speaking of writing...
 

Sometimes you end up bringing interesting messages to interesting audiences:

One Ear For You, the Other For the Band. | theATHENAproject

Met the USS Benfold folks through work, they came up for a tour, and in response to something I talked about in my brief they asked me to elaborate. It is an honor to work with these fine Sailors.

Very interesting read. We're currently going thru "soft skills" training at the office, and listening skills is an important part of that. I forwarded your link to the facilitator hoping she would use that in future trainings.

speaking of writing...
 

Nostatic, I love how you always bring other experiences in your life and show how you can bring those same skills into the workplace. Wonderful read. I think it's really applicable in the sales world. Sometimes it is easy to get caught up in the "greatness" of our product and instead of complaining about how crazy the customer is to not see the awesome benefits of our product, we should actually listen to their complaints. We can't make our product better if we don't. And love how you said listen to the groove. Same thing. Gotta know your customer. We may think certain aspects of our product are the best thing since sliced bread but if the customer doesn't find it valuable, we are screwed. Or say it in a way they can not hear it and understand it. Thanks. Gonna save for a discussion with my department. :)

Very cool, Todd. I also took a look at Project Athena. The most eye-opening (not in a good way) experience in my life was doing a tour as an Air Boss on a Gator. I qualified as Officer of the Deck, CDO in port, etc. and was amazed at how poorly man-power is managed aboard ship.

Good luck with Project Athena!

Nice analogy, Todd.

In business, the most successful salespeople are the ones who have learned to listen. I always start sales technique talks with a 'Shut Up & Listen' speech.

Ian

Excellent post as always Todd. A timely reminder for me as well. I am in the process of transferring to a different division within my company, so a similar product, but a different market and type of customer. Still have a LOT to learn about the way to handle customers and this is a nice reminder to listen to what they are saying.

I have noticed this with one of my coworkers. He is terrible about pulling the focus on trying to look smart and totally missing the mark trick. I've watched customers eyes roll back in their heads as he spews some nonsense to them that is mostly tangential to the question that was asked. I've spent a good deal of time clarifying, or simplifying what he says in meetings.