Harnessing the Power of Listening … face-to-face and online

“Silence is one of the great arts of conversation.”

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106BC – 3BC)

Roman statesman, scholar, orator

 

 

Good listening skills are critical to building lasting business relationships.  However, listening is one of the most difficult skills to cultivate and even good listeners must constantly work on honing their skills.  Effective listening takes more than just hearing the words; it means one must engage both body and mind in order to fully understand the message.  

The steps to good listening are simple:

1)    Give your undivided attention to the person who is speaking, show empathy and respect.

2)    Exhibit your attention through body language, by maintaining eye contact, nodding or shaking your head, and through facial expression – smiles, frowns and maybe even a laugh.

3)    Think about what the speaker is saying – really engage your mind in the process.

4)    Let the speaker finish – don’t interrupt.

5)    Show you understand by repeating what the speaker said in your own words.

6)    Ask questions and provide feedback.  

While we know the steps for effective listening when we interact face to face, we need to consider how to utilize some of these same skills online.  First, we must recognize that the proliferation of social media tools threatens to further erode our listening skills.  It’s easy to become preoccupied with posting another tweet or answering that ever-present question on Facebook – What’s on your mind? 

Even so, the importance of creating and building relationships through social media continues to increase.  The word listening has a different meaning in the world of social media, where it primarily refers to monitoring key words through a variety of Web applications.  But many conversations are happening online, through blogs, social networks and in private topic-centered networks.  And, these require active listening skills.  

1)    With so many conversations going on, choose wisely and carefully consider what’s being said.  Your choice might be predicated upon the person’s reputation or the topic of discussion.    

2)    Exhibit your attention through posts that exhibit empathy – sort of a written nod.

3)    Show your understanding through re-tweets, links in your blog post, or comments.

4)    As always, ask questions and provide feedback.

5)    And finally, remember that social media requires reciprocity, relevancy, transparency, authenticity and commitment.  (10 Best Practices in Social Media – http://stwem.com/2009/07/24/10-best-practices/) 

As social media and all its possibilities continue to evolve, we must continue to look at best practices for engaging in conversation and effective listening.

Marketers Have to Identify the Product

When a marketer is working with a professional service organization, the product is more difficult to identify.  Is it the service, the professional, something else?  Those of us who have worked with service firms such as law, accounting and achitecture have long recognized that our jobs hold special challenges.  

Recently, I started looking at how the four Ps of marketing apply to professional services.  In the current issue of EnSpiring News, we take a closer look at some of the products that firms market. 

I’d really like some feedback on how other marketers evaluate products.  And, if you’d like to receive a full copy of the e-newsletter, just let me know – susan@EnSpireCommunication.com.

10 Steps to Developing a Crisis Communications Plan

 A company’s response to a crisis will affect its reputation and can cause irreparable harm. The following ten steps, taken from a presentation I did for the Legal Marketing Association, Orlando City Group, should help you begin preparing a crisis communications plan. Just remember that anything that even remotely resembles a cover-up will backfire and is certain to destroy a solid reputation. Transparency is the word. The first eight steps are meant to be completed long before a crisis erupts.

1. Establish Company’s Crisis Management Approach Your company’s approach should be derived from its vision and values. Decide up front what you will protect – the company’s reputation? the brand name? current management?

2. Establish Relationships and Build Your Reputation Know that it will be too late to begin establishing relationships and credibility with key stakeholders and media once a situation arises. Companies need to continually work at building a solid reputation which will help it to weather a crisis should the need arise. Another thing you’ll want to remember is to share the details of your emergency plan with local emergency response and law enforcement authorities.

3. Identify a Crisis Communications Team The team should include the CEO, the firm’s chief communications or public relations executive, legal counsel, and management from other offices and divisions, including HR, finance and operations.

4. Identify and Train Spokespersons Know that you’ll need people not only for media, but also to speak to external and internal audiences – on camera and off. Training is critical – make sure your spokespersons are prepared to respond and are equipped with the information that needs to be conveyed. The authority to speak for the company to media representatives should be vested with a single individual.

5. Establish Communications Systems Know who your stakeholders are – employees, investors, board members, vendors, clients, regulators and government officials, others – then establish methods to rapidly reach these stakeholders during a crisis. Consider audio and visual messages sent through e-mail and cell phones – use social media such as Twitter if your audience is there. Pre-purchase blocks of radio time and set up a dark Web site. Establish a database and consider automatic systems that allow stakeholders to confirm receipt of a message.

6. Set Up Central Information Management Center This may be a conference room that is already wired for the technologies you will employ – phone lines, computer modems with access to needed databanks, video conferencing, satellite television, radio, etc. All the other things you’ll need should also be stored in the center – stakeholder lists and emergency numbers, stationery items and a packed bag ready to travel with needed supplies, including a laptop loaded with prepared statements. You will need two sets … one always kept off property. Consider the possibility that you will need an offsite central information management center.

7. Prepare Holding Statements and Advance Materials These are messages designed for immediate use once a crisis emerges – generic, positive information about the company, as well as a press release stating that you don’t yet have all the details, promising to provide information as soon as feasible.

8. Perform a Risk Audit Knowing your risks and proactively preparing is essential. Once you perform a risk audit, you can anticipate crisis situations in order to prepare possible responses. But even more important, this will give you an opportunity to avoid a crisis by implementing necessary operational changes. You might also consider holding an annual mock crisis exercise that involves all necessary decision makers.

9. When a Crisis Hits – Assess the Situation, Then … Always put the safety of people first. Prepare to answer tough questions. Tell what you know, when you know it – apologize if you are in the wrong and promise to implement corrections.

10. Managing the Crisis Using holding statements as a starting point, then develop situation-specific messages – two to three main points. Finalize internal and external communications, including press releases and Web content. Provide regular, honest feedback to stakeholders, monitor news coverage and inquiries, and of utmost importance … be accessible.

A New Address for EnSpired Thought

One of the best parts of blogging is being able to turn the blog into a conversation through posted comments and links to social media platforms.  When I launched the company Web site last October, we used sitefinity which includes a blog element.  However, we were never successful in authorizing the comment part of the blog and uploading videos, etc. was cumbersome.  (While I’m not technically astute, I’m sure this is one of the downsides of using free-ware.)

I expect that the EnSpire Communication Web site will be updated or rebuilt in the next year, but do not want to wait for a more robust blog.  Plans are to eventually use WordPress for all future blogs and then make sure the new site can interface with the blog. 

So … welcome again to EnSpired Thought.  You can visit old postings at http://www.enspirecommunication.com/EnSpireThought.aspx