local marketing center|Paul and Sarah Edwards |Working From Home |

local marketing consulting

  • Home
  • Working From Home Hotline
  • Elm Street Library
  • Media

Listening When You’d Rather Not

August 22, 2013 by Paul Edwards Leave a Comment

Listening to CustomersYou know it; you’ve heard it a thousand times. Listening to customers, colleagues, and consultants is basic to success and we all believe it. After all, it’s at the heart of good communication. But there’s one time when we’re less likely to actually do it: that’s when we don’t like what we’re hearing.

 It might be when you are denied a loan to expand into additional services for a shaky business and your consultant tells you to focus on making your core business better. Angel Cottrell, a Public Relations and Communication Affairs Specialist with the California State University Small Business Development Center, tells us this happens with some frequency. We get an idea about what we want to do and won’t let in the advice that would save us. But this is when we most need to be open our minds and give knowledgeable feedback serious consideration.

Or it might be when, despite doing our best, customers become angry and belligerent because we didn’t do still more. In his book, Just Listen, Dr. Mark Goulston points out that in times like this we need to put our emotions aside and avoid the temptation to become defensive and counterattack. When a customer begins ventilating, he recommends responding with a simple “hmmm.” Then wait for the customer to ask “What do you mean by ‘hmmm’?” That opens the door for you to respond by saying “I was just thinking how important it is that we fix, correct, or do something about this as soon as possible or else it’s just going to get worse.  And I don’t think worse would be a good place to go. Don’t you agree?”  This invites the customer to move from feelings of anger to begin working with you.

Whatever the situation –whether it’s over the phone, from an email, or in social networking –  if you don’t like what you’re hearing, remember it could well be a gift in disguise- a warning signal of issues you need to address that other customers could be having, too, or an opportunity for the future you won’t want to miss. Use social media to discover what is being is said, about you, your business, your industry, or on issues important to what you do. They enable you to respond immediately to problems and to take advantage of what you learn.

Comments and questions on the substance of this blogs are welcome. If you have other questions about this website, please contact me directly for a consulting appointment. [maxbutton id=”11″] If you think we can help you, we offer webinars and consulting.

[maxbutton id=”1″]

Adapted from our Costco column in September, 2012

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Share this:

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Print

Filed Under: Counseling

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

About Me

Paul with his wife, Sarah Edwards, are award-winning authors of 17 books with over 2,000,000 books in print.

Paul provides local marketing consulting through the Small Business Development Center. He is co-founder of a new website: DigitalDocumentPros.com.

Prior to becoming an author, I practiced law, served as CEO of a non-profit, and operated a public affairs consulting practice. [Read more...]

Categories

Encyclopedia Book

New! A "master" e-book
on working at home
[Read more...]

Contact Us

Contact us today!
[Read more...]

Encyclopedia Book

Buy a book from the comprehensive
library of The Elm Street Economy
[Read more...]

Copyright © 2012 - 2023 Paul & Sarah Edwards · All Rights Reserved · Developed by Short Results