Listen Intently

Quick reference

• 00:04 In this video we're gonna talk about understanding your customers.
• 00:09 So, the second thing you have to do if you really wanna understand your customers
• 00:13 is you have to listen intently.
• 00:17 So you've asked them some intelligent questions.
• 00:19 Now you have to listen.
• 00:22 So, you wanna listen to exactly what the customer wants.
• 00:26 Not what you want, and take notes if necessary, okay?
• 00:31 So when I have clients and I'm asking them questions,
• 00:33 I'm listening exactly to what they're telling me.
• 00:36 And here's a little trick.
• 00:37 You guys want a little trick?
• 00:39 This is ninja stuff.
• 00:41 When a customer is telling your something, write it down, take notes if you can.
• 00:46 Why is that important?
• 00:47 Because whatever a customer tells you in the order that they tell you,
• 00:51 psychologically the first thing is the most important thing to them, and
• 00:54 then the second most important thing, and then the third most important thing, okay.
• 00:59 And then we're gonna teach you some techniques of how to clarify to make
• 01:02 sure that you're on the right track.
• 01:03 But that's where you start.
• 01:05 Write down, take some notes exactly and then read it back to the customer, right?
• 01:10 So you wanna make sure that the customer is getting exactly what they want, or
• 01:14 at least that you know exactly what they want.
• 01:16 Whether or not you can deliver it,
• 01:17 we're gonna have to see depending on your policies and what it is they are asking for.
• 01:22 Okay, but not what you want.
• 01:24 That's the biggest thing.
• 01:26 So in order to do that, it brings us to number two.
• 01:28 You have to actively listen to what the customer's saying.
• 01:33 So sometimes have you ever been in a conversation with somebody, and
• 01:36 maybe it's a great conversation and you're so
• 01:38 excited that you're just thinking of the next thing to say, right?
• 01:42 You're like, would you just stop talking so I can tell you my thing?
• 01:45 Right? Does that ever happen?
• 01:47 Yeah, so active listening is when you're actually fully engaged.
• 01:52 You're making the eye contact.
• 01:54 You're not formulating what it is that your response is gonna be.
• 01:58 You're just completely taking in the information from the person.
• 02:01 That's active listening.
• 02:02 Passive listening,
• 02:03 is when you're formulating your answer before they're even done speaking.
• 02:07 Or you're thinking about the football game.
• 02:10 Or you're thinking about something else that happened while somebody's
• 02:12 talking to you.
• 02:13 You're not hearing them.
• 02:15 Remember, all of your customers want to be heard.
• 02:18 So to do that you have to actively listen to what the customer is saying.
• 02:22 Hope that makes sense.
• 02:23 Next, number three.
• 02:25 Acknowledge verbally that you are actively listening.
• 02:28 So, every now and then use this great phrase.
• 02:31 I understand or, yes, of course.
• 02:35 Okay, why you're making eye contact, why you're engaged,
• 02:38 why you're present in that conversation, okay.
• 02:41 I had an entertainment company years ago and
• 02:44 we were based out of Beverly Hills so we did a lot of parties for
• 02:49 the studios, we did a lot of corporate events, we did a lot of celebrity events.
• 02:55 And I'll never forget this one year we were blessed enough to actually do an after
• 02:59 party for the Academy Awards right for one of the big studios, and so
• 03:04 we did these meetings and we brought in our teams and
• 03:07 one of the things we're providing was a DJ.
• 03:11 And they told us, they said there's this one particular song,
• 03:15 it's this disco song that they just didn't want played.
• 03:18 They thought it was cheesy, they thought it was overplayed, overdone.
• 03:21 Just one song.
• 03:21 Out of the millions of songs out there, they didn't want one particular song.
• 03:27 I said great, that's easy.
• 03:28 That is easy.
• 03:30 We listened and understood.
• 03:31 Well, there was another guy who was in the room with me and he was DJing.
• 03:36 And so, I'll never forget.
• 03:37 I'm downstairs and he was DJing from his DJ booth and there's all these people,
• 03:42 there are celebrities everywhere, there's paparazzi, everybody's in their tuxes.
• 03:46 I mean, this was a great night.
• 03:48 And all of a sudden, I hear the first few bars of that particular disco song
• 03:53 that the client didn't want.
• 03:57 Everything stopped and was slow motion.
• 03:59 I heard radios going off, I heard people just upset.
• 04:03 The client came, and grabbed me and put their hand on my shoulder, and asked me,
• 04:07 said what is going on?
• 04:10 You have to actively listen, do exactly what your customers want.
• 04:16 And how did that end?
• 04:18 The party was great, everybody had a great time, but I lost that client.
• 04:23 I lost that client, and didn't get that client back for years.
• 04:27 And years later, I actually did do another event for
• 04:30 them, and they still remembered the incident.
• 04:34 That's how important this is, okay?
• 04:36 So, let's review.
• 04:38 You have to listen intently.
• 04:39 Listen exactly to what the customer wants.
• 04:42 Not what you want and take notes if necessary.
• 04:46 And next, actively listen to what the customer is saying.
• 04:49 Do not get caught ahead to formulate your response.
• 04:52 And acknowledge verbally that you are actively listening with I understand,
• 04:58 yes, of course.
• 04:59 Okay, and then you have to deliver whatever it is they're looking for.
• 05:03 All right, we'll catch you in the next video.

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