Listening can grow your online business with ease

Was there someone in your school that was incredibly charming?

Everyone liked them. They were an attractive person. Perhaps they weren't the most academic or sporty or whatever other benchmark we use in society to measure the "best." But at the same time they had this capability of drawing people towards them.

Did you figure out what it was that made them so likeable?

I went to school, the whole way through from the age of 4 to 20, with a girl called Sarah. We had playdates as small children. We hung out with the same people as teenagers. And we went to the same college. As I grew older I noticed that people were captivated by Sarah. I realised that when you were in a conversation with her, she really, actively, listened. She smiled at you, she gave you all her attention. 

She popped into my head the other day. I haven't seen her in over twenty years. But I was thinking about how funny it is that we are so concerned about other people liking our posts and "engaging" with us, that we've forgotten how to listen. And we've forgotten the power of listening.

I remembered how Sarah listened and what a difference that made to both the person who she was listening to, and also, crucially from a business perspective, how she was perceived.

When you are marketing your business listening is the first thing you should do. Here's why:

1. It helps you to find out what your client actually wants:

When I ask clients and prospective clients who their ideal clients are, often they struggle to say in a sentence who they help, and what they help them with. Quite often they haven't spoken to their ideal clients to find out exactly what they need help with.

They have an idea but it may not be the right one.

Even though you might not feel comfortable asking six or seven people to talk to you about your offer, it helps you fast track your success because your offer will hit the points that they need help with on the head.

2. Listening gets you noticed:

By interacting with your prospective clients online and liking their posts, following them, commenting, giving meaningful and pertinent advice, you show that you are actually listening to them. And meanwhile you are building relationships and authority in your area of expertise.

So all those hashtags that you use in your posts.... head on over and take a visit to them and see who else is using them. You might find your clients OR you might find they're not the right hashtags for you to use. 

3. Listening to what your followers love:

This has two parts to it. In the first instance where you look outwards, notice what your ideal client is following, interacting with, sharing. What is similar to what you do, and what is different? Is there merit in taking inspiration from it and sharing a similar format or theme?

And in the second instance, when you look at what you are sharing, what do your followers and subscribers love. What post got lots of interaction? What email subject was opened? What blogpost was shared? Which links are getting clicked? What video is being watched? And what is not working?

So often we work really hard to share our message. We send it out there and then we never look at it again. We don't see if it resonated, and then we go back to the drawing board and start all over again. Why?

If you have an offer that is researched, you've listened to your clients, it helps them, then it will help others like them. Listen and look at the information that your followers are sharing with you. Expand on it, hone it, take it from a different perspective. But don't throw it out and start all over again.

Be a Sarah. Listen more. Give your followers and subscribers that you have right now, your attention. Let me know what works.

https://www.elainewalshmcgrath.com/call