A few months ago, i was in Atlanta enjoying the heat and have numerous meetings.
It just so happened, i was in conversation with a good friend who suggested I should give a talk at The Garage, in Tech Square.
So i thought, why not…
Want to know what i said? Sure.. have a look and listen, by clicking on the link below.
Today, I learnt something…that got me thinking.
Someone asked, who were the last people that called you?
A little baffled at first, I looked at my phone. My business phone, I had a phone call from a member of my team and a supplier.
Should I have more calls?
Why haven’t more people called me?
Am I too relient on emails and messages?
So I started thinking, it’s true… i don’t call people that often. I do send alot of emails. And emails can get lost. There’s only so much you can write in an email. I try to keep my emails short.. a bit like twitter messages. Maybe I should start calling people more often. Especially those i’m working with, those whom i’m doing business with.. those who I need to stay in touch with, my stakeholders.
It’s a busy world. And emails help us to stay in touch with each other becuase we can pick up emails when we are free, go through them, think about the reply, and then type a message and send back.
But what happens if we pick up the phone and call that person? If they’re busy, call back later… if they’re out the country, learn when they’ll be back and put it in the diary. Call a few times, and they know you want to speak to them. They’ll call you back. And when on the phone, you can not only ask them about the main topic you want to discuss, but also other things that are on your mind. You can get their first reaction. But most importantly, hold that conversation. Ask about the family. Ask about their football team. Ask about their weekend plans.
Which then made me think… are losing the art of conversation?
Are we becoming more ‘140 character’ type of people?
That’s a great question!
Well, in the description… it’s all about Digital, Customers, Listening, etc.. So, i’ll be talking about Customers and are we listening to them.
I don’t like to use the word ‘digital’ that much. I feel, everything is digital.
We don’t pick up the camera now, and say.. i’m going to use the ‘digital camera’. Because the majority of cameras are digital and not the old 35mm film, we just take it for granted.
And in this day and age we live in, everything is fast becoming digital. I suppose, digital could be broken down. We are now becoming more ‘e’. For example, e-commerce. We’re now more ‘online’, for example online services. We’re now becoming more connected. which then leads onto the Internet of Things – the connected world we live in.
I spoke a few months ago, at the IoT Conference in London.
Yep, that’s me – representing Coca-Cola.
I spoke about how the IoT (Internet of Things) is connecting everyone and what the future holds for IoT. It will only become more advanced and more integrated with our normal day to day lives. We won’t even know we are ‘connected’. Just that things will happen and it’ll be like.. oh, okay… that’s good. For example, your washing machine being connected to your phone, which is connected to your calendar and diary, and knows what time you will be home, so can have the washing all done and ready to take out when you come home.
So, in a few weeks, one will be speaking at the Sales Innovation Expo 2017.
Yep, that’s right, i’ll be a keynote speaker – talking about the customer. And in my blog, in the run up to the event, i’ll share some insights and data i’ll be using in my talk.
The key thing, above all, is the customer is always right. They might not always understand what you are selling, and they might not fully be clear on what benefits it’ll provide them… but remember one thing, as the old saying goes… the customer is always right in what they believe.
If you haven’t got tickets for the event, i’m sure there’s some available….
Hi folks,
So many of you may know, I used to use the Tumblr site for my blogs.
Recently, i’ve decided to up the ante and change things. Hence you may now notice WordPress in the url. I’m trying this out, because I feel this has more flexibility.
Does it Bal? – hold on my friend, just exploring! But so far, yes!
What’s going to happen to Tumblr? – i’ll keep it there, archive it maybe. I also have a few followers on there, so might keep it going. But this will be my primary ‘thinking’ account.
So, this was a first post to get things started… and more to follow!