Effective listening skills improve your ability to be successful in business. Did you know there are three types of effective listening skills that people use on a regular basis? This article is going to explain what each of these effective listening skills are so you can adapt them in the marketplace to improve yourself and your business.
Informal Listening is the 1st Effective listening skill
The first type of effective listening skill is referred to as Informal Listening. This is the method that we use to get all of our facts and figures. This method uses questions and answers. This method is dependent on the person listening to have understood the question in the first place.
Kids may ask their teacher at school “What
time is recess?” or maybe you ask the clerk at the grocery store “Where is the
bread aisle?” Depending on the ability of the listener will depend on your answer.
Sometimes, you will have to repeat the question, gain the listeners attention,
rephrase the question, or any number of other things to get the help you are
seeking.
While this sounds simple enough, questions
can be answered incorrectly. This can be for various reasons. The person may
have not listened to your question correctly, is inattentive, or distracted. Sometimes,
there might be a language barrier or someone you didn’t know was hard of
hearing. Be on top of what is going on and don’t assume the wrong conclusion.
Active Listening is the 2nd Effective listening skill
The next type of effective listening skill is known as Active Listening. This really involves the person who is the listener. They have to show interest in the conversation and respond appropriately in an attentive manner.
Even if you don’t verbally respond, it is
common curtesy to nod your head, make eye contact, and show some type of
emotion which indicates that you are paying attention even if its just a smile.
Another way to show that you have listened is to summarize what the person has
said and say it back to them. They will really love this and remember you. It’s
a huge compliment to be heard and responded to.
Intuitive Listening is the 3rd Effective listening skill
The next type of effective listening skill is referred to as Intuitive Listening. This is regarded as the highest level of listening. It takes a lot of concentration to listen at this level.
When someone is listening intuitively, they
are listening to the words as well as watching the actions of the person. For example,
a police officer taking a statement would be using this level of listening.
They will ask the suspect to repeat the same information several times so they
can find any inconsistencies to their story. A real estate agent should, in
this type of listening, ask leading questions of a client, then listen
carefully to the answers while watching the emotions demonstrated to properly
prepare what to do or say next.
Intuitive listening will cause the
speaker’s emotions to show through. You would also want to improve the
emotional environment making the atmosphere proactive. Especially in the case
of a negative or stressful meeting. You can tell if someone is frustrated or
thrilled by a topic. You will often see their faces go red, or they may start
to cry because the topic affects them so much. Regardless of what happens, you
need to be prepared to diffuse unwanted negative emotions while feeding on the
positive ones.
The next time you are listening to someone speak, see if you can identify the three different types of effective listening skills. When you are able to listen at the Intuitive level, you will be regarded as a great listener. Forbes has some very valuable help on actively listening in their 10 step article on listening.
Other articles are available on listening:
The Benefits of becoming an effective listener or
Five Effective Communication Keys
About the Author
Cindy Bishop is just like you choosing the real estate business to build a career and earn a living. Along the way, she found better ways to achieve sales success by developing habits and methods that worked to create income consistency. Cindy’s real estate business wasn’t unlike yours with door knocking, sphere marketing, and of course, holding open houses. Learning better communication skills allowed her to become a top producing agent.