This technique involves carefully observing the movements of the interlocutor and voicing them. For example, during a visit to a psychiatrist, a person may clench his fists when his spouse is mentioned. In class, a student holds his breath if the teacher starts asking him exactly the task he has not completed.
Non-verbal techniques of active listening will help you understand the state of your interlocutor and determine his emotions. Such comments will help your opponent observe his movements from the outside, react adequately and calm down.
In the sphere of telephone overseas chinese in usa data sales, it is much more difficult to use the non-verbal technique of active listening, since there is no opportunity to see the client to read his emotional state. Here it will not be possible to support the interlocutor with a smile or a calming gesture. But such difficulties do not interfere with the use of the technique of active listening. Professionals can do everything!
How to talk to clients? Oratorical skills will bring success: the speech should be clear, specific and without complex sentences. There is no need to argue or question the speaker's words. The client is always right. Even if this is not so, you should still agree. At the same time, you need to make an effort to win the client over to your side: tell about all the advantages, work through objections.
Download a useful document on the topic:
Checklist: How to Achieve Your Goals in Negotiations with Clients
Examples of exercises for developing active listening techniques
Learning the technique of active listening and developing the corresponding skills occurs during group lessons. To master this method on your own, you need to practice every day in conversations with different people. The following exercises can help with this:
When practicing with a colleague , you need to set the following conditions: one participant in the conversation describes his or her previous day, and the other, using language and non-verbal techniques of active listening, promotes the development of the conversation (it is necessary to identify and name the partner's emotions). After the exercise, the first participant summarizes: what methods of active listening the interlocutor used, which of them were effective, and which caused negative feelings.
Exercise for 3 participants. Each one should read aloud a previously prepared text and at the same time try to hear and understand the meaning of what the other partners are saying.
Try to pay close attention to your interlocutor's speech and not be distracted by thoughts that are not related to the topic of conversation.
Bodily Phenomenology
Exercise "Finish the Sentence". A group studying active listening techniques participates. Everyone receives a sheet of paper with the beginning of a certain sentence. Then, in turn, everyone reads their sentence aloud and continues it in a random version, inventing different facts or telling truthful information. Other group members must analyze the speaker's speech and facial expressions to determine whether it is reality or deception. The exercise is aimed at developing the ability to express sincerity using different means.
An exercise for two participants , one of whom will speak and the other will listen. Then they switch roles. The duration of the lesson is from 30 to 45 minutes. During this time, they must do the following:
For 5 minutes, the first participant describes his/her personal difficulties and their causes. The second partner should listen using the active listening technique.
Then, over the course of 2 minutes, the first participant must tell what exactly in the listener’s behavior helped or hindered the story.
For the next 5 minutes, the first participant talks about his character traits that allow him to overcome the difficulties described at the beginning of the exercise. His partner must use the active listening technique, taking into account the mistakes that the interlocutor pointed out to him during the two-minute discussion.
In the fourth stage, lasting 5 minutes, the second participant must summarize and tell what he managed to understand after listening to the two stories of his opponent. At the same time, the partner will demonstrate his agreement/disagreement by nodding or shaking his head. His task is to correct moments of incorrect interpretation in such a way that the second participant agrees with it.
This stage completes the first round of exercises. Here it is necessary to ensure that the first participant gives a precise formulation of the moments in which his story was interpreted correctly, and where there were mistakes. In the next round of the exercise, the roles of the partners change.
The exercise "Broken Telephone" involves 5 people. One of them acts as a client, and the others are listeners. The client must tell his story to one, and that one, in turn, retells it to the next and so on up to the fourth participant. The last listener tells the client's story to everyone and it is compared with the original version.
Exercises to develop active listening techniques
The "Attentiveness" exercise involves teams of three people, each of whom receives a story to read. All team members must simultaneously pronounce their texts out loud and simultaneously listen attentively to their partners' stories. This exercise helps to acquire skills in catching key words in the information flow. As a result, you can learn to isolate the essence, listening to the interlocutor even with the edge of your ear.
Active listening techniques are used in many areas where people interact. Managers and sales specialists use them to determine the needs of a potential buyer, earn their trust and offer a suitable product. Active listening techniques are present in negotiation technologies. They are used by doctors, trainers, police officers, customs officers, journalists and other specialists to accurately determine the essence of the problem and get a full picture of what happened.
If you master the technique of active listening, you are guaranteed to leave a good impression when applying for a job, your colleagues will notice you and new acquaintances will remember you, because thanks to new skills you will be perceived as a sincere and warm person. In addition, you will become an interesting conversationalist, people will show genuine interest in you.