This week’s Two for Tuesdays suggestion comes straight from my friend, Nancy Myrland of Myrland Marketing – Strategic Social Media, who has two tips for what we should avoid doing when speaking with clients – and these are excellent ones. These are bad habits that we’ve all gotten into (not just with clients, but in general), and I’m certainly guilty myself!
Tip One: Don’t Interrupt – Let Them Finish Their Thoughts
Ah, interrupting. I’m terrible about this. I’m a bit like the word predictor on my iPhone, where I’m three steps ahead, thinking that I know what the other person is going to say, and I start answering them before they’re finished saying it.
Not only is it terribly rude, but I’m not always right about where the conversation is going. And I’m making it about me – I’m in too much of a rush, and I’m thinking too many steps ahead to let them finish their thoughts.
So although it’s difficult, let’s work on pausing. Wait until the person you’re speaking with has finished their thought…completely. I’ll work on it too. It will make us better listeners, which will in turn make us better advocates for our clients. How can we properly do our jobs if we don’t get all the facts, because we’re too busy butting in?
Continue Reading Two for Tuesdays: What NOT to do When Speaking with a Client
Several years ago, when we first started to see social media take the stage, I jumped right in with both feet and never looked back. I was fortunate to be an early adopter – I say fortunate, because that means that most of my mistakes in using social media were seen by only a few people early on. I got to learn the lingo and understand the norms for each of the platforms before I was connected with hundreds or thousands of people.