Knowing how to listen is very important. It involves many aspects we need to handle well in order to get the most positive results from our behaviour and our relationships, so that a positive atmosphere takes hold and builds trust, respect, interest and attention.
We all think listening is important, but not all of us do it properly. Many people focus on what they are going to say once the other person stops talking. They don’t even try to check what they think they heard, let alone pick up on the tone or the emotional nuances.
(Read: The fascinating life and career of Richard Branson)
These are fundamental mistakes when it comes to using this basic skill. Whatever our education or experience, we need to learn to listen, above all in business. Nobody learns anything by hearing themselves talk.
The old misconception in the world of sales, that the best salesperson is the one with the gift of the gab, is a thing of the past. The best salesperson is the one who lends an ear, listens and gathers as much information as possible from what they hear.
Not knowing how to listen is among the most common mistakes in negotiation and sales.
If we don’t know how to listen, we run the risk of communicating very well things the other person or group of people isn’t interested in. In research on the skills of successful business owners and executives, the ability to listen shows up alongside being a good communicator and many other habits of success.
That is why Richard Branson gives so much weight to this advice he received from his father. And we can’t deny that Branson probably owes the success of his group of companies to applying it, since he does business in industries that are already up and running but have a high percentage of dissatisfied customers. He listens to the complaints of an industry’s customers and builds his own business around solving the problems that exist within it.
The benefits of knowing how to listen are many, and Branson has set out some of them on his own LinkedIn profile:
People who show the most interest are the most interesting, the best people to talk to and the ones who achieve the most success in life.
People who don’t know how to listen tend to have a very narrow range of interests and often limit their chances of professional development and their capacity for personal satisfaction.
Those who listen carefully learn indirectly. We are all experts in, or know a lot about, some area that others may not know so well.
Someone who listens attentively discovers, and benefits from, not only other people’s style but also the content of their messages.
Branson says that ever since his father gave him this advice, to “listen more than you talk”, wherever he goes he spends as much time as possible listening to the people he meets. He always carries a pen and a notepad so he can learn from what he hears from the people around him.
And this is a skill that has made him the businessman he is today.
More great advice from Richard Branson:
- Don’t hire a CV; hire a personality
- Don’t go it alone in business. You won’t make it
- Richard Branson’s 10 best tips for success in business and life
- Relax this summer, but stay open to big ideas
Featured image: LunchboxLarry, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr.
