The ability to actively listen is always the best way to make others feel important and show them that you are interested in their person.
We all like to talk about our concerns, ideas or projects and we want others to be as interested as we in what we say. Most times, we become so absorbed in our story, that we forget to give our interlocutors this privilege, to speak about their own concerns.
In his book, How to Win Friends and Influence people, Dale Carnegie says that everyone was gifted with two ears and one mouth, but most use them in inverse proportion – talk more than listen. Indeed, listening becomes more difficult to undertake when meeting a friend to whom we want to narrate everything we have done in the last 3 months.
In a business meeting, we tend to believe that we will convince our interlocutor of the services quality that we want to sell only by talking to him about this and told him what we think he is interested in. In reality, each person has different expectations and interests that we can discover by actively listening. By simply listening to their needs, we can arrive at a much better result and can more easily enter into a partnership. To this concern, a president of Harvard University said that “there is no magic secret of a successful business meeting. Exclusive attention paid to the person speaking to you is very important. Nothing flatters more. ”
The 7th Dale Carnegie’s principle, “Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves ” was translated Tuesday night in a sketch played by our colleagues, Daniela, Victor and Dan.
