As listening is the most essential skill a person should have, there are some barriers that sometimes have to be overcome in order for a person to listen effectively. Have you ever been in a conversation, and the person in whom you are conversing with says, "Are you listening to me"? I know I fall guilty to this in almost every phone conversation I have with my mother. Each day we talk, occasionally multiple times throughout the day, and as strong as our relationship is I always tend to tune her every now and then throughout our conversation. As I may felt that I was already a good listener, I never really notice that sometimes my attention did wander, and I would space out completely. In this case I would lose track of what my mother would be discussing and start thinking about my own thoughts. For example, ideas on what to make for dinner, or what new thing can I buy son. Anything that would keep me from fully engaging and pass time until my mother would finish talking. .
However, in another situation, where I work as a retail consultant for a mobile phone company were customer service is the key to success in this environment, my listening changes. In almost every situation in which I am assisting a customer I am fully engage in listening to them. For example, one day at work a young lady and her son came into the store wanting to upgrade their phones to a newer cellular device. However in her situation her contract was not ready for an upgrade service yet. But she received some information from our customer service hotline, that would allow her to purchase new phones, by me engaging in active listening, I was able to fully understand her situation as she explained to me what our customer service hotline had advise her what she could do to purchase new phones. .
While talking to the customer I held great eye-contact and made connections with her by giving example to let her know I was fully listening to her concerns and I ask her questions to make her feel comfortable in her decisions with upgrading her phones.