Can you listen and talk at the same time?

Can you listen and talk at the same time?
December 9, 2024

It isn't easy to do two things simultaneously. Try patting your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time. It is difficult for most of us to do, much less do well. We would have to practice to improve, and it would have to become a skill. Can we look in the rearview mirror and straight ahead while driving? Try as much as you want, but you will never succeed.

Can you listen to a prospect or customer and think about what you want to say? You may think you can, but it is impossible. You will miss bits and pieces of what the speaker says. More importantly, you might miss what they are not saying. You could fail to hear an essential element of information to help you move the sales process forward or miss potential business opportunities.

Listening is a skill. Listen is a verb. It is a voluntary action that one must work at controlling. Since listening is a skill, we can improve our ability to listen. It is vital to recognize what keeps us from listening. We get distracted by something the person speaking says, or we disagree. What does it look like when one is not listening? We interrupt or judge what the other person is saying or start thinking about what we want to say. We become emotionally detached.

The first step in becoming a better listener is actively working on this skill. Concentrate on what the speaker is saying, picture what the speaker is saying, take notes, be curious, and welcome silence. Salespeople need to give themselves a break and realize that pausing the conversation and gathering their thoughts to ask questions or clarify what the prospect or customer said is okay.

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