Wednesday, December 17, 2008

The Spirit of Listening

Often overlooked, listening is a critical aspect of business. Whether you’re selling a product or service, garnering new business or retaining current business, listening is a marketing strategy repeatedly left in the dust, behind its more popular alternative - talking.

In an age of conversational marketing, businesses are jumping online, but ignoring the customer’s voice. As professionals, we are eager to offer tips, strategies, advice and punch lines – but many of us are forgetting to stop and listen to our customers. Competition can be fierce, therefore businesses need to spend a significant amount of time listening to what their customers want, feel, need and know. This marketing strategy, when used correctly, can be a competitive advantage.

Savvy professionals know that listening to consumer’s voices includes everything from a face-to-face meeting to a phone call to a blog posting about a product or service. Listening is a simple tactic to gather valuable information from customers, manage the relationships and learn how to make better brand decisions. In today’s world of consumer control, it greatly benefits businesses to honor customer’s voices and serve them better by listening to what they have to say. Hint: This helps create brand loyalty.

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