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5 Ways To Listen Better By Alistair McQuade

5 ways to listen better

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As business people we know that we need to listen to prospects, but how good are we? One of the best tips I ever heard (lol) on listening, was that most people are not actually listening, rather they are waiting for the other person to finish, so that they can then speak. No wonder some psychologists say that 94 pecent of the time, people are thinking about themselves! Becoming conscious of this 'waiting' helped me to see how bad at listening I was, which then improved my listening more than anything else. The second best listening skill that I have seen successful sales people using, is repeating back a summary of what has been said. This shows that you have listened, that you understand and it allows the speaker time to reflect and build on what they have said. This is great for opening up a prospect as they feel they can trust you, and reflection allows deeper and more considered discovery. A very accessible resource for improving listening is the TED talk by Julian Treasure. Here's a summary of the actions he suggested, of which I found no.3 the most useful for sales people: 1. silence. Just three minutes a day of silence is a wonderful exercise to reset your ears and to recalibrate so that you can hear the quiet again. If you can't get absolute silence, go for quiet, that's absolutely fine. 2. The mixer. (Noise) So even if you're in a noisy environment like this listen in the coffee bar to how many channels of sound can I hear? How many individual channels in that mix am I listening to? You can do it in a beautiful place as well, like in a lake. How many birds am I hearing? Where are they? Where are those ripples? It's a great exercise for improving the quality of your listening. 3. The acronym RASA. You can use this in listening, in communication. If you're in any one of those roles -- and I think that probably is everybody who's listening to this talk -- the acronym is RASA, which is the Sanskrit word for juice or essence. And RASA stands for Receive, which means pay attention to the person; Appreciate, making little noises like "hmm," "oh," "okay"; Summarize, the word "so" is very important in communication; and Ask, ask questions afterward. See the whole TED talk Conclusion. Just focusing on 'not waiting' will help you become conscious of potentially your biggest listening skills gap. If you can repeat back, or summarise what the person is saying, it will take your listening to a higher level. Using the exercises suggested by Julian Treasure will turn you into a truly accomplished listener. By Alistair McQuade www.salestrong.co.uk

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Page 1: 5 ways to listen better

5 Ways To Listen Better

By Alistair McQuade

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• m

“The opposite of talking isn’t listening. The opposite of

talking is waiting.”

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2. SummariseRepeating back a summary shows that you have listened, you understand, and allows the speaker time to reflect and build on what was said. This helps to up a prospect as they feel they can trust you, and allows deeper and more considered discovery.

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3. Silence - Just three minutes a day can reset your ears so that you can hear the

quiet again.

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4. How many individual channels in the mix am I listening to?

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ऋआषा�5. Listening Framework

•Receive•Appreciate• Summarize•Ask

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Conclusion

• Focusing on 'not waiting' will help you become conscious of the biggest mistake people make when listening.

• If you can repeat back, or summarise what the person is saying, it will take your listening to a higher level.

• Using the exercises suggested by Julian Treasure will turn you into a truly accomplished listener.

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more resources at salestrong.co.uk

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There are lots more resources to make your sales brain

stronger at salestrong.co.uk.

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5 Ways To Listen Better

By Alistair McQuade