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Profitable ListeningPosted 6/8/2003By Dave Doremus
The automotive industry is littered with the remains of failed shops. Yet, I wonder how many of those shops might have survived and even prospered had their owners listened to the marketplace more effectively. Listening isn't easy; it's a learned skill. Listening is a wonderful key for achieving business and personal success. Most folks fail to understand how poor their listening skills are. We hear lots of words, but many times we miss the message. Our spouses will tell us we don't listen well; customers won't. They will just fire you and find another place to take their business. Employees list one of the worst traits of bosses as: "He never listens to me." Leaders must become good listeners! Often, we fail to give the customer concentrated, active and attentive focus to what they are telling us. Sometimes we think we know what they are telling us and we end up misinterpreting the message and fixing the wrong problem. Hearing is an involuntary action, but listening is purely voluntary. Listening just doesn't happen; it takes a mental effort. Listening is a complicated process. Poor listening skills cause unnecessary problems. Not listening can cause misunderstandings - which can lead to embarrassment and often, considerable frustration. The result is that we lose an opportunity to improve our professional and personal relationships. It's common for many of us to misinterpret directions, hear a problem incorrectly, miss out on business opportunities and to overlook the meaning of the message. You are the key to better listening in your shop. You must show the way. When you listen more effectively, you will assuredly affect your profit structure. If you believe this, then you should work at improving your listening skills. I know everyone agrees that listening is good business! When you listen effectively you more quickly reach clarity of understanding, which allows you to respond appropriately, resulting in enhanced communication. All of this leads to more satisfactory results, which makes for more happy customers and as a result leads to greater sales, production and profits. In addition, poor listening can cause errors and expense in the shop. Poor listening wastes time and as a result, can anger customers. This in turn can lower productivity and cost the shop money. For example, in a five-person shop, if everyone made one error per day that cost the shop, in time or material, only $5, how costly might this be? Five people times $5, times five days, times 4.3 weeks per month, times 12 months would equal $6,450 per year. Divide your labor rate into that number and see how many extra hours you have to sell to recover the money lost to poor listening! (Example: Labor rate = $X per hour. $6,450 ÷ $X.) No doubt, that's a lot of hours to recover, when with a little training effort you and your staff could improve your listening skills. We spend more than 50 percent of our workday listening. Most of us listen at only a 25 percent effective rate. We all hear everything, but we will misinterpret, misunderstand or change 70 percent to 90 percent of what we hear. You must learn to focus on the speaker, interpret effectively what the speaker is saying - by using a questioning process - and be certain what part of the message must be retained. Those are the three roadblocks to better listening and understanding skills. Has this ever happened to you? A customer relates a problem, and from the first word, you assume you understand the problem and know the solution. You tune out, let your mind go to other tasks and don't hear the rest of the customer's message. That message you "tuned out" could have provided you with information that changed the repair process. Your "I know what they mean" attitude will leave you out in the cold many times, because you failed to listen well. Understanding what the customer says and means is an arduous task. Understand this: Words only send the message, the meaning of the message is in the person sending the message. One word to you might mean something totally different to someone else. You must learn to determine if you understand the true meaning of the message. For example, I was building a shelf in a closet for my wife. I asked her for the height, width and depth of the shelf she wanted. When I completed the shelf she screamed because it was too wide and not deep enough. Her definition of depth was what in my mind meant width. Now, when we discuss measurements, I always double check to be sure. You have to do the same with your customers, to be sure that "crank" in their mind is the same as "crank" in your mind. Words only send the message; meaning comes from the sender/customer. Don't ever forget that! Several things will happen when you listen well. Listening is one of the highest forms of appreciation and since most people crave appreciation, when you listen well they will feel better about doing business with you. Listening tells others you are an open, sincere and friendly person who wants to understand and solve problems. Listening leads to understanding ... understanding leads to respect ... respect leads to motivation ... and motivation leads to productivity ... which leads to profit! When employees and customers sense this support, they become comfortable with you. This encourages customers to provide greater word-of-mouth advertising for you and allows your staff to be more productive, which again leads to greater profits for the business. If I had to give you one and only one message in this article that would help you to become a better listener, it would be: Focus ... focus ... focus ... focus ... focus. You will improve your listening effectiveness by at least 50 percent if you and your staff will only learn to "focus your undivided attention" on the person sending the message. Try it with your wife; she will stop telling you that you are a poor listener. Speaking of wives, remember this: women are from Venus and men are from Mars. No joke! Generally speaking, women communicate with stories; men communicate with facts and brevity. When you are dealing with a female customer, don't "turn off" because the communication is too wordy for you. Listen, because she will tell you the problem. It might take a little longer. More often than not, a woman, if you listen well, will be able to tell you more about the problem than a man will. You get details from the woman; from the man you get pieces of facts that you must put together. Since many shops have a customer base of more than 50 percent women, this last piece of information should be most valuable. Let me close this message with a few facts:
"You can't always direct the wind, but ... you can always adjust the sails!" What this means is that in dealing with customers, employees and others, it is your responsibility to make the adjustments toward understanding. Don't ever expect the other person to take that responsibility. Remember this: Good communication consists of three items - a message, someone to listen to the message, and then, the ability to respond to the message. If you don't listen to the message, your response will be ineffectual and as a result, communication never occurred. Be a good listener and make the communication effectual. When was the last time you took a course to improve your listening skills? We learn about auto repair, business management and profitability regularly. Yet, the one ability you use more than any other - listening - most of us have yet to learn about. We take listening for granted. Hearing is! Listening must become! Practice your listening skills and you will see a big difference in your relationship with others: customers, employees and - particularly - spouses. The message is clear: To enhance your profits and relationships with people, don't just hear the message ... listen to the message.
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