Listening

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Why do we find it so hard to listen?

April 22, 2009 in Uncategorized | Comments closed

The average rate of speech is around 125 words per minute.

Words play a huge part in the thinking process, and the words race through our brains at speeds much higher than 125 words per minute.  When are listening we ask our brains to receive words an extremely slow pace compared with its capabilities.

When we listen, therefore, we continue thinking at high speed whilst the spoken word arrives at low speed.   Our brains are capable of comprehending speech 4 or 5 times the rate at which most people can speak.

Slowing down our brains is near impossible. The human brain is made up of 13 billion cells and operates in such a complicated but efficient manner that it makes our computers seem slow-witted.

The differential between thinking and speaking rates means that our brain works with hundreds of words in addition to those that we hear, assembling thoughts other than those spoken to us.

We can listen but we have some spare time to think.

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Failure to listen

April 20, 2009 in Transforming Moments | Comments closed

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Listen closely to your customers and revise your market segmentation assumptions.

Are people looking at your service and product in the same way as they were?

As the recession progresses, have the copy mechanisms of people become ingrained and define a new normal?

The ability to suspend your judgement, when listening to somebody speaking, is a skill that is very hard to master.

To arrange a meeting with Marketing Statements, please contact Jenny Patterson on 07957 473 270/020 8983 3984 or jenny.patterson@marketingstatements.com

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Small is the new big. Sustainable is the new growth. Trust is the new competitive advantage.

April 9, 2009 in Change | Comments closed

So says Paul Bregman, CEO of Bregman Partners, Inc in his blog post “Why Small Companies Will Win in This Economy.”

Marketing Statements has a headcount of two and so we agree with Paul.  However, we have worked and continue to work with large businesses and organisations that are willing to listen, willing to learn and willing to change and adapt to their customers changing needs, in this changing economic environment.  They continue to prosper, with very happy employees.

http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/bregman/2009/03/why-small-companies-will-win-i.html

To arrange a meeting with Marketing Statements, please contact Jenny Patterson on 07957 473 270/020 8983 3984 or jenny.patterson@marketingstatements.com

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How do you attract the best people/companies?

April 7, 2009 in Other services | Comments closed

“I found the pre interview training extremely useful and the ideas made me think differently about what I have to offer and how I presented myself.  Thank you, I secured the contract.”
Samantha Page, Consultant, UNAIDS

“I got the job.  Thanks for your help.”
Marcus Rich, Managing Director, Mail on Sunday

Our pre-interview training aims to transform the way in which employers are perceived by potential employees — and vice versa. Using a combination of traditional business consulting methods, together with professional acting techniques, we move the employer’s focus beyond a candidate’s CV and teach them to explore what a candidate is like as a person, what drives them, whether they are competent, trustworthy and ultimately if they are the right person for the job. We firmly believe that this approach is far more successful when trying to predict someone’s potential effectiveness in the workplace.

We work together with clients to help them to:

Create compelling value propositions — which resonate with the  needs of their prospective employees.

Make a great first impression — research has shown that we make judgments about someone within seconds. These are difficult to change, so we make sure our clients get it right first time.

Communicate effectively with candidates and select high performers — this includes coaching clients in communication, with an emphasis on listening and sensing verbal and non-verbal clues that reveal the traits, behaviours, values, capabilities and potential of candidates.

To arrange a meeting with Marketing Statements, please contact Jenny Patterson on 07957 473 270/020 8983 3984 or jenny.patterson@marketingstatements.com

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Do you customers understand what you mean?

April 6, 2009 in Transforming Moments | Comments closed

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It is mistake to assume that people understand what you have said and foolish to think that they have understood it, in the way in which you mean it.

Let’s think about the process of transmitting a thought from speak to listener:

1.    I have a thought.
2.    I have to take apart the thought to put it into words.
3.    The words are sent through the air to the listener (you).
4.    You must mentally reassemble these words into the original structure of thought that I had.

I wonder what the percentage is of my thought being the same as your thought?  If I built a house and then took it apart and gave you the bricks, without you having seen what my house looked like, would you built the same house as me?

During the change process communication is vitally important but it is even more important after you think the work has been completed.  People forget and revert back to past way of thinking and behaving.

We should be communicating 10 times more than we think we need to, in order for our internal and external customers to understand what we mean.

To arrange a meeting with Marketing Statements, please contact Jenny Patterson on 07957 473 270/020 8983 3984 or jenny.patterson@marketingstatements.com

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