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Hello again, Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing, where business takes
shape. And today is Action Wednesday, we’re going to keep it short. We’re going to give
you a little trick of the trade, that I use anyway, that’s very effective when I deal
directly with my clients and when I turn around and give them back my deliverable, my product
if you will.
So, today’s title is “Really Listening to Your Customers.” And you know what, it
involves this.
I’m holding in my hand a small audio tape recorder, very cheap these days. But, you
know, one of the best things I use in my business dealing with my customers.
Now, what is the reason for using a tape recorder? Well, when I deal with my customers I often
forget many things that they tell me. It’s not my intent to do that, but I do. I am also
really bad at note taking, so, between having bad recall and horrible handwriting and note
taking, even when I am trying to capture everything that my client is requesting from me, I sometimes
fail.
So, I think what you need to do is start implementing something like this if you have a similar
problem. And I also have one other little problem. Sometimes I will then start responding
to the client’s needs and giving back answers rather than really listening. And so what
happens is, I get back after my meeting and I find that I have done more of the talking
than my customer and that’s really not a good thing. So, by having something like this
you are actually sitting back and listening to what your customer wants form you.
Now, there are so many digital tape recorders and audio recording devices today, this one
just happens to be a little Sony product. But your phones do it, and then even in software
like OneNote with your computer laptop if it has a microphone they can record these
meetings. And what’s really kind of exciting about a lot of these tools is that there is
some software that will actually take and convert the audio file to text and then you
can drop it in a report, a document, whatever you want to do. So, it’s kind of exciting.
Now, when you are going to be recording your client, I always ask permission. If I’m
sitting across the table from them I ask permission, if I am on the phone I ask permission. Often
what I’ll say is that my note taking is really bad do you mind if I grab this on a
tape recorder and they always say yes. At least so far everybody has.
Then what you need to do is listen. When they’re telling you what services or products they
are looking for from you, you can sit back and actually listen to what they are saying,
knowing that it is being recorded on the tape recorder.
Then the key is when you get back, play it back. Listen to it and what you’re going
to find is some interesting things in there you may have missed. Whether you were listening
properly or taking notes there’s going to be a few things in there that are going to
be what your client is really asking for. And that’s really exciting, because now
you can prepare a deliverable for your client based on their wants and needs and specifically
their requests.
If you’re like me, I think you are going to find that this is a great tool for interacting
with your customers. What you need to make sure though, is that once your record it,
you come back and you listen to it. What you are probably going to find are some great
nuggets and gems in there that you never realized your customer even asked of you. So, by listening
again you’re going to find them and be able to pinpoint back exactly what they want.
And, you are also going to find out if you’ve been listening or you’ve been chatting.
If the conversation is a little one-sided coming from your direction it will be a great
tool to help you become a more effective listener.
That’s our Action Wednesday for today, simple but really a very good tool for meeting the
needs of your customer. I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing,
where business takes shape and we’ll see you next time.