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How to become a better listener? I asked the Marketing Department of BellSouth Mobility for some smart tips on how to be a great listener. Their work puts them in direct contact with a diverse customer base with fast evolving needs. Plus, they appreciate that it’s essential to hear what the customers want before their competition does.

Here are 15 smart strategies they recommend for being a great listener. See how many of these you do:
Be motivated to listen.
Get excited about hearing the other person.
Tell yourself you are going to listen.
Let your face show the speaker you care.
Suspend judgment. Listen for the facts. You can put them in order later.
Listen for the emotion. Feelings count for more than the logic of their words.
Watch the non-verbals of the speaker for clues that me might mean something different from what he’s saying.
Be aware that you are filtering as you listen to categorize their comments. If you can’t stop doing that, at least be aware you are doing it.
Pay attention and demonstrate respect.
Avoid preparing your response.
Stifle you new idea gag reflex – the one that wants to dismiss new or threatening points of view.
Listen for facts and ideas.
Listen for intent.
Be aware of your own non-verbals because they can impact what the speaker says and how he says it.
Listen with empathy. Show you care.

There you have it. Amazing how straight-forward these are. And if they work in growing their multi-billion dollar business, I bet they will work smart in your career, too.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 at 5:00 am and is filed under Podcast. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.