Last month I had a very interesting experience. I was asked to present at a Conference in Las Vegas on a topic that I am very familiar with. The topic was not what was important or interesting in this case. The interesting experience was that as I spoke my whole presentation was recorded. When I was done I was able to watch myself and hear  and see the message that I was delivering. Without question seeing myself will help me the next time I present. (Do I really pace back and forth that much!!)

You might be surprised to hear how you sound to other people. You might laugh, you might cry, but you will never think that you were so good that there is no room for improvement. You will see your body language. You will hear how you interacted with the audience, and most importantly you will be able to learn from what you see and hear and improve.

The same idea can work for any of your one-on-one meetings too. Try this at your next appointment. Ask a cooperative client if they would mind if you taped the interview. Assure them it will only be used for internal training and if necessary ask them to sign a release. These types of recordings are gold. You will hear how you asked questions, how you listened (or not) and find all kinds of things you can improve on. And isn’t that what we really want to hear?