How To Use Strategic Listening to Grow Your Business, According To Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
How To Use Strategic Listening to Grow Your Business, According To Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
And to follow-up on the listening more than talking, I want to add that we need to do much more than listen – we need to hear and understand. I have seen too many advertising and public relations campaigns touting the virtues of a company, organization and/or individual as a good listener. I believe that is only part of what is required, If you listen and do not hear, and if your hear and do not understand, you will not be very effective. So when I say “strategic listening,” I mean that to include the hearing and understanding also.
Strategic listening is especially critical in business communications and marketing. And to accomplish the goal of becoming a good strategic listener, it is important to always have intelligent questions ready to ask the person or persons you are communicating with about business. Your questions should demonstrate that you have made an effort to get to know and understand a client’s, customer’s or prospect’s business. Your questions should get the person or persons talking so you can really learn about them and their business.
If you can formulate the right questions, the client, customer or prospect will inform you of such things as: their business frustration or pain; what they really want and how they really want it; what is important and what is not important to them; whether or not they fit your ideal client profile; whether they have the financial resources to engage your services and/or buy your products; and much more.
And as a follow-up to these questions, you develop more questions to probe deeper into their responses. For example, you might ask them questions like: what have you tried before? Why didn’t that work? If the decision were up to you, what would you do? What would the perfect solution look like to you? Are you talking to others about this project and if so, who are they? What is your timeline for your project? And basically keep on asking questions until you can form an opinion on what the solution or first step should be. You want the client, customer or prospect to feel they have met a trusted advisor, rather than someone delivering a “sales pitch.”
Strategic listening is very important and is really critical to the success of you and your business. One research study, “Increasing Marketing Effectiveness at Professional Services Firms” concluded that “listening to the client and responding to what they say” is a key to marketing effectiveness. When you listen you can gain a strategic advantage of being able to make adjustments based on what you hear and understand. Imagine how much more effective and successful you and your business can be if you ask the right questions, listen, hear and understand the answers. And then you follow-up with your approach to your clients, customers and prospects based upon on those answers. This will be much more effective than delivering a “canned” sales pitch and missing the opportunity to learn about their needs, concerns, goals, problems, challenges, issues, threats, and opportunities.
Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach encourages you to fully realize the benefits of business coaching to strategically listen to manage and grow your business. If you would like to learn more about how a strategic thinking business coach can facilitate and guide you in that endeavor, please contact Glenn Ebersole today through his website at www.businesscoach4u.com or by email at jgecoach@aol.com
How To Use Strategic Listening to Grow Your Business According To Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach - To learn more about this author, visit Glenn Ebersole's Website.
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You have probably heard some variation of proverbs and quotes that indicate we should listen more than we talk. For example: Mark Twain said, “If we were meant to talk more than listen, we would have two mouths and one ear.” An old German proverb states, ”A man has two ears and one mouth so that he hears much and speaks little.
And to follow-up on the listening more than talking, I want to add that we need to do much more than listen – we need to hear and understand. I have seen too many advertising and public relations campaigns touting the virtues of a company, organization and/or individual as a good listener. I believe that is only part of what is required, If you listen and do not hear, and if your hear and do not understand, you will not be very effective. So when I say “strategic listening,” I mean that to include the hearing and understanding also.
Strategic listening is especially critical in business communications and marketing. And to accomplish the goal of becoming a good strategic listener, it is important to always have intelligent questions ready to ask the person or persons you are communicating with about business. Your questions should demonstrate that you have made an effort to get to know and understand a client’s, customer’s or prospect’s business. Your questions should get the person or persons talking so you can really learn about them and their business.
If you can formulate the right questions, the client, customer or prospect will inform you of such things as: their business frustration or pain; what they really want and how they really want it; what is important and what is not important to them; whether or not they fit your ideal client profile; whether they have the financial resources to engage your services and/or buy your products; and much more.
And as a follow-up to these questions, you develop more questions to probe deeper into their responses. For example, you might ask them questions like: what have you tried before? Why didn’t that work? If the decision were up to you, what would you do? What would the perfect solution look like to you? Are you talking to others about this project and if so, who are they? What is your timeline for your project? And basically keep on asking questions until you can form an opinion on what the solution or first step should be. You want the client, customer or prospect to feel they have met a trusted advisor, rather than someone delivering a “sales pitch.”
Strategic listening is very important and is really critical to the success of you and your business. One research study, “Increasing Marketing Effectiveness at Professional Services Firms” concluded that “listening to the client and responding to what they say” is a key to marketing effectiveness. When you listen you can gain a strategic advantage of being able to make adjustments based on what you hear and understand. Imagine how much more effective and successful you and your business can be if you ask the right questions, listen, hear and understand the answers. And then you follow-up with your approach to your clients, customers and prospects based upon on those answers. This will be much more effective than delivering a “canned” sales pitch and missing the opportunity to learn about their needs, concerns, goals, problems, challenges, issues, threats, and opportunities.
Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach encourages you to fully realize the benefits of business coaching to strategically listen to manage and grow your business. If you would like to learn more about how a strategic thinking business coach can facilitate and guide you in that endeavor, please contact Glenn Ebersole today through his website at www.businesscoach4u.com or by email at jgecoach@aol.com
How To Use Strategic Listening to Grow Your Business According To Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach - To learn more about this author, visit Glenn Ebersole's Website.
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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Joe DagerJoe Dager is President of Business901, a progressive coaching company providing no-nonsense direction in areas such as Lean Six Sigma Marketing and organized referral marketing. What others say: In the past 20 years, Joe and I have collaborated on many difficult issues. Joe’s ability to combine his expertise with “out of the box” thinking is unsurpassed. He has always delivered quickly, cost effectively and with ingenuity. A brilliant mind that is always a pleasure to work with.” - James R. If you want to learn more about Business901, start a conversation with us. We can be found @ Web/Blog: Business901.com Web/Blog: FundingYourNonprofit.com LinkedIn Profile Follow me on Twitter - Visit Joe Dager's Website |
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Cheryl MatthynssensCheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur. Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well. A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles. She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide- to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being. Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com - Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website |
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David BarrDavid Barr is the President of Venture Opportunities, Inc. David has been a professional business broker/intermediary since 1980 focusing on General Business Brokerage and Mergers and Acquisitions representing client transaction value from $400,000 to $20,000,000. Mr. Barr has handled the sale of over four hundred and fifty companies. David earned a university degree from the State University of New York majoring in economics and business. David holds the Mergers and Acquisition Master Intermediary and the Certified Business Intermediary designations from the International Business Brokers Association. He is also a Senior Business Analyst and a Texas licensed Real Estate Agent. For more information about David and Venture Opportunities, visit www.bizdealmaker.com. - Visit David Barr's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team culture consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. Dianne's contribution to the 2010 Pfeiffer Consulting Journal (an imprint of John Wiley and Sons Publishers) entitled TIGERS Hearted Teams is available in November 2009. Her new book TIGERS Among Us: 5 Winning Business Team Cultures And Why, Three Creeks Publishing will release in March 2010. To receive publishing discounts, subscribe to the free TigerTracks Newsletter here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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