Listening Means Business!

Clients and prospects want to know that you care about them, their business and their problems. You know the common negative stereotypes about lawyers: that lawyers are arrogant, uncaring, selfish and greedy. Perhaps our public relations problems result in part from our listening habits.

In law school we learn to listen for the purpose of critically evaluating what the speaker says so that we can quickly make a decision about the best course of action. We learn to take feelings out of the decision process, and focus on facts, legal principles and logic. We develop the ability to think on our feet and make quick responses as we face grilling by professors in class or make arguments in moot court competitions. Then as lawyers we interrupt to clarify and focus on facts, disregarding feelings, which we deem irrelevant. We try to control the situation by doing more talking than listening, and what listening we do has a decidedly adversarial or challenging bent.

That approach may serve us well in the courtroom, but it causes problems when we need to build rapport and trust with clients. Effective listening builds rapport because it communicates our interest and concern, and helps us reach beneath our clients’ words to learn what is really troubling them. Listening also alerts us to potential new developments in the client’s business and additional opportunities to serve the client. In short, listening is an important marketing tool!