Why is listening so very critical to your business success?
The following excerpt from author Bernard T. Ferrari answers this question well:
Listening can well be the difference between profit and loss, between success and failure, between a long career and a short one. Listening is the only way to find out what you don’t know, and marks the path to making good decisions, arriving at the best ideas. If you aspire to be better at your job, no matter what it is, listening may be the most powerful tool at your disposal.
Here is another excerpt from the same author:
My guideline is that my conversation partner should be speaking 80 percent of the time, while I speak only 20 percent of the time… I can make my speaking time count by spending as much of it as possible posing questions, rather than holding forth with my opinions and observations.
If “listening” is something you would like to dig into a little deeper (and we all should) then you should check out Power Listening by Bernard T. Ferrari.
This point is especially important as you sell your services in the commercial sector. And yet the temptation is to TELL the prospect how great you and your company are! To help you fight this tendency please download our free Commercial Carpet Analysis form. Then, all you need to do is ask the questions listed on the form and LISTEN to your customer’s answers!
Bill
PS By the way, some great places to “listen and learn” from other cleaners are the industry Internet discussion forums.
Click here to read the complete Power Listening review at 800 CEO READ.