Instead of Listening to Reply, Try Listening to Understand

Why it is true: The biggest communication problem in our lives today is that we only listen to reply instead of listening to understand.

Plan of action: Carefully examine the number of situations in your store when your instructions were not followed. Ask the responsible employee specific questions about it. Look them in the eye, ask follow-up questions, give them the opportunity to really participate in the solution. This action is not intended to penalize them, but rather to let them know that you consider them to be a contributing member of your team. As a bonus, you might get a remarkable response that will continue to move your business forward.

David W. Richardson CSP, Jewelry Sales Training International

This article originally appeared in the April 2017 edition of INSTORE.