Listening - Purposeful or Passive

I was reading Miles Austin's blog,  the owner and author of Fill The Funnel and I was intrigued at this basic concept that most of us forget. I thought I would take a moment to share how important it is to be known as a purposeful listener.

Listening is a Key to Sales Success
April 21, 2010

    

Success in sales has a direct correlation to our ability to listen.  I use the term “listen” here to describe the act of listening with our ears and/or listening by reading the words of others.  There are two types of listeners:

1. Purposeful listeners - A purposeful listener is one that listens intently to learn and apply what they learn.  They listen with a purpose of learning, obtaining, absorbing and incorporating into their actions, applying what they have heard.
2. Passive listeners – A passive listener hears, walks away and forgets it.  They do not listen with the intention of applying their knowledge.

The next time you are in a conversation, either in person or online, ask yourself which type of listening you are using.  Even more interesting, ask yourself which type of listener the person on the other side of the conversation is.

Would you change your message if you realized your customer is listening passively?  Consider how you are listening during the day and see if it makes a difference.

Listen Purposefully = Win Big

Comments

[Joe Manna]

I agree with your post. Listening is powerful because it's even more powerful than speaking. As the old adage says, God gave us two ears, two eyes and one mouth for a reason. It bothers me when people are listening just to figure out how they can respond. I recently went to a conference and this dude's agenda was to give out his business cards like candy and then harass me via email pitching his services. Um, dude, we're not friends and I don't want your services. Had he listen purposefully, I might be able to headhunt for realistic prospects since I'm pretty well connected. That's the power of listening purposefully.

Great post, Adam. Keep it up!

~joe

[Adam Ross]

Thank you for your point of view Joe, well said.