Listen to Win! Are you a listener or just someone waiting to talk. By Phillip W Duff

Are you a listener or are you just waiting for your turn to talk? If you answered “I am a listener” are you sure?  Most people spend most of the time while someone else is talking creating a counter argument in their mind. Instead of trying to listen and understand the message that is trying to be conveyed by the other person.

Most people are not listeners but the most successful people are very good at listening let me give you an example: I have a friend named Jeff Mains who is a great salesman. When I first met Jeff I didn’t understand how he was so able to sell as he’s not like most salesmen, he’s quite a good listener and doesn’t really talk a lot. In fact when talking with him sometimes I wonder if he was listening at all because after I finished talking there would be a pause before he would respond. What I learned later is that he was a great listener.

While I thought Jeff was not paying attention and was delaying in responding to me, what he was doing was making sure I was finished talking. Instead of delaying the response he was making sure that I had completed my message. But it’s what Jeff did next that astounded me once I understood his methodology. What Jeff would do next is answer every question I had raised and respond to each issue I stated. He had been listening not only listening but listening attentively.

As I begin to spend more time with Jeff I understood that he was an excellent listener and better yet he waited until someone had completed their message before he tried to respond to the message. This makes the speaker feel like the listener really cares.

So how do you learn to listen better? Well it’s something you have to practice we are not built as human beings to listen we want to interrupt the speakers message and insert our own message but all this does is frustrate the speaker. As a bill collector is very important that you hear the message the party on the other end of the line is trying to provide. Because if you listen long enough as a bill collector you will first hear “I can’t pay” you will next year “I want to pay” and you will lastly here”here’s what I can pay” but first you have to listen.

Most collectors stop the party before they get to the last part and this is what stops them from collecting the bill. They were not able to listen long enough to get the payoff.

So I ask you again are you will listen or are you just waiting for your turn to talk?