You Need to Get Out More

It happens in every company, eventually the internal dynamics become more important than what happens with the customer, what he wants to talk about, what he's thinking about. Often, in fact, we prefer the detached rooms of research to a human contact. Asking while you're eyeball to eyeball, knee deep in his world, would be too simple.

It happens even in FriendFeed rooms and at social media conferences. Sometimes I think these are the modern versions of rock band tours - meeting the same groupies from event to event. There is nothing wrong with having one long conversation with those who we perceive as like-minded, those who live and breathe the same issues, in the same environment. 

But, the forward movement in awareness and growth happens when we encounter differing views, different ways of seeing the world - especially when those views are those of paying customers or potential partners for business opportunities.

Are you prepared to broach the topic of marketing, communications and public relations on social media with them starting from where they're at? Do you truly take their seat and begin with their world, their reality, their challenges? It can be uncomfortable, it can get down right frustrating at times. But that's where you can make the most difference.

Inside your company silo, inside any social network, you're mainly talking to those who are figuring things out for themselves and with each other. How do you relate to the others? How do you cut across? How do you get out of that? Do you? 

What are three things you are doing to get out more? Of your comfort zone, your industry, your work environment, your circle of acquaintances, your way of thinking, etc.

[image from a different angle by Pixelmaniac]

Comments

[jon burg]

1) Read. Read THEIR industry journals, read mainstream magazines targeting popular against your target market. Understand where they are coming from. What are their challenges and needs? We cannot afford to market in a silo, and the web is just one part of a broader communications play.

2) Provoke and listen. Go for a walk, go for coffee, have them over for a barbeque. Get to know them as people. Your efforts will that much more effective for it.

3) Go for a walk. If you really thought it through, you probably could figure much this out on your own. Stop doing, take 15 minutes in the middle of the action, especially when you've hit a wall, and just go be a person. Sit in a coffee shop and watch people. Get inspired.

This is what works for me, how about you?

[Robyn McMaster]

Valeria, you make a good point and capture the flavor of my beliefs. At university, for example, integrative studies can help one get a taste of many fields and perhaps a bigger picture than a specialist. Also, the liberal arts helps people to get a broader taste of knowledge.

Since I started blogging, I like to exchange ideas with people from many fields. I also love to learn from folks of different cultures.

Being open is more engaging rather than limiting yourself. I see you in that light.

[Diego Remus]

Hello! The "same groupies from event to event" was a great insight. The same opinion about "the forward movement in awareness and growth happens when we encounter differing views".

"Starting from where they're at" is a great way to "get out more". Thou, I believe relationships are made of what participants make them be.

So, there´s a really sutile line to cross when listening to your customer and giving him consulting.

What is really "out of the box"? Is "customized" out the box?

See, your post is really provocative - I mean, inspiring!

Thanks, hugs!

[Amber Naslund]

I love this post, Valeria. It's very easy to start from your perspective and talk down from the mountaintop. The much harder method - but far more impactful - is to start from the perspective of those you're trying to help. More and more, I'm adapting my style to be that of evolutionary coach (fluffy sounding I know, working on that) - helping brands and businesses take just one giant step forward in a new direction. It's hard for them. It's hard for me (sometimes especially to resist the temptation to take leap after leap). But it's the stuff that changes businesses for the better, and can break through the emotional, psychological and logistical barriers that have a tendency to keep us running on the hamster wheel.

Thanks, as always, for provoking great thought.

[Nicoletta]

That's a great post! Reading blog, attending conference, I often feel there is a sort of self-reference (I hope it's the right word!).
In my experience, I always try to follow these steps:
1) try to understand how much my customer knows about social media, especially how much he is confident
2) listening, asking questions, listening
3) starting and slowly grow up, depending on the awareness of my customer

[Christian DE NEEF]

I guess my typical clients are “them” that you are talking about. Large companies that are not in the social media space, quite the contrary (they are in insurance, energy, logistics, etc.), that never heard of twitter or friendfeed, and that hide behind thick corporate firewalls...

It often strikes me that the active social media community is so egotist/inward looking. We tend to forget that it's only a small fraction of the digital community that has embraced social media... One could argue that this community counts millions already; I would argue that today it represents less than a fraction of 1% of world population! (see also http://tinyurl.com/5rb9wn)

When I spend too much time in front of my laptop, I tend to forget them, the other world, and I become twitter-centric. So when I spend the day with them (today = French project managers in a worldwide logistics company; they have email and that's about it), it is both humbling and refreshing. I can bring “them” a lot because as a consultant AND an outsider I both broaden and challenge their views. But they bring me a lot because they keep me from dreaming away. The world becomes very real, very physical again.

The point is, wherever we come from, we must be open to the other, open to the outside world. Adopting the client's perspective; something we've always said but we may tend to forget. Certainly we should avoid conceit or elitism.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Jon - I especially like your suggestion to "stop doing". I would add, start thinking more. Being contemplative is pursuit rich with insights. We are immersed in such a veneer culture, where thoughts are as deep as needed for a transaction. People often ask me what I miss most about Europe - it's that, the ability to get to really know someone using thought as the social object. Most of the time, we're all going so fast, that it does not matter. Sometimes the absence of it, that void, is felt acutely.

@Robyn - I guess you can tell I'm a Liberal Arts major, then. I do believe in connecting knowledge and experiences, going deep but also going wide. Exploring, learning, trying ideas out, or just letting them decant, so to speak, in your mind. Now I feel nostalgic of the University days, life was much simpler then.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Diego - there is no box, yet there needs to be constraints at the same time or we float aimlessly without ever getting to a point. Which is fine for contemplative life, less so to make a living. The process and structure people have won, but only momentarily. The pendulum will swing back to a more creative place, eventually.

@Amber - companies and people within them. do not know how to be saved, so they cling onto the safe thing. When I talk about the new filed of conversation, I think of myself as facilitator, ambassador and advocate all rolled into one. It's extremely hard to balance them all - change is emotional and people don't do emotion well (or predictably).

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Nicoletta - every industry tends to be very inward-focused, it's the nature of the work to be focused on itself. It happens the same with couples, they are immersed in the experience so much that they lose the ability to see the dynamics. The good news is that there is a lot we can do each day to change just one routine, one little thing, and look at things from a different angle. Taking the customer seat is one of those eye-opening experiences. You forget yourself, and become immersed in what the other is saying.

@Christian - I like how you describe the experience of feeling "real and physical again". There is also the conversation around perspective - gaining one. When you stare at something for too long, you stop seeing it or what it could be - and possibility is priceless. As an experienced professional in value management, I am sure you appreciate every bit of the nuances of both situations - behind the screen emerges the self, in front of the client, emerges the dialogue (even the internal one).

[Greg]

I worked for a regional fast food place in the 80s. Company policy required EVERYONE (owner's personal assistant, warehouse workers, accountants, etc) to work one week a year in a restaurant.

[laurent]

Worked a long time in engineering in bigcos an saw several attempts to increase the voice of the customer pervasively...not very successful in general but may be it's just my experience. My take is that if there's a good model in place, the whole organization will try to follow it. Often, I've seen middle managers (senior mgr, director and vp) spend 95% of their time inward, talk to a customer occasionally (usually when there's a fire). As a consequence, the voice of the customers stayed fuzzy, unreal, almost absent. Social media is a huge opportunity to change that if organizations truly opens up and organize themselves not only following internal mechanics but also external, customer driven ones. It may mean doing an inventory of the 1000s social media places relevant for the org and engaging the whole organization in their community.