THE VERDICT IS IN.  According to ListenLogic’s Voice of the Consumer Report, Audi was the talk of social media during Super Bowl XLIV:

FINDINGS:

Audi was the most talked about and Dodge had the most positive sentiment.

Methodology:

ListenLogic used its proprietary social media listening platform and analytic methodology to tap into the conversations relating to Super Bowl XLIV automotive ads across message boards, forums, microblogs, blogs, news and social-networking sites.

The first step in this study was to gather a clear signal of the Super Bowl viewer and remove irrelevant noise. Our analysts used a combination of automated and manual techniques to identify accurate mentions, removing commercial editorial from the data.

Hello to Fall!  We’ve been busy at ListenLogic, but I’m back with Part 4 of my countdown, the final three quotes!  I’ll be discussing quotes from real people who are real smart with real companies to run.  Let’s get down to business!

3. “People want to be listened to and they want to be respected. This is how you learn what’s on their mind. What can be more important than that?” – Mickey Drexler (chairman and CEO of J. Crew Group and formerly the CEO of Gap Inc.)

Comment: Mr. Drexler has a clear passion for clothing retail in America.  This guy is fanatical about even the smallest details that go into creating a monster brand like J. Crew.  Color, fit, style, price, he’s got it all down pat.  Sure, he has a lot of experience from his previous work as president of Ann Taylor and CEO of Gap Inc., but what makes him really smart is that he’s always listening!  To everyone.  Drexler is known to frequently visit stores to hear thoughts on business from the front-line staff.  “He may be more hands-on than any other chief executive in the country.” – from the article “A C.E.O. Sells the Store” by Joe Nocera for the March 1, 2008 New York Times.  I picked Quote #3 from this article because I think it absolutely nails the mindset needed for a retail business to be successful: go to your customers and open your ears.  Drexler asks good questions and takes any opinion from his customers very seriously.  He’s got the right idea, but he’s missing a whole other channel of feedback: the Internet.  A sophisticated listening tool is crucial for any big brand.  ListenLogic’s got you covered.

2. “The organic nature of the web means that when you are the world’s largest retailer, people will talk. And we’re OK with that. We believe the hallmark of a really great brand is that you are relevant. And part of the way you do that is listening to what your customers have to say.” – Wanda Young (senior director-digital marketing at Walmart)

Comment: THANK YOU, Wanda!  I couldn’t have said it better myself!  Plus it sounds super important coming from a senior higher-up at a company as large as Walmart.  Don’t take this lightly, folks.  Listening is an abundant theme in business and it was only a matter of time before listening became relevant on the web.  Walmart’s targeted efforts online provide a great example of a brand proactively adapting to the times in order to maintain reach with its customers.  The AdvertisingAge article “How Walmart Owns the Concept of Value Online” lists a number of online initiatives that have created excellent opportunities for gathering valuable feedback.  This fresh approach by Walmart to play a role in the digital world is quite impressive considering the retailer’s status as “world’s largest retailer” and it proves yet again how crucial listening is to successful business.  Go to where your customers are, set up shop, and start taking notes.

1. “Listening is the single skill that makes the difference between a mediocre and a great company.” – Lee Iacocca (American businessman famed for his revival of Chrysler Corporation in the 1980s; author of Where Have All the Leaders Gone?)

Comment: Need I say more?  If you’re still not convinced, just check out the cover of Mr. Iacocca’s book… he’s the epitome of “I’m an elderly distinguished businessman who knows a thing or two about how to be a leader and smoke cigars.”  Listen to the old smart-ass OR ELSE.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my countdown!  Until next time: keep listening

One great thing about listening is that it is never outdated, it is never a bad idea, and it will always be important when dealing with people.  Okay that was three great things, but I was on a roll.  Now I present to you the words of two dead guys and a rhyming mystery…

Part 3: Quotes 6-4

6. “Man’s inability to communicate is a result of his failure to listen effectively.” – Carl Rogers (1902 – 1987; was an influential American psychologist and among the founders of the Humanistic approach to psychology)

Comment: Vince’s favorite quote! [See our Team page for more about Vince.]  Coming from Carl Rogers, this quote carries a lot of weight.  Rogers was immensely interested in human issues and focused much of his work on the understanding of “the personal nature of the human experience” (via the Wiki page).  He understood the importance of listening in a conversation and I’m going to go ahead and say he considered effective listening to be NECESSARY when communicating.  Read the quote again… it’s, like, sooo obvious.  I’m also reminded of Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, in which Habit 5 is ‘Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood’ – gotta know who you’re talking to before you start talking.  ListenLogic can help you do just that.  Customizable campaigns allow a company to listen effectively to and improve communication with a specific audience.

5. “A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he knows something.” – Wilson Mizner (1876 – 1933; was an American playwright, raconteur, and entrepreneur)

Comment: Although somewhat of an eccentric weirdo (he robbed churches when he was young and was later addicted to opium while trying to balance a gambling den and combat laziness), Mizner has been described as “an idol of low society and a pet of high.”  Throughout his life, he flowed through many social circles and dabbled in various odd-ball jobs, such as ballad-singer and roulette-wheel fixer.  Mizner was like that annoyingly cool guy in high school physics class that acts like he has no idea what is going on, but really he’s been taking notes the whole time… he knows what’s up and he’s collected the information for his own benefit.  By never missing an opportunity to listen, Mizner played his cards right and was eventually hired by Warner Brothers.  ListenLogic helps companies discover what they need to know to be successful in the future.

4. “The easiest way to sell is to listen not to tell.” – Unknown, but come on, it rhymes! (this quote is actually a favorite saying of my father’s and he thinks he may have gotten it from a sales class he took taught by Charlie Brennan – so there’s at least some credit)

Comment: Extra! Extra! This just in! People Love To Talk About Themselves! Ask the right questions and you’ll eat up the answers.  And remember that most of the time you don’t even need to ask; give them a chance and they’ll never shut up.  Plus, when you listen you show interest and attention – two more things people love and two reasons why someone might decide to give you a little love in return.  Get on their good side as soon as you step in the door by giving them the floor while you practice your listening skills.  ListenLogic’s platform automates this process on the web and provides real-time results with deep searchable insights.

I hope you’ve been learning some new things in these posts.  Don’t miss the final part in my series of Top 12 Quotes About Listening!  I’ll let you in on some real-life industry secrets from real-life people who’ve been there, done that, forgoed the t-shirt and earned more money instead!

For the next three quotes in my countdown, we’ll look at what a few experts have to say about listening.  These guys have many years of experience dealing with people in the business world.  Plus, they each have their own vanity-URL website and have authored a best-selling book with a really long title sooo they must know what they’re talking about, right?  See for yourself…

Part 2: Quotes 9-7

9. “Want to build a trusting relationship? Want to get essential information to make important decisions? Learn how to listen.” – Peter deLisser (Team Builder, Keynote Speaker, Executive Coach, Meeting Leader/Facilitator, and Author of Be Your Own Executive Coach: Master High Impact Communication Skills for: Dealing With Difficult People, Improving Your Personal Image, Learning How to Listen and Solving Business Problems Creatively)

Comment: Yes, yes, I know you hear me talking, but are you really listening to the words that are coming out of my mouth?  or the words that are coming out of my keyboard?  What I’m getting at is: are you being an active listener?  An active listener not only appropriately uses nonverbal cues (such as head nodding or Facebook’s “Like” option) to show interest and understanding, but also skillfully considers any acquired information as a possible benefit to one’s own endeavors.  View every person as a resource.  Use active listening to maintain good relationships.  Collect valuable information and be amazed as you begin making better decisions!

8. “You learn when you listen. You earn when you listen – not just money, but respect.” – Harvey Mackay (Successful Businessman, Speaker, Nationally Syndicated Columnist, and Author of Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive: Outsell, Outmanage, Outmotivate, and Outnegotiate Your Competition)

Comment: Learning, earning, money, respect… oh my goodness, look at all the great things that happen when you listen!  Mr. Mackay is living proof of the monetary benefits listening can bring when in a professional environment – he’s a successful businessman that knows how to use listening as a survival technique in the face of big corporate sharks.  There’s an idea!  Use listening to get ahead of your competition.  You can always learn from others’ successes and mistakes.  Gathering and analyzing competitor intelligence is just one of many ways a business can use the ListenLogic tool.

7. “The best salespeople are great listeners – that’s how you find out what the buyer wants.” - Spencer Johnson and Larry Wilson (Authors of The One Minute Salesperson: The Quickest Way to More Sales with Less Stress)

Comment: What a superb application of listening for consumer-facing brands and companies!  Don’t know whether to make more blue shoes or more red shoes?  Ask your customers and I guarantee you they will tell you what they want!  You just have to listen.  That’s easy enough, but what do you do when you have millions of buyers, scattered across the web, all talking at once?  Whatever you do, don’t ignore them!  All you need is a good listening tool.  ListenLogic provides a sophisticated technology that can organize mountains of posts from the web into a simple, clean dashboard designed to make your life easier and help your business improve its bottom line.

Coming up next: Quotes 6-4 are about the way humans use listening to communicate better.

Listening is not a new concept.  People agree that in order to learn, you must first listen to the available information before you begin to make sense of it.  In business, listening is quite helpful: when you listen to what your customers are saying, they will actually tell you what they want.  No need for guesswork!  The best insights come directly from consumers; they have been and always will be a very valuable resource in shaping and improving a company.

Today, there are tons of people talking on the Internet… I mean billions ! of people (read: consumers) with their own personal blogs and videos and photos and twitter profiles and whatever other social media site comes up next.  All of these people have opinions and many are choosing to openly share their thoughts in a very public way: through the web.  Listening to the web is becoming mission-critical for all the consumer-driven industries out there (Automotive, Consumer Packaged Goods, Financial Services, Government, Hospitality, Insurance, Retail, Technology).

Don’t take my word for it.  Begin the count down of the top 12 quotes about listening (in four parts)!

Part 1: Quotes 12-10

12. “To listen well, is as powerful a means of influence as to talk well, and is as essential to all true conversation.” – Chinese Proverb

Comment: Let’s put the act of listening and the act of talking on the SAME level.  They are equal in importance (although I think that in the long-run listening is more important than talking).  Emphasis on the word “true” – a good synonym might be “genuine” – we’ve all been in a conversation where the other person is obviously NOT listening and it’s NOT a good feeling.  [And if you were wondering, I did NOT get this quote from a fortune cookie.]

11. “To listen closely and reply well is the highest perfection we are able to attain in the art of conversation.” – Francois de La Rochefoucauld (noted French author and accomplished 17th-century nobleman)

Comment: Might as well substitute in the word “business” for the word “conversation.”  Isn’t this what it’s all about? Listen to the market, pay attention to what’s going on, and act accordingly.  French noblemen from the 17th century get it.  Do you?

10. “We have two ears and one mouth and should use them in that proportion.” – Epictetus (Greek Stoic Philosopher who lived 55-135 AD)

Comment: What a cheeky man that Epictetus was!  What this guy is saying: “You should listen twice as much as you talk.” Not a bad rule to follow.  Plus, with all that listening you’re doing, it’s guaranteed to make you smarter!

Stay tuned for 9-7!

Some common questions that a company may have when considering ListenLogic are:  Who can benefit from listening? What department does it fall under?  Can we have more than one person/department using your service?  How does your service benefit the whole company?

The answer to these questions depends on the objectives of each company.  ListenLogic provides solutions for every facet of a company.  Our technology offers solutions for:

• Marketing/PR – (Follow your brand reputation, track promotions and intiatives, listen to what the public is saying)
• Sales & Prospecting – (Learn more about current prospects, find and reach out to new potential customers)
• Customer Service – (React to complaints, learn about issues as they happen, increase loyalty and retention)
• Corportate Monitoring – (Monitor your company name, key executives, stock symbol)
• Competitor Intelligence – (Research and compare competitor companies and products)
• Research – (Follow important industry terms, track product development issues)

Many companies see listening as a responsibility of their marketing team and part of it does fall under the marketing department, but our service can help the entire organization.  We do help marketers track initiatives and follow their brand reputation, but we also help customer service departments react to customer complaints and respond to pressing issues.  We help companies track competitors.  And we allow CEO’s to hear what is being said about them. The benefits are many and we believe the responsibility of listening doesn’t fall under just one department but it falls under all of them.

Our thorough yet easy to use technology allows marketers and middle managers to see every detail of what is being said while at the same time allowing the CEO to see only the most important issues that matter to him/her.  And we allow multiple users per company making it a great tool for teams and the entire organization to use.

There are a seemingly endless number of conversations taking place on the internet.  These conversations are taking place on blogs, microblogs, forums, comments, etc… and many of these conversations could be about your brand.  With so much being said companies can no longer afford not to listen.

Companies and brands have always been struggling to find out what their customers think about them.  Before the internet and social media this was a fruitless effort.  Yet now that listening is easier than it ever has been before some companies still are not listening.  Why aren’t they listening?  It could be a few reasons:

• They are unaware – Companies that simply have no idea that people are talking about them on the Internet
• They are too stubborn – Companies so stuck in their ways that they refuse to accept new ideas
• They don’t know how – Companies that know people are talking and want to listen but don’t know how to do it effectively

The first two reasons are unacceptable, but I imagine if you are reading this blog those reasons don’t apply to your company.  However the third reason is completely understandable and that is where ListenLogic comes in.  The power and enormity of the internet and the conversations going on there can be intimidating.  That is why we have developed an easy to use real-time listening technology that delivers clear and actionable results based on what is being said about a company or a brand.

No longer do you have to worry about how to handle all the conversations going on out there.  We will handle it for you.  We allow you to see only the results you want to see.  That way you spend less time figuring out how to listen effectively and more time reacting to what your customers are saying.  ListenLogic provides you with all the relevant data, all you have to do is listen.

- Brian

The other day Mark and I were discussing a concept from the book Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day by Dave Evans. In Chapter 3: What Is Social Media? Evans describes social media’s impact on the purchasing decisions of consumers. First he examines the traditional role of Marketing and Operations in ‘The Classical Purchase Funnel’ going from Awareness to Consideration to Purchase. Marketing makes a promise to consumers (Awareness); consumers form expectations based on that promise (Consideration); and Operations makes sure those expectations are being met (Purchase). A consumer’s opinion of a purchasing experience is what then drives word-of-mouth, but without the web this sharing of information occurs in a limited way. They tell their family, close friends, and maybe a few co-workers about their experience, whether it be good or bad. This closed and simple process represents the old way of doing business to please your consumers.

The Internet adds another dimension to include the element of “post-purchase” consumer-to-consumer interaction, namely in the form of social media. Evans calls this updated and expanded process ‘The Social Feedback Cycle’ and the Internet is what makes it possible on a larger scale than just family, friends, and a few co-workers. Now there are three more steps following Purchase: Use, Form Opinion, and Talk.

Consumers purchase a product, use the product, form an opinion about the product, and lastly – most importantly – talk about the product.

• Use: online shopping is super popular these days and with many sites offering free shipping and free returns, there is often no risk in ordering delivery. Consumers are able to test out the product from their own home (aka no pesky salespeople are trying to work their magical, persuasive ways on the customer).
• Form Opinion: people are being extremely honest with their opinions; there is an understanding among consumers that we all want the best deal and will help each other out to get it.
• Talk: Social media allows anyone to publicly broadcast what they think to anyone who is listening.

Everyone is talking. ARE YOU LISTENING?

- Gail

The evolution of the Internet is something I find very fascinating.  It is remarkable to see how much the Internet has changed in a very short period of time.  Less than fifteen years ago Google didn’t even exist and now it is a verb in the dictionary.

Google Homepage in 1998

The Internet has grown in many different ways, but it would be relevant to talk about how it has grown to affect the way we do business.

The emergence of social media has provided businesses with opportunities that they never thought could exist.  Social networks bring millions of people together in one place.  Which has opened up brand new marketing channels and opportunities.  Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, etc… all offer new ways for companies to reach consumers.

However the real value of social media is how it allows consumers unprecidented access to the companies they love (and hate).    Social networks give consumers a voice.  People are not afraid to share their opinions of a company/brand with their friends, and their friends listen.  I trust my friends opinion much more than I would trust a stranger’s opinion.  With blogs, Twitter, videos, and message boards consumers can publish their opinions in a matter of minutes and be heard by potentially thousands (or much more) of people.

If that many other people are listening, businesses are now seeing that it is essential for them to listen as well.  From marketing to customer service to damage control listening is important for every department of a company.   A few years ago it would not have even been possible to gather everything that is being said on the Internet and listen to what people are saying, however with advancing technologies (which will only continue to advance) it is now a reality.

The technolgy now exists, but it is still up to businesses to decide whether they want to listen.  At first some companies may view listening to the Internet as a challenge and something else they need to spend time and money on in an economy where time and money are hard to come by.  However while it does offer a new challenge, it offers much more in the way of new opportunities.

- Brian

ListenLogic combines the logic of listening with the clarity of intelligence to give companies an undeniably powerful and competitive boost in any industry. The ingenuity of our approach to listening on the Web not only separates us from other listening platforms, but also offers our clients a fresh take on how to move their business forward in this Internet-frenzy age.

An experienced and diverse group of individuals make up the management team for ListenLogic and will serve as the authors of this blog. The different opinions represented here allow for a richer perspective on every aspect of our playing field… including, but not limited to: following best practices for our company, employing the most effective strategies for our clients, contributing creative input, sharing a wealth of relevant information, inspiring new ideas, and discussing developments in the social media world.

The power of many insights means we each wear a different editorial hat and by fully embracing this fact we are more empowered to put our heads together and realize our potential. The resulting synergetic effect is indeed a powerful one that is hard to resist as a growing company! Learning and improving every day, welcome to ListenLogic’s awesome blog!