One of the most important things a brand can and should do to improve is to listen. Admittedly, listening is also one of the most difficult things to do. We all, inevitably want to jump in, correct, and respond to criticism and constructive feedback. If you can hear the full measure of the information being shared with you though, you have the opportunity to affect real and meaningful change for your business. By Listening you learn what your business can do better, how it can better meet your customers’ needs, and how it can dominate the marketplace.

photo credit by mikecogh

No doubt about it though, listening is a skill. Frederic Boulanger of the SpongeFred blog made a great observation about listening in his recent post, Are you having GREAT conversations?

Can you shut up and listen? It’s much harder than it sounds. Can you go from a waiting to talk mode to a truly listening mode, where you’re fully engaged in understanding what it is the person you’re listening to is saying? Way too often we end up thinking of what to answer to what we’re earing, correcting the facts, asking another question, etc.
You’re best performance here is making sure the person is saying it all, and getting it all in the open. Every thing you say, your tone, your body language, the words you use are saying go-on I’m listening, I want to hear it all. It is not the time to go in solution mode, it’s not the time to go quick fix, you’re in listening mode.

Take the opportunity this week to really listen to what is being said to you about your business, and then resolve to make the appropriate changes. Your business will thank you for it.

About the Author:

Tisha Oehmen

Tisha Oehmen is a professional brand strategist and a leader in the branding field. She has been named a member of the Global Guru’s Top 30 Brand Gurus. She is also the co-founder of Oregon-based Paradux Media Group and the best-selling author of the book, Finding Brand: The Brand Book Tutorial.

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