"Listen or thy tongue will keep thee deaf." ~Native American Indian Proverb
Following an early-decade slump, McDonald's same-store sales in the U.S. have increased for a whopping 25 straight months. It surely isn't because "Super Size Me" came out and scared the pants off us or because "Fast Food Nation" taught us more about slaughterhouses than we ever wanted to know.
Nope, it's more likely because McDonald's got serious about customers' beefs and revamped not only its image but its hours, credit card policies, advertising and, of course, that scarylicious menu. Rather than relying solely on public statements to counter the onslaught, McDonald's has been actually listening to customers. Then delivering.
(Keep your eye out for digital media kiosks, plasma screens, Wi-Fi access, double-lane drive-throughs, gourmet coffee, fireplaces – even chicken on wheat – all offerings in the company's Illinois test restaurant.)
"Learn to listen. Opportunity could be knocking on your door very softly." ~Frank Tyger
Listening is the flip side of what many people think of as PR, where we burn a lot of brain cells thinking long and hard about what to say and how to say it. Although McDonald's came out with clever statements about the shortcomings of "Super Size Me," the words rang hollow compared to the company's actions.
I offer the company not as an example of culinary excellence, but only of effective institutional listening. Listening has been good for sales and good for the Golden Arches' brand. McDonald's actions are an object lesson for any company, even those in our business marketing technology to other businesses.
My clients have taught me the value of effective listening over the past decade. Their strategies boil down to the following possibilities. Although broad to be sure, they might inspire your own active listening:
- Survey customers. Find out what they want. Build it into products and services.
- Consistently seek out your product's biggest weakness. Then deliver a tangible improvement.
- Visit customers often. Let them do the talking. Everyone says they do this. Do you?
- Form a product advisory board. Make them tell you what you least want to hear. Fix the problems.
- Join newsgroups. Invite feedback on your product. Use your real name. Take action.
- Identify your industry's Achilles' heel. Interoperability problems? Data spread far and wide? Functionality holes? Launch an initiative to address it, with altruistic motives.
- For heaven's sake, heed the media's demand for plain talk.
- Blog. While this involves talking, it's really about inviting grassroots feedback. (Flog warning: nothing can damage your reputation more than creating fake blogs, or blogs under false pretenses, as McDonald's did with its spoof on the Abe Lincoln-shaped French fry. And nothing ticks off an influential blogger more than a PR pro pitching stories under the guise of an average reader.)
Listening has always been a noble idea, but it's more important than ever to actually do it. Outbound public statements don't pack the punch they used to. Forests fall every day to generate more press releases than anyone wants to read, too many of which are brimming with doubletalk. For good reason, the consumer is skeptical.
Moreover, Webmasters, bloggers, podcasters have muffled the mainstream vendor-customer dialogue. The one-to-many business-to-customer conversation has become a many-to-many clamor. Everybody talks to everybody, and all at once. The traditional autocratic media channels are starting to break down. Because so many people are talking, listening attracts positive attention. Actions based on listening pay off in great customer experiences, a stalwart brand, increased loyalty, deeper trust – and, yes, added revenue.
Whether you listen or not, customers will make themselves heard, especially the ones with a juicy story to tell. You might as well hear 'em out. Better they complain to you than the world so you can do something about it. After all, your smart competitors are always listening.
- Steve McGrath
