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 I confess I talk a lot.

David Mullen knows what I mean about talking too much. Talking more than listening. Blending into the noise.

Too many times we marketing types talk way too much and don’t listen nearly enough. We spend the entire hour or two in that first meeting with a potential client talking about what makes us great, what makes us different and what previous work sets us apart.

My first meeting with a potential client went well. It was a small organization, but a reputable one. I met with three people, including the owner. I asked probing questions about their marketing channels, website visitors, and target demographic. I jotted notes.

Like any prospective community manager seeking to be hired, I followed up with a detailed summary of what I thought I could contribute most to the organization.

Within a week, I heard back from the organization with a request to return for a follow-up meeting. A more in-depth one. The owner and I agreed it would be best to talk off the cuff about how I can help, using my prior advice.

The second meeting did not go as planned.

I was unprepared for the owner inviting his entire staff into the room. I thought it would be the same principals as before. I thought we’d be talking about ways to optimize their website for search engines, how to use social networking channels they hadn’t considered, and why I knew what I was talking about.

That’s where I failed. I talked too much. I listened too little.

In her 10 steps to deal with detractors, Amber Naslund suggests it is important to find out what went wrong.

Ask to understand what happened, and what made the experience go awry. Ask what will make it better. You can do this via a back channel like email if more comfortable for the customer or if confidential information needs to be shared, but make sure you do it.

The organization did it for me.

Within days of my second meeting with the 15-person staff when I droned more about myself and this topic and that, and less about listening to what the staff felt about the advice I had previously sent over, the owner emailed me a similar summary. A score card, if you will.

He asked the staff to review me on different criteria. He chose the best answers, the most objective ones, and emailed me.

I was blown away. Not because they were wrong in their feelings, but because I was wrong with mine.

As Mark Dykeman is fond of saying, “Just write.”

Who am I not to heed someone’s advice to write?

I am writing.

In the same email that contained the extracted reviews, the owner asked me to submit an invoice for my services to date. I am writing that up.

He also indicated a willingness to help me out “in any way I can.”

With every failure, I learn.

Thanks for reading my rant. Here’s to sharing inspiration.

Photo credit: baldiri

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