musicians make the transition from conservatory to a career as a working musician in a symphony orchestra.  Hi generosity and vision are paying multiple dividends – to the music fellows in the symphony and to the music and arts community in South Florida.  Early in his life Mr. Arison had hoped to make his living as a pianist.  He founded and operated a cruise line instead.  But he left a tremendous legacy and his program has helped to launch some major musical careers.  Bravo!

The donor base for helping to restore music programs in New Orleans is much more modest – but no less sincere.  NAMM, the International Music Products Association partnered with the Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation to donate instruments and other materials.  The Tipitina's Foundation gave over $500,000 worth of instruments to the schools in 2006.  One band director, Paul Batiste, had his band practicing on what he could afford from his own pocket – just the mouthpieces for trumpets and clarinets – until the donated instruments arrived.

In the words of 3rd year music student Joshua Phipps we get a glimpse of what musical discovery means:

“At my first band practice, I just fell in love with the sound.  I practiced a whole lot, every day, and it was like a hidden talent I didn't know I had.  I want to be a band teacher.”

How does a band teacher help to restore a city's spirit?  Virgil Tiller, the band director of the St. Augustine High School Purple Knights said:

“This band is the city's band.  When we march, it's amazing to me how many people say: 'Thank you for coming back.  If St. Aug's back, the city is coming back.'”

In Miami, Naomi Gray – a cellist with the New World Symphony said:

“There's very few things more exciting than being part of a hughe machine, part of a huge effot.  The power of music is monumental, and the more I play here, the more I realize that.”

That is why we keep the music playing!  Do what you can to help, please.

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Crisis Management

I hope that you were not among the thousands of passengers who were affected by the JetBlue Airways flight cancellations during the past week.  What a fiasco!  The front page story of today's New York Times says that the C.E.O. of Jet Blue Airways – David Neeleman – is “mortified and humiliated” by these events. (Click here for the story)

I wonder what the stranded passengers and frustrated vacationers are feeling?  I'll bet that it is not “mortification and humiliation.”  It is more likely to be “lawsuits and boycotts.”

As I have written in the past, I admire David Neeleman's leadership style – he helps to load planes, picks up trash and aggressively seeks out direct customer feedback.  The current crisis will greatly test his leadership and challenge the management, employees and systems of Jet Blue Airways.

Neeleman has frankly admitted that due to the “low cost” operating structure of his discount airline, they did not have nearly enough resources trained and available to handle the communications required to locate pilots and flight attendants and to get them to the proper  locations.  I addition, because they rely on part-time reservations agents working out of their homes (in Salt Lake City) they did not have enough staff on hand to re-route passengers, refund tickets or answer angry customer calls.  So. it was not just angry customers who were placed on indefinite telephone hold – JetBlue's pilots, flight attendants and ground crews were in the same situation – they could not phone into central operations to report their location and availability!  What a mess!  A complete boondoggle!

There is still another part of the story that I suspect will surface shortly.  Jet Blue gambled and lost – badly – hoping that the storm would pass and that their passengers would not miss their vacations.  And… that JetBlue would also not miss the (much needed) revenue stream that those flights generate.  Canceled flights do not generate cash.

Could a sudden unexpected crisis affect your business?  What would you do?  How would you react?  Is your staff trained in crisis management procedures?  Are you prepared to to answer angry customer calls?  Can you business survive if the revenue (cash) suddenly stops coming in?  What is your plan for getting customers back?  What lessons can you learn from the crisis?  How do you restructure your operations to present a repeat of a total systems melt-down?

Let's watch David Neeleman and JetBlue Airways over the next few days.  Let's see how they handle this crisis.  Let's see what angry and frustrated passengers say.  Let's observe how competitors try to take advantage of a wounded Jet Blue to regain passengers that they lost to the discount airline.

If history is our guide, David Neeleman will have to take quick, decisive actions over the next few days in order to start to regain the.trust of his customers and employees.  He should study the case history of Johnson & Johnson's “Tylenol Recall” or Intel's “1994 Pentium Chip miscalculation” problem. 

According to Mark Walton (former CNN correspondent) writing in “Generating Buy-In: Mastering the Language of Leadership,” this is the path to follow:

“The best way out of bad news, crisis, and controversy, is to generate buy-in for a positive future, rather than dwell on the problems of the past.”

Customer do not want excuses or technical analysis of what went wrong.  They want to know that their future travel needs, wants and goals will be met – unequivocally!

Customers really don't care that the C.E.O. – David Neeleman – is “humiliated and mortified” by this system failure.  They just want to be able to get to their business or vacation destination on-time for a cheap fare.  And if JetBlue can not assure them that they can do this… then they will book their trip on another airline that can – or stay home.

This is what the well respected Gordon Bethune, former C.E.O. of Continental Airlines had to say in the concluding remarks of today's NY Times article:

“… little other than low fares would do much to win back customers, but is an airline makes a bad judgment call, 'you better be good at recovery no matter what.”  He called last week's JetBlue meltdown “a byproduct of their past and their growth.'”

Quite an astute observation, Mr. Bethune.

It's one thing to be a great leader when things are running smoothly.  Customers and employees admire a C.E.O. who helps them get the plane out on time by pitching in and loading bags, etc.  But when things go bad… They still expect the leader to be out front pitching in to make sure the planes will fly on time in the future.  But now – in this crisis – the stakes are very high indeed.

Mr. Neeleman – we will be watching you carefully.  I truly hope that you succeed in restoring faith in your innovative airline.  And I hope that you can teach us a lesson in leadership.  Go beyond “humiliation and mortification” – quickly!  Make things right!  Show us how to lead.

 

 

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Do you recognize This?

How do you recognize good customer service?  I know – it is so rare to experience good, let alone exceptional customer service, that we may have forgotten that good customer service ever existed.  Perhaps it got lost while it was being outsourced – like lost luggage!

The problem isn't that we can't find good customer service.  The problem is that we don't recognize it – or rather we don't recognize and reward our employees when they provide good or exceptional customer service.  Behavior that gets rewarded gets repeated.  We learn this as children.  Why is it that we suddenly forget this basic principle when we become managers?

Far too many managers are quick to criticize but slow or ineffective in their praise.  When they do offer praise, it tends to be generic (“Good Job, Al!”) and non-specific (“Way to go, team!”) 

While these attempts at praise and recognition are probably well-intentioned, they are meaningless.  What (specific) job did Al do well?  Where (specifically) did the team go to warrant your half-hearted praise?  As a manager, you should be setting concrete measurements and praising (publicly and privately) your employees who meet and beat these measurements:

“Al – I appreciate you arranging to have our UPS driver come an hour later today to pick up our shipments.  We were able to get an extra 200 Valentine's Day gift boxes out the door because of your effort.  I thank you – and our customers thank you.  Good job!”

“I want to publicly recognize our production team's extra efforts during January.  Because of their hard work and ingenuity, we were able to get 3 new products delivered to our trade show booth.  Because we were able to show and demonstrate these 3 products during the show we added an extra $300,000 in sales. Way to go team!” 

A quick search on the Internet will bring up numerous sources of tips, quotes and best practices for motivation and recognizing your employees.  Here is one site that I found this morning (Click here.)

It costs so little to reward and recognize good behavior – a handwritten note, an email, a handshake accompanied by a sincere expression of thanks for a (specific) job well done.  But it is so rare to see managers – or owners – employing this practice.  And their employees recognize – that they are not being recognized.

“There are two things want more than sex and money – recognition and praise.”

– Mary Kay Ash

Thousands of Pink Cadillacs confirm that Mary Kay knew how to motivate her independent sales force.  We can all learn a lesson from her.  Try it.  Pick up a couple of dozen “Thank You” notes and start using them at work – this tip works like a charm when your put it to work.  Just be specific, sincere and timely when you hand out your “thank you” notes.

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I Hear You – But I Am Not Listening to You

It has been said that you will make more sales if you spend more time listening (to your customer) than talking (to the customer.)  But there is listening – and then there is “active listening.”  Active listening is not just accurately hearing all of the words that you customer speaks.  No… it is much more.  It is doing whatever it takes to fully understand what the customer is “intending” to communicate.

I was reading “The Truth About Managing People,” by Stephen P. Robbins the other day.  In Truth #36 he neatly details eight behaviors that will lead to effective active listening:

1) Make eye contact.

2) Exhibit affirmative head nods and appropriate facial expressions.

3) Avoid distracting actions or gestures.

4) Ask questions.

5) Paraphrase.

6) Avoid interrupting the speaker.

7) Don't over-talk.

8) Make smooth transitions between the roles of speaker and listener.

This is rock-solid advice for anyone who wants to gather more sales or generally improve business relationships – with customers or with you peers and staff.  Here are a few of my own comments and observations:

Even when you are talking on the phone, it is possible to establish “eye contact” with the other party.  You establish eye contact by being “present and engaged” in the conversation – you are truly interested in what is being said.  You are listening for the nuances in the other person's voice – their words, their tone of voice, their pauses.

I don't care how busy you are.  If you have an “open door” policy then it is imperative that you stay fully engaged when an employee or a customer approaches you with a question or a comment – AMEN!  Put away your Blackberry, stop shuffling papers on your desk, don't glance over when your computer “pings” that a new message has arrived.  If you can't fully engage in the conversation either close your door (and do your emailing or shuffling papers)  or ask your employee if you can schedule a time to listen to them – because it really matters – to both of you.

And don't think that people can't “see” you multi-taking over the phone.  They can – and they do – and they don't like it!  So don't do it.  If you can't afford the time to actively listen to your customer … well…. what can you afford?

You ask questions to seek clarification, ensure that you understand correctly and also to assure your customer that you are truly listening.  If you just follow these three guidelines your sales and your relationships will improve immediately.

Be careful not to “parody” when you “paraphrase.”  Don't simply “parrot” back the actual words your customer speaks.  Ask for confirmation that you have heard them correctly; and do this with sincerity.

Never, ever interrupt the speaker.  Do not attempt to complete their sentences for them.  Learn to wait for your speaker to end his or her thought before you offer your comments or ask another question.  When you do this your customers and your staff will gain a new respect for your professional conduct.  You will stand out from the crowd when you learn not to “crowd the conversation.”

Finally, try not to be thinking about your response or your next question while your customer is still talking.  Always be engaged (actively listening) when someone is talking to you.  Then pause.  And then talk.  Trust me.  When you follow this advice, your questions and comments will flow naturally.  And they will be much more effective that the questions or comments you were planning to ask (while your customer was still speaking.)

Do you have any special techniques that you use to improve your listening skills?  If so, please share them with our readers.  Or just drop me an email danny@thecompanyrocks.com

Thank you for listening!

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