Are you listening?

Yesterday I went to Best Buy because we needed a new printer.  While I was there I wanted to look at the FitBit and compare it with the Garmin VivoFit to give my husband an idea for my upcoming birthday.
As my daughter and I were looking at the various gadgets, one of the Best Buy employees asked if we needed any help.  Since he saw what we were looking at, I started asking questions about the benefits of the various products.

He was very polite and said "let me go check"  Ok, so he didn't really know anything about the products but he was trying to be helpful so my daughter and I continued to read the information about each of the different styles.

One of my questions related to being able to set a timer to alert me to get up and move.  I know some of these have that feature but each one is just slightly different.  I also wanted one that would let me wear it in the pool when I'm doing water aerobics or swimming laps (don't want to lose count of those activities, ha ha).

Let me give a little description of my situation here before I proceed.  I am standing in the aisle of Best Buy using a cane.  I walk a few steps in each direction with the BB employee looking at each option before he goes off to check the computer.

Now that I have set that scene for you...When he came back, he explained how xyz product would be best because it had a GPS and a heart monitor on them.  Hmmmm. Really? So, does it have the alarm I was looking for and can I wear it in the pool?  He says "No, this one does not have an alarm, but many people really enjoy the GPS." Um, yeah, but if I'm going to use it while I'm swimming laps in a pool is that really the best feature for me?

I looked at him and said "I use the cane for walking and am really looking for something to notify me to move and to track my steps and activity so I can work on increasing my activity. I don't think I really need GPS for that."  He chuckled and then said "well a lot of people really like that it has the heart monitor too."

I have been doing some professional/personal growth training and LISTENING to your customers is one of the main topics that almost all of the leaders talk about.  How can you help someone if you aren't listening to what they need?  This is a skill that takes time and patience to master.

We all want to appear smart by telling people what we THINK they want to HEAR. But are you really listening?