How can I turn an abstract into numbers, like amount of money?

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JudiB

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Hi gang,
I am writing an article for a business mag, about how important the skill of listening is to solid leadership. Doing so for a regional mag and will obtain anecdotes, etc., from businessmen in the state.

Question: I know how to interview re: the importance of listening. But how on earth Do I ask them to put this into numbers, percentages, dollars and cents. Do I simply ask how listening has increased revenue in dollars or cents, or how it has decreased spending, increased new business, improved the sales force...

Any input would be terrific! Thanks ahead of time.

JudiB
 

AnnieColleen

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What about errors and rework resulting from not listening?

My feeling would be that more is better (ie, your second option).
 

Angelinity

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well, in business, listening/receiving and processing information is key to decision making. one cannot make informed decisions without the latest market information -- that includes every facet of the business:

-what the competition is up to
-market demand - what the customer buys
-future trends
-employee satisfaction
-financial markets....etc., etc.

let's say the decision maker finds out their top competitor is planning a new product line aimed to challenge their market leadership -- the decision maker can difuse the threat by pushing R&D to complete and launch their own next generation product, which hopefully they'd been working on for a while, but until then they didn't see the point in allocating the budget to finish it off... this way they can go to market sooner than the competition and reap the rewards --->> this immediately translates into dollars.

another example could be related to employee satisfaction. for instance, the commissions they paid to their salespeople were subpar, so the sales force did not try hard enough. hiking the level of incentives can motivate the sales guys and push revenue up significantly -- again, listening can be measured.
 

JoniBGoode

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I don't know if you could qualtify the effects of listening over a career, i.e. being a good listener will increase your earnings by $227,000 over 20 years.

However, you could ask people for specific examples of a time when being a good listener paid off in the business world, and then to attach a dollar amount to that transaction. In my former life as a salesperson, I can think of one example where really listening to a client's needs enabled me to book a specific piece of business worth more than $250,000.
 
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