Andrew Grace Associates

If you want to develop business: carry plenty of business cards wherever you go, attach the name tag on your right side at networking events, draft a memorable elevator speech and invite appropriate people to lunch. Have you heard these rules from your marketing department or supervisor? All of the above are important if you want to develop business but there is a softer side to business development that can yield extraordinary results.

How you "read" and approach people is far more important than following the traditional rules for business development. These soft skills are sometimes dismissed by highly educated people who believe that what they know is the key to getting business. What you know is certainly important to your clients and to your colleagues. The challenge is to know when to stop telling others and to focus on "reading" other people. In other words, it is about them and not about you.

If you want to "read" other people, you have to LISTEN.

Marshall Goldsmith in his book, What Got You Here Won't Get You There notes that good listeners:

1. Think Before Speaking - What you say demonstrates how well you listened.
2. Listen With Respect - By adopting a learning attitude, you become more fully engaged in the conversation.
3. Ask Yourself, "Is It Worth It?" - When you respond, consider how the other person will regard you, what will that person do afterwards and how will the person behave the next time you talk.

Do you remember the childhood game, Simon Says? One person stands in front of the group and calls commands, "Simon Says, touch your toes," Everyone reaches down to touch their toes. Simon continues to call various commands but with some of the commands the "Simon Says" language is omitted. If someone follows a command without "Simon Says" they are eliminated and must sit down.

If you want to develop business, you have to learn more complex listening skills than what you learned with "Simon Says." Listening helps to "read" another person and this soft skill can make the difference between winning profits and losing opportunities.