Why Listening is Your Most Important Internet Marketing Success Secret
The other night I had a conversation with my mentor, Doug Champigny, a very knowledgeable man. I told him how I have always had people tell me things because I listen. And we had a conversation about why listening is your most important Internet Marketing success secret.
It got me to thinking about how important listening skills are on the internet and your online business. We as marketers would always like to think that we know what our customers want or what they should need.
But many a wise marketer has discovered, as we all should, that your customers will tell you what they want not the other way around.
There are a number of ways this can be accomplished and not necessarily by listening to them talk. That would be the obvious way to find out but if you have a large list that would take you a while to talk to everyone on your list.
By the time you were done they may have changed there mind or moved on to another marketers list because you haven’t been talking to them anymore.
Now here are 3 reasons why you should listen to what your list or customers are saying…
- By listening you let them tell you what they want and are expecting from you. Maybe they want you to show them a skill, create a product, show them how to use a product or just listen, imagine that. You could discover there are a number of ways you can help them.
- Listening is a skill that is a lost art. The person trying to communicate with you is doing so for a reason. Maybe they are trying to express a need for something, they may feel uncomfortable or express a thought.
Listening is a trait all of us have but few fully implement it into their daily lives. Sometimes say when you are talking to your spouse, friends or acquaintances maybe they just want a sounding board. Someone to just listen to what they have to say.
- If you are able to understand what someone is trying to tell you it is one of the best ways of communication. That person has the feeling that you have connected with them and they can share just what they want because they will feel that you will be able to help them.
They may not want advice but just have someone to run their ideas and thoughts by. It could actually lead them to work out their problems all on their own. They will probably thank you and you didn’t do anything.
May not seem like much but can be one of the best breakthroughs you will ever experience. That connection could lead to a word of mouth about you that could become like a virus spreading your good name around for helping others. Your list could increase exponentially.
But remember, to be an effective listener you must be sincere. You must be able to show passion and be ready to help if asked. For someone to want to talk to you they must trust you and that could be the hardest part. But that breakthrough could be a big step to improving how you are perceived in business and in real life. So now you see why listening is your most important Internet Marketing success secret
Next time I will discuss why you should listen and interact with others that know the online business better.
Listening is indeed a key to getting answers. You still need to learn to listen to the actions though.
All too often people say one thng but do another. One of the reasons you must always test what you hear from people not just accept it as fact.
A very thought provoking comment Mike and one I had not thought of. Thanks.
One of the best ways to listen is to ask questions. Get other people to open up. Then shut up.
Another useful tool is the survey. I use http://www.surveymonkey.com
It has a very useful free version. I have on occasion opted in for the paid version when doing larger surveys and then when they are over switch back to the free service.
Listing is important and can be a great source of information. Mike’s point is indeed quite interesting. Wonder how many are hinder the efforts of their affiliates by saying one thing and yet doing another. While their affiliates are trying to do what they said that they do?
One way I like to “listen” to my market is through surveys. I’ve done a few in the past and I am often surprised at what they have to say, it’s not always what I think it will be.
[...] other day I wrote a post about how important listening was for your business. Are you listening to your list and customers? Are you asking them just what [...]
What a great post. When I was in my teens I must have been a very good listner as many of my friends would come to me and tell me their problems and we would talk for hours. No judgment just listened. When we get older we don’t have the time or think we don’t have time and start multitasking and loose focus on the conversation. That can be true in our businesses as well. Listening via survey or otherwise is a great way to bring focus back to our customers needs
Great post Andre,
Listening is a great skill to have and one that seems to be less prevalent now than before.
Seems everyone is so busy nowadays that vary few actually take the time to actually listen.
And while I have always been a very good listener sometimes you need to take a step back and really pay attention.
Thanks.
Great post, Andre – And the other side of the coin is just as important – knowing who to listen to!
Unfortunately we have too many ‘experts’ around these days who haven’t done anything major in 5 or 6 years, or who have had only one or two launches, or have taken one coaching course and now feel qualified to teach it themselves.
When choosing a mentor, look for a number of facets – a string of successful products, recent successes, success promoting affiliate promos, a record of helping people and a good over-all reputation in the business are just the starting criteria, yet it narrows the field down extremely well!