Every day you go about selling yourself and your service, some days are right off the chart; you are so hot, nothing can get in your way; you are focused, determined and have all the right answers. This unfortunately does not happen every day - there are days when it seems impossible to get anything right. Before you beat up on yourself or worse berate your capabilities take a moment and reflect on where your mind was when this occurred - were you bothered by personal issues or perhaps you are feeling unwell? These are two of the many reasons that can cause you to underperform or perform badly. For every cause there is a consequence; in this instance the result is distraction. When one is distracted the mind wonders and the attention span is short and you find yourself Listening but not Hearing!
 
Being unwell or being concerned about personal issues are pretty good excuses to Listen but not Hear; another more scientific reason is the fact that humans speak at a rate of 110 words per minute; but, think seven times faster!
 
Also there is a huge difference between hearing and listening. Hearing is your ears perceiving sound, while listening is actually understanding the message that is being spoken. If you only hear the words that were spoken, but not what was actually said you could quite easily misinterpret the request and your response could be directly linked to loss revenue and even worse incompetence.
 
There are keys to help you Hear what is being said - develop Active Listening skills; be present at all times, remember without a sale....ah well, you know how that ends! Pay attention and interpret the thoughts, feelings, and concerns behind the words you Hear. Create a clear understanding of what you heard by repeating in your own words what you thought you heard. This leads to improved accuracy and builds mutual trust.