I like to think that just because I've been around the industry for awhile that I can just listen to a person for a minute and size them up relying on past experience of people wasting my time, I couldn't have been further from the truth in that respect because it seems that the person you least expect could be your best client, customer or prospect. What can happen is that we can get ourselves in this busy mode I like to call it, when you get into a busy mode you look at each minute in your work day as precious and it is but in the hustle and bustle of being busy you can make moves that are disasterous to your business. You can hear what you want to hear and not what the other person is REALLY saying and miss the boat on what might be a great relationship because of your preconceived notions about people you've read wrong.

Listening to people is a required and aquired skill that everyone doesn't quite get out of the gate. When you truly learn the Art Of Listening, then and only then will you leap that hurdle of being a great communicator and truly be able to read people correctly. The good news is that if you're having a problem with this, its an easy fix. How easy is it you ask? All you have to do is be attentive, really listen to what the person really means and parrot what the person explained to you or repeat what the person said so you can be clear on what you heard and understand what they really mean, and the person can hear what they thought you got from what they said. Sounds complicated but its not, I think we have all pre-judged people in the past, the Guru's will tell you that everyone is not a customer and I have a different take on that school of thought, I teach my people that while its true that everyone may not be a customer they can always be made into a connection who may know someone who's interested in your product or service.

Lastly, it seems to be human nature to jump to the negative out the gate, my technique is to jump to the positive out the gate, jumping to the negative before you even hear or begin to talk to the person is probably one of the worst things you could ever do and renders the whole conversation a disaster before it even begins, trust me on that because this is all from trial and error, I didn't read this, hear about it or see it in a video, I lived it, and it was painful, I shudder to think of the money I left on the table with that thought process. I had to finally learn how to set aside judgements and get down to business, I had to stop jumping to conclusions and begin asking questions because people's answers to your questions will reveal their true attitudes and interests, you just may get a sale out of it.

http://goo.gl/5PmqV