R U Listening to Me?
by Paul Anovick
This past week I contacted one of my vendors with a problem. As I began to describe my situation, the service rep interrupted me asking questions about issues I had just explained — clearly not hearing what I said. In order to be more clear, I slowed my speech down; the outcome was even worse with the rep racing ahead attempting to provide solutions without understanding what I was explaining.
As a person who prides himself in effective communication, I changed strategy and asked if there was someone else who could help me. The answer was no. Again I explained the situation and asked if the individual could solve my problem. We ended the call with the rep saying they would address the problem on their end of the process.
Eventually the situation was resolved. The rep and I had a follow-up “coaching call” at which time I explained the source of my frustration, I felt the service rep was not listening and hearing what I was saying. He expressed that when listening he was processing the information and solving the problem as he understood it to be from his past experience. Therefore, the questions he was asking were based on a line of thought in his mind not fully on the comments that I was making. My suggestion was that in the future he should be mindful that the customer may not understand what was being asked or why and therefore creating the sense that I experienced which was he is not listening. My favorite tactic is the following acronym: WAIT: Why AM I TALKING?
By providing this helpful coaching my vendor and I are on the same page with an open relationship and improved communications.
If a man would move the world, he must first move himself. ~ Socrates
About the Author: Paul Anovick, Anovick Associates, LLC www.coachanovick.com, Developing Potential, Producing Results; phone: 201-445-2822
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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