What Are You Listening to When Your prospect is Talking?

April 24, 2009 by Sandrine
Filed under attraction marketing

John picked up the phone; it was Paul. They had met last week at a networking event and got together for coffee a couple of days later. During that meeting, Paul asked John to come and work with him. John said he would think about it.

Without wasting much time, he thanked Paul for his offer and declined it, saying it was not a fit. Paul seemed to take it well. But a few seconds later, John wished he had just sent him an email or even disappeared all together without giving him an answer.

What are you listening to when your prospect is talking? Paul was convinced that working with him was the best thing John could do, based on their conversation. John had no clue why their conversation had led Paul to believe that and just wanted to get off the phone.

What Are You Listening to When Your prospect is Talking?

Most of time when a prospect is talking, we are hearing what we want to hear. We pick up words from their mouth and give them our own meanings. Unfortunately, this is a fatal mistake for your business. If you are listening to something else than what your prospects are communicating you will repel them.

Listening is probably the most important skill you will ever need to succeed. Here are few tips that can help you increase your listening skills right away.

Learn to focus; if you can focus on one thing you can focus on any thing. A good exercise to increase your focus is to concentrate on the flame of the candle for five minutes everyday.
Always ask questions such as “what do you mean?” By making a habit of probing for more, you will get people clarifying their thoughts.
Pause before speaking; usually people stop for breath but are not done talking. It will also allow you to think about what you think you heard.
Feed back what you heard to the speaker and ask for confirmation that you heard correctly before drawing any conclusion.

Just as you would not be at attracted to someone who thinks he knows what you want better than you do, your prospects will not be attracted to you. Spend the time necessary to improve your listening skills and you will be more attractive to your market.

For ore tips on how to become an attractive marketer, download our free audio.