One Definition Of Success

Very nice point, Andrea. Too often people–including PR people–are too inwardly focused to be able to put themselves in someone else’s shoes. Not that I haven’t been guilty of this from time to time, but I always try to imagine things from the other person’s perspective. It can mean a world of difference.

This is a great point. And the story does a great job of giving a real example. I think a lot of times people get so caught up in what they think other people need, that they miss what the person is trying to tell them. I don’t think this is limited to PR people or the business world, it is true in real life. Many times what a person, or client, wants is dependent on what they need. Sometimes they don’t know what that is. It is important to listen to everything and really try to understand the other person. Assumptions rarely end up being true. I definitely think this plays a role in the difference between doing your job and being successful at it.

This is such great advice that it is so often overlooked or forgotten. I know the post was geared toward a successful career, but this is also great life advice. I’m sure we have all made assumptions that have gotten us in trouble at one point in time…probably because we didn’t listen somewhere along the way. Listening to your clients’ needs seems like an obvious part of the job; but when things pile up and we get busy it can be easy to have selective hearing.

As far as any preparation regarding listening to clients and viewing things from their prospective, I can’t recall any formal training or explanation. However in Robert’s survey research class we are currently working with actual clients on various projects. This has been a great hands-on experience that has taught many aspects of client relations that couldn’t have been adequately explained in a classroom.

I think practicing in the real world while still a student under supervision of a teacher seems to be the only solution to filling in a lot of gaps before we really do get out in the real world.

Although I think relating to you clients is something that is obviously in our textbooks and an underlying concept behind PR in general, it’s like it goes in one ear and out the other until you live it. I think blogging with all of you is also helping us to do the same thing.

It probably wouldn’t hurt for teachers to present this idea in examples like you just did. I think when we are able to visualize the actions, we are more likely to follow in that behavior in the future. There’s something more to an example than just saying “you should pay attention to your clients’ needs.”

Andrea, your question - “I’m curious and am posing this question to anyone reading this… how do your studies prepare you in the techniques of listening as it relates to client work?” reminds me of a conversation I had with some students today.

In the past, I worked for a crisis center and also taught the training sessions for new volunteers specifically related to reflective listening skills.

Now, we do teach listening in the core communication courses that students take, but there is also great experience in extracurricular activities, too. I have suggested before, but had forgotten to do it recently, that students consider activities like a crisis center, tutoring or Project Uplift (Big Brother/Big Sister) where listening to the caller (crisis center), your student client (tutoring) or child (Project Uplift) is crucial to a successful experience - for both of you.

Some of the faculty in our department have been officers and editors of the International Listening Association (and Journal). So, chat with them and get direction on activities that will improve those skills.

Listening does take skill, but it is more of an art form, in many ways.

I learned a lot about the theory of listening when I took the core communication courses at Auburn University. I was able to apply these listening concepts this semester in my PR Campaigns class. I had to understand the needs and wants of my client before I could develop an effective campaign that the client would want to implement.

I agree with Robert that extracurricular activities also offer experiences. I learned the importance of listening when I was involved in the Project Uplift program for two years. For four hours a week, I listened and tried to understand what my Project Uplift child told me. I knew that most children in the program lacked an adult role model that would really hear them out. I had the opportunity to help my 9-year-old in certain areas of her life, but I couldn’t do so without listening to her needs.

In the Project Uplift Volunteer Training Manual, there was an important section about listening:

“Really listen to what your children have to say. Because it is different from your own set of values, it may shock you. However, think of the actions and words in relation to their environment, without judging or condoning. Remember that one of these children’s problems is communication with adults. Too much talking on your part is more likely to hinder communication than enhance it.�

By doing more listening than talking, and really understanding where my Project Uplift child was coming from, I think those four hours a week made a postive impact on her life.

The challenge in a corporate setting is that often (and I come from a non-PR background, don’t forget) the client wants ‘a solution’ straight away — they (think) they know what the problem is, they tell you, they demand a silver bullet to magically make the stains go away (to mix multiple metaphors).

The art required of ANY consultant — PR, Marcoms, Business Analyst, Culture, et al., — is to nod sagely when the client is telling you what they think/know what the problem is, then be confident enough in your own skills to then sit back and ask really dumb questions that make you look totally foolish, in order to drill down to the real issue.

In an age where you are expected to have instant answers, that is not always an easy game to play. Consultants have received (perhaps justifiably) such a terrible reputation for taking months and $$thousands to discover what someone from the shop floor could have told management over a coffee if someone could have given them the credibility and courtesy of listening to them.

So the pressure is on from not only the client, but also your competitors, to come up with trite, ‘off the shelf’ boxed solutions.

Your job is to resist that. Which is where strong emotional intelligence (I expect you to already have good technical skills) is the key to your success.

If I am honest, of the several zillion faults I have — Mrs BetterComms keeps a list — one of the reasons my business ventures have failed is that I am not as skilled as I should be in managing my emotional reactions and displaying ‘grace under pressure’. I’m getting better at it, but ‘reading’ how others are emotionally, where the thin ice is, and so on, is something I have to continually work on.

I would suggest, given that you are all seekers of truth, knowledge and good coffee, that you invest a few minutes in the library and hunt down some material on emotional intelligence. Because no matter how good your technical, tactical skills, if you can’t handle and manage people you are ‘pushing wet string up a drainpipe’ when it comes to furthering your career.

Wow! What a touching story. I think that with all of the new developments in technology, etc. people sometimes forget about the most important thing in PR…listening. I am in a campaigns class right now and listening is something that our professor harped on. She always said we needed to be completely certain of the clients needs and wants, while also taking into account the organizations culture and values so that we can come up with the best solution. It really takes a skilled listener to hear what the client wants from their perspective instead of just hearing what you want to hear and coming up with a solution from your perspective. Sometimes we just have to learn these things through experience though.

My campaigns professor also told us that we have to know our client inside and out. When you said that digging deep distinguishes those who just do their job from those who really do it well, this statement came to mind. The best campaigns out there are the ones that really go hand-in-hand with the organization and its culture. It’s nice to be reminded of these seemingly small and insignificant factors once in a while, because they are truly the framework of good PR.

I am actually experiencing first hand just how important it is to listen to your clients. I am currently taking a PR Campaigns class where we are working on a campaign for a real client. My group is working with the Tampa Bay Auburn Club in Florida, and our group has experienced some miscommunication with our client and not being fully aware of our clients needs. We have had to truly stop and listen to exactly what the TBAC wanted us to do. Our group had to change our original campaign entirely based on the clearer explanation given when we really listened to what they were saying. Thanks for bringing up this point, and I am glad I have experienced this first hand. I’m sure it will help me in the future!

I personally can’t recall having an in-depth conversation about listening while I have been at college. I am not saying we haven’t been taught it, I just don’t remember it.

What I learned most about listening was from my days in high school. I
know we aren’t supposed to talk about high school days, but I learned a lot from this particular experience…

My head baseball coach did not like me very much. He loved my family, but he hated me. He always made me mad because he would criticize me, but he would never tell me what I was doing wrong. Finally, my senior year he actually started telling me what I was doing wrong. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and listened and applied the instructions.

I made such a huge improvement that the coach was puzzled by it. And he asked me this question “Wes, where did this come from?” (paraphrasing) I said; Coach, I have been asking you since I have been in the 8th grade how I could improve and you never helped. You actually helped this year. That’s where it came from. Then I walked away.

In my opinion, he dropped the ball on not listening to his players. I asked and I asked what I could do to improve and I never got an answer. He was hearing me, but he wasn’t listening to me.

So applying that to PR, don’t pick favorites when it comes to your clients. One client should not be any more special than another client. And listen to all of them. Don’t let it go in one ear and out the other. Listen and do what the person is asking, if it is within your power.

Interesting post Andrea! So many times in our drive for success, we forget that it’s not just OUR ideas that make us successful. It’s actually our application of our ideas to our CLIENT’s needs. In my PR campaigns class this semester, I am really learning the concept of listening to my client first hand. We have to design a campaign specifically for the needs of this client. We have to have a clear understanding of how the organization works, its history, its culture. We could assume nothing. (We all know what that can do.) Basically, it took my group members and I a substantial amount of time to interview our client and dive into research. It is through our efforts to be thorough that we have developed an effective campaign that our client seems to be extremely happy with.

To answer a question you posed earlier about course work that develops listening skills, we really only take basic journalism that focuses on interviewing. I believe that there is a class focused on a little on listening and message strategies, but that is all I am aware of.

Thank you very much for the advice. Being a senior in the Public Relations field, I’m very appreciative of any advice, especially when it comes from a PR professional. This semester, in one of my main classes, I am working with my group on a campaign that involves getting more of the young alumni to join the Tampa Bay Auburn Alumni club. Unlike the other groups in my class clients, the disadvantage that we have is that our clients are in Tampa Bay, so the only contact we have with them is through telephone and email. So far this hasnt been too much of a problem, but there has been confusion. We began our campaign with researching about the club and what our clients truly NEED in order to be successful in our campaign. We first decided to come up with a “Tiger Nights in Tampa Bay” idea where we bring a bit of Auburn to Tampa Bay. This would be an event that would include bringing some of Auburn’s traditions to Tampa Bay. Well we present this idea to our clients and they immediately reject it saying that there is no way alumni will join by giving them the “Auburn warm and fuzzy feeling.”
Granted this is what we thought they wanted, so we had to start all over and make sure they were clear with what they wanted us to do. It seemed like they changed thier mind because in the beginning they wanted us to plan an event and now they dont. The campaign now that we are working on they approve, but we just hope that they wont “change their mind” when we present it to them this week. Overall, I understand the concept of making sure you know what clients need, because if not all your hard work could be worthless. Thanks again for the advice Andrea, bring more on!

My roomates and I have been discussing the book the Five Love Languages. If you haven’t heard of it, the gist is that people express their love in five different ways. What is really great about this book is that it makes you realize that two people can be saything the same thing in different ways and be totally missing it.

Part of a communicator’s job is to be a student of human communication. Each person processes info differently and presents it indifferent ways. I guess that is why it is so important to really listen to your client and be sensitive to what they are and are not saying.

To answer your other question- the only class we have done client communication in it campaigns where we have a real client. I guess we were thrown in the deep in so to speak, but you learn quick. My group had to set up another meeting to clarify things we talked about the first time. I think with time, we will get better at asking those questions on the first go round.

It would be beneficial for us to learn that technique though. I know in law school they make you practice talking with clients all the time. That is such an important part of being a consultant.

This post was not just general PR advice, but it was a post with substance. I have heard from numerous PR professionals that once you get into the swing of things, you loose track of that interpersonal touch that clients/individuals need.
Your experience has opened my eyes to realize that while we need to cover all of the bases and make sure we “do our jobs”, we need to understand that it doesn’t take much more of us to find out the needs that the client may be withholding, for whatever reason. We are not in the business to snoop until we get all of that information, but we need to let our clients know that we are accessible to receive that information because we care.
I know that sounds sweet and unrealistic, but I am going to strive to uphold that work ethic. In a career like PR where there are some stigmas and stereotypes, we need to do things like that to prove people wrong and to set ourselves apart.
If we can gain our client’s trust, then it is easier to keep them and to spread to others by WOM. Trust and honesty go a long way in this business. No many professions are known for their high merits, but if I can set myself apart in a positive way like that then that will speak volumes and I will be taken seriously and I will be respected. Those are the two things that I will continue to strive for in my career.

Andrea this is encouraging to hear someone who is actually OUT there in the work world already, emphasizing something as pure and honest as listening…That may sound funny, but I think we get caught up in me, me, me, me, and what I have to do for this job and for this task….then in a job we take care of all the legal aspects, checking off the list of “to-do’s,” and we totally miss the boat. Life is about relationships, and that is what PR is about. When we take the human aspect out of the equation, we completely miss out on what life, AND PR is all about. I needed to hear this and be reminded of this great “proverb.” Sometimes we just need to take a step back and realize what life is all about…cliche but true.

A very interesting observation. We are constantly taught over and over again how to get our tasks done and how to convince clients and audiences to listen to what we have to say. Ironically, we are also taught to know our clients and what their needs are. How can we know what our client wants and needs if we are the only ones doing all of the talking. I think too often in public relations we get caught up in what we need to say and how to get people to listen to it and we forget that part of our job is to also listen to other people, find out what they want or need, and then find out a way to fulfill those wants and needs. Thank you for the reminder that above all, our client is the most important thing and we should make sure we take time to listen to them.

I love it that everyone is so “excited” about listening! Listening is obviously one of the most important aspects of communicating and it sometimes means the difference between an “A” or an “F” in class! I think it is obvious that, although you don’t usually get an actual grade when working with a client, you can definitely still fail. It could be the difference between the client firing you and dropping the project, or whether or not they ask you to work with them again.

I think it is obvious in most of my classes that public relations and communications classes are full of extroverts! And sometimes extroverts have a hard time listening to anyone other than themselves! It is so important to listen not only to your client, but also your fellow employees and even the janitors and maintenance crews at work! Have you ever noticed how they almost always speak to you if you look at them?! Guess what?! They like people to listen to them TOO!

Part of the communication skills our teachers have been trying to teach us throughout college is that in order to be a good communicator, you have to be able to communicate with EVERYONE! Not just the “big shot” PR practitioners and CEOS, but we have to be able to communicate with the regular “joe-nobody’s” because you never know when that person just MIGHT turn out to be a possible client!

I appreciate the advice you offer in this post. I have been in similar situations where I offered advice or made a recommendation not because it is what the other person needed to hear but because it is what I wanted to say. I think the root of the problem is that people in general are too quick to speak. The biggest problem in today’s society is our ability to listen to others. I catch myself thinking sometimes that I have it all figured out and I need to pass on my wisdom to others even when they do not ask for it or even need it.

If we sit back long enough and truly listen to the other person, he or she will convey in some form or another exactly what it is that he or she needs or would like some advice on. This can also apply to a client. We as PR practitioners should give our clients long enough to give us all the information before we make any decisions. Jumping to conclusions could lead us to say the wrong thing or give bad advice. If after listening to everything that they have to say you still feel that something is missing, ask for more information. Keep digging. Keep listening throughout the entire process.

I am going to have to agree with Tiffany that this is not only great career advice, but also great life advice. I think listening to what a client wants or needs is something that is commonly overlooked when it comes to client relations. I know as a student in Public Relations we are required to take many communication courses, but many of those simply focus on the way we present ourselves, and the physical side of communication. Little emphasis is placed on listening, which you have proven by this post that is extremely important.

I believe listening to what a client really needs is something that many people take for granted and do not focus on. To accurately serve your client, you should begin with listening. Listen to what they want or need before even beginning to plan that way you will be able to address their side to prevent overlooking those wants and needs.

In an American society where we are so concerned with efficieny and production, often I don’t think we get into the real heart of business-which is the customer. Without the customer, we don’t have business. As Lara said, our communication classes teach us to focus on the the way we physically represent ourselves by listening. We may have all the training we need to be a great public relations practitioner, but if we are not serving our client and meeting their needs, then what good are we doing in the business?

it goes without saying that to be a really effective medical , legal or marketing professional you need something more than technical expertise. you need to understand where your client’s problem stands in context of his society and economic set-up.because an advisory professional is directly linked with the social and cultural set-up in which he functions, and , that cannot be denied.

iITgoes without saying that you need something more than technical expertise to help your clients and perform effectively as amangement professional . Because , both you and the client are not isolated from the social and economic set-up in which you work.

I really enjoyed this article. It paints a good picture of the point you are trying to get across, which is to focus on the people’s needs, not just your own in order to be successful. I lived in the same house until I was 18 and went to the same private school till I graduated and came to Auburn. Needless to say I grew up in a bit of a bubble, and it wasn’t until I came to Auburn when I started making friends and relationships with people quite different than me. This article hits home for me because for so long my naïve mind “knew� there were people different from me, you know the poor people who were getting by on nothing, but I thought everyone else was on my level, or like celebrities just living in a dream world. Why I am saying this is because in that same situation I would have done the same thing to her, and I would have been putting myself in her situation and thinking about what my needs would be, and that will not work because people have different needs and wants. This article has helped me learn that even in everyday conversations I need to begin listening to people, and not just hearing them, and this will help me when I am in my profession listening to clients and listening to their needs and wants.

Success is a term that has different meaning for everyone. To me, success is when you have finally accomplished something great, something that has meaning to you and that makes you feel like a better person for doing it. Success does not have to come when you reach the top but happens while you are working through life all along the way. This article was a great way to look at success and I feel that so often business professional get caught up “doing thier job” and they forget that they are working with real people and that sometimes you have to use knowledge you have gained from life experiences and not from the classroom. This story about the woman dying is a great example of how a professional should sometimes just sit back and be quite for a few minutes and just get a sense of a person by gut or feeling.

In any business especially in Public Relations the personal relationship is important. I really enjoyed reading this article because I got a good idea of what you are trying to get across. In order to be successful you have to have more than just technical expertise. You must appeal to people personally and take care of your clients needs. I think more people should recognize that what the client needs, like in this case where a woman dying from AIDS has to make very important decisions, and it was wise of you to be aware of her feelings.

The definition of a successful professional that you present in this post is undenyably accurate in many ways. I completely agree that ‘just doing your job’ does not make you a success. You have to be willing to take that one extra step, ask that one hard question, and push for that one little change. You have to possess a drive to get it all done, but all the while still be listening for the little things that may never have actually been said or done. What you described in your post rang so true to me and I’m glad that someone put it out there for the other students who read these articles to learn from. Thanks Andrea!

This was a great post to read about. I think that too often today’s society gets caught up in the speed of everything. It’s not fast enough, it needs to be done faster, get things to me quicker, etc. Because professionals get caught up in this state, they forget that the person they may have hired for the job is not a good enough fit. When an applicant goes in for an interview, I agree that it it up to them to make sure that they are going to be a good fit for the job, but it is also the person’s doing the hiring job to make sure the interviewee selected is going to be up to snuff. The professional world demands many things and it is everyone’e responsibility to figure out situations before something catastrophic may happen.

Your post reminds me of something my parents always used to tell my sister and I while growing up and that is to…listen! One of the most important values and virtues an individual can possess is the ability to listen to their others, whether that be in a social, academic or professional context.

But the real key to success, in PR, goes with what you are saying in that we must truly listen to our clients. We need to not only listen and pay attention to their needs, requests, wants, etc. but also to what their underlying message may be. This is difficult because sometimes clients will say one thing and then mean another, or sometimes they will all together just expect you to read their minds! While reading people’s minds is impossible to do, it is possible to be a good listener and be able to identify and access any client and their particular messages.

This is such important advice for both professional and personal aspects of life. I find there is so much noise surrounding us, whether it be from the distractions of the outside world, or internally trying to process everything we are worrying about or need to do. While I listen and pay attention to others, I find it hard to actually listen sometimes. Yes, I hear what they are saying and yes I am looking them in the eye, but if I am preoccupied with something else, I am not truly listening. Thank you for reminding me how important listening is.

I think this skill is crucial in the professional world, especially public relations. We have a responsibility to our clients to pay attention to their wants and needs and thus design a campaign, message, etc. based on them. I want my clients to trust me and to know that I am listening to them. Thank you again for this post that reminds us of the importance of the “relations” part of public relations.

You bring up a great point not only for PR practitioners, but also for life as a whole. Too often do we assume that something is or isn’t a certain way. You know how the old saying goes about assuming… Well, it’s true.

I have had to learn the hard way, through a PR internship and now in my current job to not push everything, but at the same time getting what you need out of the customer/client to perform your job. It’s a tough balance, but if you get it, as you put it, “it’s the difference between just ‘doing your job’ and being a successful and skilled professional in the truest sense.â€?

Thank you Andrea! I really enjoyed your post. It’s nice to be reminded that the true purpose of all of our vocations is to do something for others. In today’s world, it is too easy to get wrapped up in the technical aspect of a job and forget to really listen to clients. Your post is an important reminder that there is no golden formula to apply to every case. Instead, it is important to really listen to each individual client and find out his or her specific needs.

When I first started out in public relations, I was a little weary of my field. My friends were becoming nurses, lawyers, and teachers. It was obvious that they would be directly helping people. I kept asking myself if I was being selfish by choosing a career that didn’t seem to be truly altruistic. I liked your post because it reminded me that I am doing something for other people. I may not be curing cancer, but I’m helping people communicate. That may sound trite, but isn’t communication what makes us human?

Thanks for reminding me strive to be better at what I do because it IS important!

This is such a good lesson for us to learn from. So often people think they know how others feel because they have been in similar situations. In reality though, every person is different and requires different attention to different areas to his or her life. When I start working with clients, I am going to be very cautious to make sure I am meeting their needs and not my own. I know it seems like a simple concept, there are many times that we get wrapped up in situations that we don’t truly know what we are trying to achieve. This post has really made me think about really listening to what people want and not basing their needs on my past experiences. It is so easy to think things can be fixed a certain way because it worked with you before. There are always millions of ways to go about fixing problems and it is your job to present every way to your client and let them decide how things should be done.

The importance of listening is very often overlooked. We’re too busy or just not interested. However, this is a critical skill that everyone needs to grasp. There is actually a class at Auburn University dedicated to this very topic and it is amazing to learn how much we really do not listen to others.
It really takes little effort to practice this, but it can mean the difference between doing your job and doing it well, as you stated.
Thanks!