Knowing What to Listen For
In his current post in his blog, Trust Matters, Charlie Green argues for listening largely so the client realizes she has been heard. He argues that you should “listen for the sake of listening.”
I am not sure whether we disagree or we use different words to say much the same thing. Your goal, I believe, is to figure what the client wants from you when she talks to you. If she wants to know if you can help her with a problem, tell her yes or no, and if it’s no, try to help her find someone who can. If she is trying to scope out a problem, help her do so. Hold the selling until you both have a clear understanding of the problem. If she simpley wants to vent or brag a little, let her do so.
Clients quickly catch on to the professional who claims to be able to help them with any problem. Saying that you can’t do something and refering the client to someone who can is both the right and professional thing to do and good business. If you have helped a client find someone who can solve Problem A better than you can, the client will trust you when you say you can help with Problem B.
Your first objective should always be to understand the client’s problem as she sees it, rather that as you think she should see it or would like her to see it. And once you do, if you can help her solve it, get on with the selling. That’s why she called you.
October 31st, 2007 at 5:01 pm
Ford, thank you for highlighting and commenting on my post.
I completely agree with everything you’ve said in your post (and it’s well said, as usual).
I was, though, also trying to make an additional, slightly different point. It’s related to that old saw “people don’t care what you know until they know that you care.”
And listening is the way in which people come to know that we care. So, while certainly a major goal of listening is, as you put it, to “figure out what the client wants from you,” another goal is to make sure she feels fundamentally heard.
The first goal is mainly cognitive; the second, emotional. Your stated goal (which I completely agree with) has to do agreeing what should be done. The additional goal I’m suggesting is to make sure the client feels cared for.
The first goal (the one you articulated) helps the sale (or the non-sale, as you quite rightly describe). The second goal actually helps implementation–by making the client more comfortable with acceptance of your advice. (And it probably doesn’t hurt the sale either).
October 31st, 2007 at 6:06 pm
Charlie
Empathy and understanding are good traits for a professional to have.
Ford