Power of Listening to Customers Online
To be effective marketers we need to broadcast less and listen more.
How many of you like to talk? We all do. It’s part of our nature. Old or young, talking is a vital part of our lives at any age. We talk:
i. To communicate
ii. To signal loyalty, or disloyalty
iii. We talk to bond with others
iv. We talk to see who will leave the room
v. We talk because we are restless, nervous, or bored
vi. If you have teenagers like I do, they just talk.
As our world expands through online relationships, the urge to talk hasn’t changed. As marketers we’re all familiar with the “talk” channels online like press release and news outlets, advertising, email, blogs, even social media/networking. We also know about channels for listening, research, surveys, focus groups, and various social media channels.
Unfortunately, most marketers (especially network marketers) don’t understand the unwritten rules of online marketing where you talk and listen at the same time. We tend to broadcast our message and hope someone will listen. Which ends up us sounding like the man with the megaphone that everyone tries to avoid.
How many times have you seen broadcast behavior exhibited in this video online?
Our customers want to be involved. They want to influence and change behavior. They want people to be part of their organization and buy products. Some listen to the conversations and some don’t. Most of them don’t or they listen to the wrong voices. The best marketers (both corporate and field leaders) in our industry are proactive strategic listeners. They recognize that knowledge and wisdom and most importantly leads, are not gained by broadcasting, but by listening.
There’s a scene in “All the President’s Men” when Robert Redford, as Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward, asks a Republican how his $25,000 check ended up in the Watergate money trail. It’s a dangerous question, and you see Woodward ask it and then hang there, not saying a word, until the man on the other end of the phone finally blurts out another piece of the puzzle.
The moral here: To get people to talk, we need to stop shouting, stop broadcasting, and learn the power of listening.