Be empathetic. Try to see things from their point of view and ask
questions rooted in genuine interest.
4. Breaking it down
This aspect of active listening involves breaking big concepts into
smaller pieces so you can understand them better. This works well
when trying to solve problems or getting to the bottom of pain points
and hesitations.
The trick to breaking it down is in asking specific questions and
encouraging the customer to cite concrete examples.
5. Watching subtle cues
Actions speak louder than words. As mentioned earlier, communication
is more than what a person is saying
— feelings and ideas can also be
conveyed through word choice, tone of voice, and body language.
Active listening involves watching out for these subtle cues.
6. Checking in and rephrasing
This element of active listening helps you align with the client. By
checking in and rephrasing what they’re saying, you’re establishing
that you understand their concerns. This tells your customer that
you’re on the same page and are eager to come up with creative
solutions together.
App
lying Active Listening Through Catalyst’s Discovery Framework
Now that we’ve established what active listening is, we’re going to
apply that to our discovery framework. This framework serves as our
guide in navigating discovery conversations.
Our discovery framework is made up of four major pillars:
1. Who are you speaking to?
We can’t stress this enough: you won’t be able to ask relevant
discovery questions if you don’t know who you’re speaking to in the
first place. To truly connect with your customer and have a meaningful
discovery conversation, it’s vital that you determine your customer
personas first.
For example, here at Catalyst, we’ve got three personas:
Executives and
VPs of Customer Success
CS Managers and Directors
CSMs
.