I just went to a shop specialising in the selling of chairs. I always like to go to specialised shops instead of department stores. Usually you find the owner with a passion for his product and a wealth of product knowledge. Let’s face it: you hardly see this in South Africa’s department stores.

So there I go, and the owner – staring at his computer - seems to be delighted that I walk in: “am I the first customer of the day?” I asked myself.
I ask him for a chair with wheels that won’t do any harm to our tiles. In a shop like this you don’t expect that you have to explain that you’re looking for a chair right? Because if Iwas looking for a new dress I was clearly at the wrong place.
Nevertheless he was confused, and to cover his confusing he started asking questions, and even sooner he started talking and showing me around. I asked a question about the difference between the one chair and the first chair he showed me, but he ignored the question, as he was obviously just on a roll with his sales talk. He soon went off to the most amazing chair in the store, and explained all product features to me. I could hardly stop myself from starting to laugh. It was so clear to me that he would love to sell me something, but he forgot to find out the main thing: what was I actually looking for? Or maybe worse: he knew that I was looking for wheels that wouldn’t damage the tiles, but he couldn’t confirm the solution with me. So he gave me one wheel to try it out ‘as he was nearly sure that it wouldn’t do any harm’. I immediately pictured myself on my knees rolling the wheel over the tiles… another laugh.

Back at my desk I realise that to be a good communicator everything boils down to how well you listen (or read). I wonder how efficient and effective business and life can become if people would be able to communicate well. Or would life become boring?