“This guy on the phone is really upset” said one of my staff
as she ran into my office. “He wants to talk to the manager and you said that
whenever that happens we should send them right over to you!” “Exactly”, was my
response, “now what’s the issue?”
She explained that it was a really a simple issue where the
customer was refusing to submit the proper paperwork to support his request. I
took the call and this person was indeed very irate and nearly unreasonable.
After several minutes I was still having difficulty connecting with him. Then
his personal cell phone rang in the background. The ringtone was Ride of the
Valkyries by Richard Wagner. I recognized it from a cartoon I had watched when
I was a kid.
I commented on what a unique ringtone he had chosen. His
response was that he doubted I even knew what it was. I told him the name of
the piece and the composer and what followed was several seconds of complete
silence. And then we began a discussion about Wagner and opera. I don’t know
much about opera, (that wasn't covered in the cartoon) so he did most of the talking. It concluded with him saying “I’ll have my
assistant get that documentation over to you by the end of the day”. All made
possible by being aware and of course Wagner.
Now I know that there have been hundreds of blogs on listening
and dozens of books written about the subject. However I’m not just talking about
hearing the words, using active listening and being sure to let the upset
person vent for a moment. I’m talking about inflection, tone and in the story
above, background noise. All these add up to give you clues about person
speaking. Are they really listening to you, are they being pumped up by someone
else in the room? Maybe they are on a cell phone trying to pick up their child
at daycare. It happened to me!
All these clues combine to help you understand what it will
take to make the communication truly successful. I’m convinced that whether
it’s leadership in an office or sales in the field, really listening to what is
happening around you is a critical element of effective communication, connections and
developing authentic relationships. And it’s those relationships that lead to
increased sales, more engagement and a happier workplace.
