Active Listening- Why it is an Essential part

Active Listening

Often, most Coaches and Trainers spend a lot of time of the topic of Listening. Why? Have you ever wondered? What is so great about a simple task like listening? We listen all the time. It does not require much effort.

Yes! I agree with you that Listening or shall we say hearing does not take much effort as we have been doing so, for all our lives. But, there is a huge difference between Hearing and Listening.

There are several misconceptions about listening. The first of these is listening and hearing are the same thing. Hearing is the physiological process of registering sound waves as they hit the eardrum. We have no control over what we hear. The sounds we hear have no meaning until we give them their meaning in context. Listening on the other hand is an active process that constructs meaning from both verbal and nonverbal messages.

When we hear, we let the sound waves fall on our ears and we respond to it depending our mood and focus on that stimulus at the time.

But Active Listening, means we are completely focussed on what is being said to us either by a person or a medium (audio-machine of some kind e.g. ipod, radio, tape, etc)

Active Listening is very important especially for those in professions like, Sales, Legal, Doctors, CAs, etc where the success of your profession is overly dependent on what your clients are saying verbally. Most of the inter-personal problems in life also can be avoided, if effective listening is done by all parties involved (e.g. Boss- Subordinate, Husband-Wife, Siblings, Father-Son, Friends, etc.). When you do not listen with your entire focus on the person talking to you, you may miss out on certain important clues (words or statements), which might be useful to you to effectively do your job and make a success out of that particular deal.

An active listener is able to listen to the speaker, analyse, interpret and internalise the information and then suggest a proper and relevant solution/ outcome for the set objective e.g. sales of your product etc. An active listener is able to overcome objections effectively and help the speaker in making a proper and effective decision towards completing the transaction. The proper use of active listening results in getting people to open up, avoiding misunderstandings, resolving conflict, and building trust. In a medical context, benefits may include increased patient satisfaction, improved cross-cultural communication, improved outcomes, or decreased litigation, etc.

 

 

 

Barriers to active listening

All elements of communication, including listening, may be affected by barriers that can impede the flow of conversation e.g. distractions, trigger words, vocabulary, and limited attention span.

Listening barriers may be psychological (e.g. emotions) or physical (e.g. noise and visual distraction). Cultural differences including speakers’ accents, vocabulary, and misunderstandings due to cultural assumptions often obstruct the listening process.

Frequently, the listener’s personal interpretations, attitudes, biases, and prejudices lead to ineffective communication.

Overcoming listening barriers

To use this listening technique to improve interpersonal communication, one puts personal emotions aside during the conversation, asks questions and repeats back to the speaker to clarify and understand, and also tries to overcome all types of environment distractions. Judging or arguing prematurely is a result of holding onto a strict personal opinion. This hinders the ability to be able to listen closely to what is being said. Furthermore, the listener considers the speaker’s background, both cultural and personal, to benefit as much as possible from the communication process. 

Eye contact and appropriate body languages are seen as important components to active listening. Effective listening involves focusing on what the speaker is saying; at times the listener might come across certain key words which may help them understand the speaker. The stress and intonation may also keep them active and away from distractions. Taking notes on the message can aid in retention.

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How to increase Customer Loyalty

In today’s tough times, it is extremely critical for any business/ Brand to have a loyal customer base, which helps it to secure its market share.

So, how do you build and maintain customer loyalty?

Firstly you have to know your own product/service thoroughly. The customer depends upon you to take the decision on whether she/ he will want to purchase your product/ service. If you give the prospective customer an impeccable service from the very moment you meet with him, then you are well on your way to gaining customer loyalty.

But, remember this is only the beginning. You must maintain the same quality and level of service right through the entire sales process which will cement your brand in the mind of the customer. The order, when placed based on the pre-sales process you had undergone must be followed up with the execution as per the commitment made when you secured the order.

The level of service must be maintained consistently during the execution of the order. Special care must be taken after sales as this is the crucial time when most business falter and end up undoing all the good work done earlier.

The after sales follow-up will finally determine whether you will have the customer’s loyalty for life or it will be another casualty. Impeccable after sales service is the corner stone of securing ultimate customer loyalty. Take utmost care to ensure that all existing customers’ queries, complaints are attended to immediately and respond to them each and every time they contact you.

I would like to add here that you will score highly in the mind of the customer if you put in place a customer loyalty program, where you gather all the customers’ details like, birth dates, anniversary dates, etc and send them a greeting on the occasion without fail. A planned periodic visit to the customer’s premises will ensure cementing the loyalty as well as the TRUST factor and also help you in not only getting repeat business but also get you a good amount of referral business from this loyal customer base.

Wishing you a loyal Customer database!

If you have any queries or would like to communicate with me then you may write in to me at welling1161@gmail.com.

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