Effective Marketing Communication - Are you listening to me?

No – I haven’t resorted to writing an article especially for my husband. What I want to talk about is the difference between telling people something and actually engaging them so that they hear you. This applies just as much in day to day life as it does to the communications activities of your company. Of course the cost might be greater if you get it wrong in business.

These thoughts apply to advertising, sales conversations, direct mail, websites – in fact any communication from your business.

But let's go back to my conversations with my husband first of all and think about whether your business is guilty of the same sins I am.

Starting in the Middle
I’m frequently accused of trying to get a response when I haven’t been very clear about what I’m talking about.

We’ll be sitting down in front of the TV in the evening, having both had a long day, and I’ll start talking and end with a question. I get a blank face, or worse still no response at all.

What really happened is that I started talking – and didn’t check I had his interest. I carried on, without establishing I was taking him with me – and I got to the end without having said anything that could tear him away from the news headlines.

If I’d opened with a question – ‘can I ask you something?’ or even ‘how was your day?’ – I might have had a chance. If I’d kept checking he was listening by following up with other questions – ‘what do you think?’, maybe I would have had a response at the end.

How often does this happen with your business?

A sales letter assumes the reader is on your wave-length – or has the needs you are trying to fulfil. A brochure or website, which has great images and design, fails to engage the reader because they’re not quite sure how to navigate their way through the information.

I’m frequently accused of trying to get a response when I haven’t been very clear about what I’m talking about. We’ll be sitting down in front of the TV in the evening, having both had a long day, and I’ll start talking and end with a question. I get a blank face, or worse still no response at all. What really happened is that I started talking – and didn’t check I had his interest. I carried on, without establishing I was taking him with me – and I got to the end without having said anything that could tear him away from the news headlines. If I’d opened with a question – ‘can I ask you something?’ or even ‘how was your day?’ – I might have had a chance. If I’d kept checking he was listening by following up with other questions – ‘what do you think?’, maybe I would have had a response at the end. How often does this happen with your business? A sales letter assumes the reader is on your wave-length – or has the needs you are trying to fulfil. A brochure or website, which has great images and design, fails to engage the reader because they’re not quite sure how to navigate their way through the information.

Telling not Asking
Here’s a good one – and one I know I’m guilty of – you start a conversation and download a whole raft of information, without establishing whether your listener, or prospect, is interested.

We see this in business all the time unfortunately. When I’m advising clients on their marketing activity plans one of the most difficult challenges that I face is convincing them that they shouldn’t include too much information in each stage of communication. It’s understandable that they feel they have something to TELL their readers or sales prospects – what they’ve forgotten is that their readers don’t necessarily want to be TOLD everything at the first stage. It’s so much better to take things a step at a time and get confirmation that your listener or prospect is still on-board.

Pause for thought
Which brings me on to the next point. Stop, and shut up sometimes in your dialogue with clients. And do this so that you can HEAR what they are telling you. The most successful sales meetings and sales presentations are ones where the salesman says very little but instead listens to the answers to carefully posed questions.

You can use the same type of technique in written communications too – although of course you cannot hear the response. You do this by asking very pointed questions and then giving brief benefit focused answers yourself.

Benefits not features
This is one of the most powerful ways to show you are listening and that you do understand your prospects needs.

In sales meetings, presentations and any copy avoid, at all costs, just telling them about what your product or service does. In many instances this will be taken for granted anyway. If you are an accountancy firm and you use the latest IT technology to produce client accounts and manage your practice so what! Don’t tell them all about the fact that all of your staff have computers on their desks and use the latest software – explain instead how this benefits the client. So, for example, you turn accounts around more quickly to meet reporting deadlines and can produce reports which show how to reduce cost in a client’s business. I suppose instead of asking ‘Are you listening to me?’ I should be saying to my husband ‘Have I said anything you’re interested in yet?’ And you might want to pose a similar question to clients, customers and prospects.

Article written by Teresa Harris, Second Opinion Marketing. Teresa is an independent marketing consultant specialising in communication solutions and the customer experience. To contact us call 01789 740396 or email tah@secondopinionmarketing.co.uk

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