DEFCON 1 Listening
The best definition of listening I have ever heard is: “Listening is not doing anything that interferes
with
seeing.” At first, this may sound strange, but if you’ll consider its implications, it is an extraordinary
statement.
Our first article in this series on listening examined what you might do if you found yourself alone, in
the
center of a dark forest in the middle of the night. Imagine how you would listen intently, with every
ounce
of energy you could muster. You would be on high-alert, the equivalent of DEFCON 1, the
military’s
highest alert status. Nothing could distract your attention from your surroundings and your
predicament.
This heightened awareness, in fact, would involve all your senses. You would listen intently to sounds
around you and sounds in the distance. You would strain to see anything in your surroundings. Your
sense
of smell would alert you to any familiar or unusual fragrances. You certainly would feel anything
around
you that you touched, or touched you. Perhaps you would even taste danger!
Intensely aware and sensitive to your surroundings, you would be prepared to react instantaneously
to
any emergency or threat. This same state of readiness would allow you to seize an opportunity for
safety
or escape. Even a brief lapse of attention could mean the loss of a chance to respond to an
emergency or
threat, or to take advantage of an opportunity.
You would not allow distractions of any kind that might threaten your security. It’s not likely that you
would let your mind wander. You probably wouldn’t, for example, think about gathering wood to
build
a fire, or picking wild blackberries for tomorrow’s breakfast. You would, instead, continue
listening
intently, employing all your senses for clues that might threaten or guarantee your survival.
Consider applying this behavior model to your sales interactions with prospects and customers.
Instead
of formulating responses in your mind as your conversational partner
speaks, what might
happen if you
simply listened to the speaker, employing all of your senses to actually see him or her?
What might
happen if you allowed yourself to remain on DEFCON 1 alert status during your
interactions with
customers?
If you remember anything you’ve read here I hope you will remember this: “Listening is not doing
anything that interferes with seeing.” In our next newsletter issue we will take a look at the myriad
of activities that not only interfere with listening, but actually prevent seeing.
Download Article
Copyright © 2006 Selling Up™. All Rights Reserved.
About the author: Steve Chriest is the founder of Selling Up™ (www.selling-up.com), a sales consulting
firm specializing in revenue and sales improvement for organizations of all types and sizes in a variety of
industries. He is also the author of Selling The E-Suite, The Proven System For Reaching and Selling
Senior Executives and Profits and Cash – The Game of Business. You can reach Steve at
schriest@selling-up.com.
|
