Organizational Behavior identifies the importance of active listening and outlines several ways to improve active listening skills. However, new research in marketing helps to further clarify the active listening process in terms of three components:– sensing, evaluating, and responding. These activities reflect the listener’s side of the communication model described at the beginning of this chapter. Listeners receive the sender’s signals, decode them as intended, and provide appropriately and timely feedback to the sender. Active listeners constantly cycle through sensing, evaluating, and responding during the conversation and engage in various activities to improve these processes.

Sensing is the process of receiving signals from the sender and paying attention to them. These signals include the words spoken, the nature of the sounds (speed of speech, tone of voice, etc.), and nonverbal cues. Active listeners improve sensing by postponing evaluation, avoiding interruptions, and maintaining interest.

• Postpone evaluation – Many listeners become victims of first impressions (see Chapter 6). They quickly form an opinion of the speaker’s message and subsequently screen out important information. Active listeners try to stay as open-minded as possible and delay evaluation of the message until the speaker has finished.
• Avoid interruptions – Interrupting the speaker’s conversation has two adverse effects on the sensing process. First, it disrupts the speaker’s idea, so the listener does not receive the entire message. Second, interruptions tend to second-guess what the speaker is trying to say, so they support the problem of evaluating the speaker’s ideas too early.
• Maintain interest -- As with any behavior, active listening requires motivation. Too often, we close our minds soon after a conversation begins because the subject is boring. Instead, active listeners maintain interest by taking the view -- probably an accurate one -- that there is always something of value in a conversation; it's just a matter of actively looking for it.

This component of listening includes understanding the message meaning, evaluating the message, and remembering the message. To improve their evaluation of the conversation, active listeners empathize with the speaker and organize information received during the conversation.

• Empathize -- Active listeners try to understand and be sensitive to the speaker’s feelings, thoughts, and situation. Empathy is a critical skill in active listening because the verbal and nonverbal cues from the conversation are accurately interpreted from the other person’s point of view.
• Organize information -- Listeners process information three times faster than the average rate of speech (450 words per minute versus 125 words per minute), so they are easily distracted. Active listeners use this spare time to organize the information into key points. In fact, it’s a good idea to imagine that you must summarize what people have said after they are finished speaking.

Responding, the third component of listening, refers to the listener’s development and display of behaviors that supports the communication process. Responsiveness is feedback to the sender, which motivates and directs the speaker’s communication. Active listeners do this by showing interest and clarifying the message.

• Show interest -- Active listeners show interest by maintaining sufficient eye contact and sending back channel signals such as "Oh, really!" and "I see" during appropriate breaks in the conversation.
• Clarify the message -- Active listeners provide feedback by rephrasing the speaker’s ideas at appropriate breaks ("So you’re saying that...?"). This further demonstrates interest in the conversation and helps the speaker determine whether you understand the message.

Sources: The three components of listening discussed here are based on several recent studies, including: K. de Ruyter and M. G. M. Wetzels, "The Impact of Perceived Listening Behavior in Voice-to-Voice Service Encounters," Journal of Service Research, 2 (February 2000), pp. 276-84; S. B. Castleberry, C. D. Shepherd, and R. Ridnour, "Effective Interpersonal Listening in the Personal Selling Environment: Conceptualization, Measurement, and Nomological Validity," Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 7 (Winter 1999), pp. 30-38; L. B. Comer and T. Drollinger, "Active Empathetic Listening and Selling Success: A Conceptual Framework," Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 19 (Winter 1999), pp. 15-29.