miércoles, 12 de agosto de 2015

Mauro Libi: Strong Communication

Communication skills are an important key in your road to success. One of the main reasons that people who get divorced  is that their spouse never really listened to them. The spouse may have listened to your words but did they really hear what you were saying. Business and clients are the same as a marriage in this regard. When your client tells you their concerns or what they want, do you really hear what they are saying? Will your client leave and say - this company really cares and will do the best job for me , I want this company and only this company to do my job. 

Strong communication is more than just talking. It is mostly about listening. Arrowhead Management once told a story about a patient that went to a new dentist.  The patient came saying that she needed many crowns. She came to this office because her friend Suzzie had her crowns done in this office and she is so happy with them. Suzzie can not stop bragging about the wonderful job that was done. She highly recommended us to do her friends. Then the new patient asked if we would be making the crowns the same way that Suzzie had them made. What would you answer your potential new patient? She is only here because we did crowns on Suzzie and Suzzie loves them.  So the dentist told her - "of course we will make them exactly the same."
The new patient got up to leave and said , "that's a shame because I hate Suzzie's crowns." 

Where did we go wrong? This was a huge case and would have brought us a lot of money and possibly more referrals. Where did we fail? We failed because we did not communicate with the client. When the patient asked us if we would make the crowns like Suzzie, we forgot something. This is not Suzzie in the chair. This is a different person. We should have asked her how she liked Suzzie's crowns. When she told us that she hated them because they were too white or too big. Then we could have told her that we made the teeth exactly how the patient wants them. Everyone is different. At that point, we could have discussed how she would like her crowns and what color and we would have had the case. 

You see, we answered this new client how we thought she wanted to be answered. We never asked probing questions to see what she really meant by saying ,"will you make my crowns like Suzzie's." She was saying one thing but we heard another thing because we never communicated.  

When communicating with a client. Let them do most of the talking. Ask them probing questions.  See their non verbal communication as well as their verbal communication. 

Paraphrase, paraphrase, paraphrase. Say things like , "if I hear you correctly" and then repeat what they said. It's funny how clients when they hear what they just said will tell you that is not what they want.  People do not always communicate correctly and their words that come out is not always what they meant to say. Learn to listen to them really well.  If you see them fidgeting then ask them if there is something in the deal that makes them uncomfortable and when they tell you what it is, then deal with it. 

It's always about the money.  Make sure that is all its about when you try to close. Ask you client, " if we come up with a dollar amount that we both are happy with, are you ready to close this deal?" Do not try to close a deal, without discussing all the patients objections. The dollar amount is not as important if they decide that they want your company and no one else. So use your listening skills to see if the deal has been closed before you talk money.  


Strong communication means really hearing your client in both their verbal and non verbal cues. A strong communicator will succeed and will excel at what they do. 

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