According to a Harvard study, people with meaningful relationships are happier than those without. Listening is a key component in forming strong and meaningful bonds with people, but it is a skill that few seem to be practicing. “Right now the world feels like everyone has a microphone and something to say, but they won’t listen,” Dan Solin says.

Dan is a sales and marketing coach, consultant, and the president and founder of Solin Strategic LLC and Evidence Based Advisor Marketing. He is also the New York Times best-selling author of the Smartest series, the most recent of which is The Smartest Sales Book You'll Ever Read.

Dan joins Jared Siegel in this week’s podcast to discuss his book and how to implement the research-based approaches discussed in the book in your  life.

Tune in here, at delapcpa.com/podcast, or wherever you listen to podcasts:

Here are the highlights from Jared's conversation with Dan Solin:

• Dan believes that 95% of financial media is misleading noise that drowns out the sound, academically based information about the only intelligent and responsible way to invest. The financial media is oriented toward alarmist news that causes anxiety and prompts activity, which is the worst thing for investors.
• According to a Harvard study, people with meaningful relationships are happier than those without. Listening is a key component in forming strong and meaningful bonds with people, but it can be a challenging skill to master.
• Dan has observed that in business contexts, people are generally not interested in what advisors have to say: they are interested in how advisors can solve their problems. In order to effectively serve their clients, advisors must elicit information instead of conveying information, because an unknown problem can’t be solved.
• Another Harvard study found that talking about yourself is one of the most highly pleasurable activities you can engage in, as it activates high levels of dopamine in the brain, and even more so when someone else is present to hear it. After implementing this research into interactions with his clients, Dan was able to generate almost 50% more assets under management in one year than he did in the previous five.
• People can generally tell when they are being manipulated or being sold to. As a business person, you must be genuinely interested in what people have to say and not just chase your self-interest, because people can tell when self-interest is involved.
• Jared asks what the balance should be between eliciting information and sharing information. There is no formula, Dan replies. “If you trust this process, there will be a natural flow with most people. They will enjoy answering questions so much that they’re not going to show a lot of curiosity about you.” Additionally, the balance is one-sided more often than not.
• “The ability and skill of listening and asking courageous, original questions is a big differentiator in the noisy world we live in,” Dan says.

Resources

Dan Solin on LinkedIn | Twitter

DanielSolin.com

The Smartest Sales Book You'll Ever Read: The Truth About Successful Selling by Dan Solin