If I remember correctly, listening accounts for at least half of all communication (at least, that’s what I think Professor Yeager was saying…it was an 8 a.m. class…I wasn’t really paying attention).
Unfortunately, all anybody seems to want to do these days is talk.
On Twitter, on Facebook, on blogs, all anyone wants to do is talk-talk-talk-talk-talk.
It’s as though the social media revolution has turned the world into a murder of yammering magpies.
Listen up, Heckle and Jeckle! Just because you got out of bed this morning does not mean the rest of the world needs to receive a tweet about it.
Maybe you should be using social networks as a listening tool, so that you can better understand how your customers are responding to trends and how they perceive your brand in the marketplace. Then, you can respond in a manner that demonstrates your interest in serving the needs of customers.
Face it. Listening takes time. Listening takes effort. And as the parent of a two-and-a-half-year-old, listening can be a full-time occupation and a huge pain in the ass. Listening is about love because in order to listen you have to care truly and deeply about what the other person is saying.
And if you don’t listen, your talking is nothing but a bunch of noise. (If you don’t believe me, crash a wedding this weekend so you can brush up on I Corinthians 13).
So the next time someone approaches you and tells you how well they are going to talk on your behalf. Stop them and ask how well they plan on listening for you.