Entrepreneurs and salespeople should listen more than talk. Listening uncovers real customer problems and the language they use to describe them, while case studies force a predetermined story. Reflect customers' words back to show you understand.
You got two ears and one mouth. I find that to be just helpful advice. I tell myself every once in a while, especially when I'm starting to monologue, to listen more. The most important job we can do in terms of developing our business is to listen to our customers. Our ears are our most effective sales tool because our ears allow us to hear where their real problems are and gather their words. And then our job is to, to reflect those words back to them and our understanding of those words. And that we know how to deal with those words. The— I've talked to a number of people who think that the job of marketing or even of market research is to go like collect case studies because they think it'll be better sales collateral. And sales collateral is good, but it's not the same thing as listening. Because when you're trying to get a case study, you're trying to get a particular story told. When you are listening to your customers, you are letting them reveal the story to you and you don't know necessarily where it is going to lead. That listening, using your two ears, will grow your business like nothing else.
