There are things that work and many more that don't. Let's discuss what we've experienced . . . not our opinions . . . but actually what our days and nights as marketers, business leaders, parents, people are teaching us. Please give us a hand. Tell us about your experience with this stuff.

Thursday, December 31, 2009

When Will They Listen?

One of the best quotes of the year for me came from a very innocous source. I was catching up on detective reads when I came upon this piece of dialogue:

"So are you talking from experience?" he asked.
"The only place to talk from." came the response. (my paraphrase)
I thought that summed it up rather well.

Within the world of marketing, so many professionals are known as B.S. artists. And with good reason. Often we think people listen to us for our opinions. However that is incorrect.

People listen to us, if they do listen, for one main reason. They have a need which they believe we have the experience to deal with or address.
Now here's the good bad news: For many of us, our wisdom does come from our experience. And often the punchline is that our experience comes from bad decisions. Funny but true. And frankly this is a strength. We've been there and done that and we can tell the story.

So I encourage you to tell the stories . . .and add how you fixed it, learned from it, found a more effective solution. Whatever you do, tell the experience. People will be impressed by what you've seen and done.
And if you don't have the experience, shut up, you're killing us.

Accept the arithmetic: you are most valuable to others when you can call upon what you've experienced in your profession or life and show a way to win.

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