Row 12 seat C sucks. Behind me is an inconsolable child you would think is heading for the electric chair based on the volume of his tirade. The mom made her best efforts to quiet him down although they were far from my best efforts; but then that’s probably why I wasn’t meant to have children.
I noticed while little Hunter was screaming he was oblivious to anything his mom told him. She could’ve told him, “If you don’t stop I’m going to ask that man to open the emergency exit door and I will toss you out.” (I would’ve gladly opened the door.) Or she could’ve told him, “If you stop this and act nice the rest of the flight I’ll give you a big ice cream sundae before handing you over to Grandma.” It wouldn’t have mattered what she said, because he heard nothing but what he was screaming.
Companies are acting the same way these days. The volume continues to escalate with marketing pitches where everyone is screaming, using fear tactics and trying to shock us into hearing what they are trying to sell us. Don’t run a 30 second ad telling us product benefits, run three 10 seconds ads screaming your name at us.
Corporations are so worried about getting the message out louder and more frequently they are not listening to what the customers are asking for. The louder they scream the less they are listening. Funny thing is, the consumers are listening less as well.
The more I listened to Hunter’s noise the less I was concerned with helping him and the more my thoughts ran to teaching him about a blue swirly in the lavatory. (Here you go lady, Hunter is now a Smurf!) Same goes with companies screaming at customers. They tune out the message and just want to make it stop and go away.
Companies just need to stop the noise and listen. Listen to what customers are telling you. Listen to what their needs are. Listen to how they prefer to hear about your products. Just shut the hell up and listen. Sorry, that was for Hunter’s benefit. (Or was it?)
The better job companies do in listening to their customers the lower they can dial back the volume and actually get a real message across. When you know who you are talking to and what they want to hear, there is no need to raise the volume. Be calm and confident in your message and leaving the screaming to little boys who are no doubt devil spawn.
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