Listen! A Slice From The Age Of Conversation

One thing for sure is that conversation starts with listening, which is what this slice from The Age of Conversation is all about.

In "Keeping the Message Consistent," Roger Anderson urges us to truly listen and not just hear. After all, listening is active whereas hearing is passive.

Jordan Behan describes "Using the Tools of the Web to Build Relationships Online." As you do offline to build a relationship, so must you online "listen intently to your customers and answer all of their questions."

Susan Willett Bird toasts "Here's to the Capital C Conversation." What makes a conversation great is "that the participants come to such a conversation with the intent to be changed by it. They come prepared to listen in a way that will reveal a perspective, an insight, a fact that eluded them until now."

Chris Corrigan describes the "Art of Conversations." It is absolutely about listening 'from the heart.' After all, "conversations... are humanity's most profound invention."

Listening, though, may lead to "a sense of communal identification" as Rishi Desai describes while urging us to "Facilitate Better Learning By Breaking The Cycle." He introduces us to the concept of the conversation curator and cautions against 'curatorial benevolence' and passivity.' Rather, curators "must seek to disturb the harmony when they detect cyclical or homogeneous responses."

Gianandrea Facchini tells us all "About Conversation" referring to Winnie The Pooh, Truman Capote, Benjamin Franklin, Marcus Tullius Cicero, Ernest Hemingway and Moliere. He says "Without a conversation, we cannot learn to listen, to give words their own meaning and not the one we would like them to have."

Stanley Johnson pleads with us to "Don't Talk. Listen." Why? "To engage your brand in conversation you need to be a good listener." He gives us 30 ways and reasons to listen - that guarantee you won't become a passive conversation curator!

Spike Jones reinforces that with "Shut Up." "You might just learn something if you do," he says. After all, we have passionate customers out there who want to connect with us, IF we listen.

Kim Klaver explains "How Tennis Puts Conversation into Marketing." It's a refreshing reminder that when we are trying to connect with prospects, we should "ask a question to trigger a response from the listener right off." And then, listen!

Scott Monty writes about "B2B Social Media: Don't Monkey Around." Were you aware that conversation has its roots in the Latin 'conversari' [to dwell, to keep company with]? "Only by listening and learning will B2B marketers be able to start talking WITH their customers." In other words, that's the means to keeping company with them.

Sacrum B. Rown describes "Warmness" visually and verbally. "You is talking, I is talking and the brand sends out charges! The charge is a voice and sometimes we is listening."

How actively do you listen? To your customers? To your employees? Consider what might be missing if you don't. And celebrate all that you gain when you do!

Previous posts relating to The Age Of Conversation:
+ The Age of Conversation - A Slice on Connection
+ A Slice From The Age Of Conversation
+ The Age of Conversation - Now Available
+The Conversation Age - Enabled

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