I attended a training class today which reflect lots of aspects of how to serve customers in an 'engaged' level.
The trainer was a Malaysian lady who didn't know any Chinese. I was surprised that she, in one of her presentations, used the Chinese word, '聽' (to listen / hear)
to demonstrate how to effectively listen to customers. The surprise element was that while I am a true Chinese, I never realize the hidden meaning / structure behind this word, '聽'.
Now, let me demonstrate.
耳 (Ear) - Obviously, you listen with your ears
王 (King) - Listen to your customer like they are your King
十 (Ten) - In Chinese, Ten is the first 'complete' number. It's associated with the concept of "perfection" (十全十美). You listen to all the facts, not just selectively listening like most of us always do. :)
目 (Eye) - Did you know you can also listen with your eyes too? Your eyes listen by observation. You see lots of visual clues about a person such as his body language, his facial expression.
一 (One) - 'One' also means "whole". It is located above the 心 which is a heart. You wholeheartedly give your attention to the speaker.
心 (heart) - You listen with your heart, not just your ears. Your ears listen for facts, but your heart listens with compassion and empathy.
Although in Chinese, the word for "Listen" and "Hear" are both the same '聽', they are of different level of difficulty.
By applying the above '
listen like you listen to a king speaks, observe the whole picture like you had 10 eyes and understand the speaker wholeheartedly with compassion', you will graduate yourself from the 'just hearing words' level to 'listened and understood' level.
