Category: Listening

“The key to a successful entrepreneur is the ability to listen and there’s no app for that” – Don Weiss

The internet makes it possible for the entrepreneur do run the business with a lot less people and a lot less money than it used to.

Unfortunately, modern technology has a side effect and that is that we have become even more isolated from direct personal contact.

Understanding your customer’s needs can’t be done by surveys, and social media.  It takes more than 140 characters to really understand another human being and build a relationship.

Your customers, potential key employees, investors and partners expect more in the relationship than Facebook likes and and blog posts.

Until we tackle telepathy, there’s only one way.

This quote came from a report on NPR: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=240685227

 

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“The best interviews are when the other party does most of the talking.” – Shawn Carson

When validating your value proposition with customers, its tempting to talk all about your product and what it will do and how great it will be.

When meeting people at a social mixer, it’s tempting to talk about your accomplishment and your new startup and how it’s going.

When giving a presentation, especially when you have the chance to receive feedback, it’s tempting to defend your ideas or try to better explain what you tried (and failed) to say.

Here’s the thing…

You are just like the rest of us on the planet.  You like to hear yourself talk.  But when you realize all the valuable information you can get by simply shutting up and letting the other person tell you things, all of the sudden your world will open up in ways you never imagined. The other person wants to talk as much as you do.  But they are giving you something you can’t get from your perspective;  their perspective.

The customer will tell you want’s important them.  You don’t have to…

The other person will tell you what they do for a living and how they might be able to help you, if you simply show interest in them and regard their business card with respect.

That “encourager” who hears your pitch for the first time, will tell you directly if you didn’t make something clear.  You’ve heard your pitch before and they haven’t.  First impressions ARE important.  If they didn’t get it, that’s your fault.

Shhhhhhh….  Listen…..