Listening skill is one of the most important parts of business communication. It is required for almost every walk of life. An effective communication, how we connect to each other it all depends on our listening.Listening plays 45 % role in the total communication process while speaking only 30 %. So here we can say that listening skills are more important than speaking.For example, if you are in the sales field and you are not a good listener, you cannot understand the customer’s needs.There is a recent study says that every time spent by personnel on the workplace, 33 % time spent in listening and 26 % time spent in speaking. That is why listening is more important than speaking.There is generally said, “If you speak it means you are repeating whatever you have the knowledge, but if you have listened to something it means you may learn something new”.What I believe that if you listen to others, you can connect with them very easily and people are more interested in you. Stephen Covey says, “Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood.”We have to listen carefully when other people are saying then we can able to understand what they want to say something.The good things about listening are anyone can learn. We have to follow some techniques by which we can improve our listening skills.There are 10 steps for improving our listening skills which are the following: 

• Step 1: Face the speaker and maintain eye contact.
• Step 2: Be attentive, but relaxed.
• Step 3: Keep an open mind.
• Step 4: Listen to the words and try to picture what the speaker is saying.
• Step 5: Don't interrupt and don't impose your "solutions."
• Step 6: Wait for the speaker to pause to ask clarifying questions.
• Step 7: Ask questions only to ensure understanding.
• Step 8: Try to feel what the speaker is feeling.
• Step 9: Give the speaker regular feedback.
• Step 10: Pay attention to what isn't said—to nonverbal cues.