The three levels of listening is a simple framework to guide your coaching conversations.

Level 1 Listening: When you listen at Level 1, you focus your thoughts, energy and focus entirely on yourself while the other person is talking. Remember the verbal ping-pong match? That is Level 1 listening in practice: you're far more focused on your next interjection than listening to your partner. There's no real communication here - words are cast back and forth. Your inner dialog clouds your perception, and you're not present.

Picture this conversation between a customer and a Customer Success Manager. The customer is struggling. They're stressed. They need to get their problem solved because they have to deliver a showcase of the product to their manager. The issue is a major blocker. When a CSM listens at Level 1, their internal dialog takes over. There is an enormous gap between what the customer says and what the CSM hears.

Customer: "I have an issue…"

The CSM's internal dialog: "… ah, another bug! It's probably analytics again…"

Customer: "…isn't working."

The CSM's internal dialog: "Yep, I know that bug. It's in the backlog with the product team, but they've been prioritizing features over bug fixes forever. Maybe it'll be ready in 6 months…"

Customer: "… and we have a demo soon, and I need it to work."

At Level 1, you can see how internal dialog overpowers the message. You lose the context, the pain and the urgency of their request. In this situation, the CSM's most likely solution is to suggest the customer logs a support ticket. Instead, the CSM should be rallying their resources to get the problem solved, fast. At Level 1, you miss the point and often try to solve the wrong problem.

Have you ever had to repeat yourself multiple times to an apathetic customer service representative? Remember that feeling, because that's Level 1 listening in action.

Level 2 Listening: When you listen at Level 2, your focus is 100% on the other person. Your mind is blank. You don't jump to solutions. Sometimes, you'll hear the 'message behind the message,' which helps direct your intuition to dig deeper. Let's rewind the conversation between our upset customer and CSM to see what else we missed the first time around:

Customer: "So, two-way messaging isn't working in the product. We've run a lot of tests to see if it's our production environment… but we can't get it to work. I've got an important presentation for my manager, and they want to see it work in real-time. We need your help here - I don't want to raise the alarm, but our manager has been on the fence about using the product since it launched and this demo needs to knock their socks off."

You're having the same conversation in High Definition. Now the CSM has more than enough context to solve the problem, talk the customer off a cliff and demonstrate huge value to the decision-maker. Level 2 listening is especially powerful when applied to important conversations, like a kick-off call or a Quarterly Business Review.

Finally, we graduate to Level 3 Listening. Also known as 'whole-body' listening, this is a level of communication you can only achieve in an environment of absolute trust. This level is reached in a close personal relationship or by an expert coach in a safe environment.

So, how do you listen at Level 2? Create your pre-conversation ritual to get in the zone.