Tommy, Can You Hear Me?
In a conversation with sales guru Todd Cohen, he stressed to me the importance of not just listening to clients, but really hearing them. It got me thinking about the ways we interact with our clients. We listen to what they want, but do we hear how it is they want it?
How much of your conversations with clients are of the hearing variety? Take that last client who contacted you. She wants a press release/article/sales letter/etc. Easy enough, but are you going to take the time to deliver it completely? By that I mean have you bothered to go deeper, ask those questions and listen to the client speaking? Are you going to hand back a project that captures the essence of that client, or are you going to hand back something that might not reflect that client’s personality?
I believe a good writer delivers on time. I believe a great writer delivers the client’s vision, not his or her own vision. How good are you at interpreting that? What are some ways you can share with us that have helped you nail down the client’s voice and passion?
Lori..
Thanks for the nice words! As a sales professional, I always try and “nail down the client’s voice and passion?” by testing for undersdtanding throughout the total sales campaign. That way they are agreeing with me or correcting me-either way, I get what they are trying to convey.
Great advice, Todd! Thanks for adding value to the blog!
Excellent point, Lori. I always do a free sample edit of a few pages of a book-length manuscript to be sure the client and I have the same vision for an editing project.
It’s like Todd says – ask and then really hear the response. I like to have at least one conversation via phone – you can tell a lot about a person from the tone, the inflection, the choice of words and the pace of the speech.
For most of these types of projects, I’ve developed a questionnaire, which I ask every client to complete prior to beginning. If they’re thorough in their responses, they’ll almost always get a first draft that’s really close to what they were seeking. There are, of course, however, still clients who are lazy about the process and who then require revisions, sometimes major ones. So, it’s not always just the writer who needs to pay a little more attention!