Ernest Hemmingway once said I like to listen. I have learned a good deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen.
Have you ever had the experience of visiting a professional adviser such as a lawyer or an accountant (or even a doctor) and they don’t listen properly so that before you have had the chance to do more than just mention the nature of your problem, your adviser is presenting you with a detailed itemised solution?
How can they do this when they have not listened to your exact issues? What they (and we as professionals) are running the risk of doing is assuming what the problem is that their client brings to them. Professional people (me included) should seek to avoid this tendency for three good reasons. First you have not listened to all of the request for advice and may jump to the wrong conclusion. Second the mere expression of a worry and articulation of a problem may help a client to see a solution for themselves. And third it is just common professional courtesy to hear your client out – however busy you may be.
Wikipedia eloquently summarises this tendency of jumping to conclusions(officially the jumping conclusion bias, often abbreviated as JTC, and also referred to as the inference-observation confusion) is a psychological term referring to a communication obstacle where one "judge[s] or decide[s] something without having all the facts; to reach unwarranted conclusions".
The same is true for customers seeking services such as IT outsourcing, perhaps for the first time. It is very easy to go into the first dialogue or negotiation with them as an experienced supplier, not listen to them explaining their requirements and instead telling them what they want based on your experience or previous customers. The new customer will expect and want you to have this experience but not have it thrust down their throat. They have to formulate their specific needs if for no other reason than to get internal buy in to and understanding of an important buying decision.
Also if you listen properly as this Thomson Reuters articlesuggests you may well find that the immediate “ask” actually masks a deeper underlying issue Are clients coming to you for more than just tax return preparation? Are they asking for counsel on tax-related legislation, business decisions, or strategic planning? Often times, when a client says they want your time, they really need your knowledge.
As Harvard Business School professor Theodore Levitt famously observed The purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer. You simply won’t do that if you don’t listen properly and carefully to clients expressed needs before pitching in with your “solution”.
Epictetus the Greek philosopher sums this up nicely:“We were given two ears but only one mouth, because listening is twice as hard as talking.”
Have you ever had the experience of visiting a professional adviser such as a lawyer or an accountant (or even a doctor) and they don’t listen properly so that before you have had the chance to do more than just mention the nature of your problem, your adviser is presenting you with a detailed itemised solution?
How can they do this when they have not listened to your exact issues? What they (and we as professionals) are running the risk of doing is assuming what the problem is that their client brings to them. Professional people (me included) should seek to avoid this tendency for three good reasons. First you have not listened to all of the request for advice and may jump to the wrong conclusion. Second the mere expression of a worry and articulation of a problem may help a client to see a solution for themselves. And third it is just common professional courtesy to hear your client out – however busy you may be.
Wikipedia eloquently summarises this tendency of jumping to conclusions(officially the jumping conclusion bias, often abbreviated as JTC, and also referred to as the inference-observation confusion) is a psychological term referring to a communication obstacle where one "judge[s] or decide[s] something without having all the facts; to reach unwarranted conclusions".
The same is true for customers seeking services such as IT outsourcing, perhaps for the first time. It is very easy to go into the first dialogue or negotiation with them as an experienced supplier, not listen to them explaining their requirements and instead telling them what they want based on your experience or previous customers. The new customer will expect and want you to have this experience but not have it thrust down their throat. They have to formulate their specific needs if for no other reason than to get internal buy in to and understanding of an important buying decision.
Also if you listen properly as this Thomson Reuters articlesuggests you may well find that the immediate “ask” actually masks a deeper underlying issue Are clients coming to you for more than just tax return preparation? Are they asking for counsel on tax-related legislation, business decisions, or strategic planning? Often times, when a client says they want your time, they really need your knowledge.
As Harvard Business School professor Theodore Levitt famously observed The purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer. You simply won’t do that if you don’t listen properly and carefully to clients expressed needs before pitching in with your “solution”.
Epictetus the Greek philosopher sums this up nicely:“We were given two ears but only one mouth, because listening is twice as hard as talking.”
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