Last updated on February 15, 2023
At a recent lunch, a client asked me what, aside from my talent for writing, was my most important skill. I answered without hesitation: listening.
I’m a freelance writer. The best part about it is that I know something about almost everything. The worst part about it is that I’m no longer an expert in anything. My days of knowing the ins and outs of any one product or technology have passed. While there was a time as a product marketing manager when I could speak at length about the intricacies of SaaS and security, or discuss the technical details of pulse oximetry, those days are behind me.
Now, when I meet a new client, a huge part of my job is remembering to keep my mouth shut and listen. It’s a large part of my agile writing philosophy. I take the detailed and often complex information that my clients deal with on a daily basis, combining that with my higher-level knowledge about their industry and competitors. It’s only by first absorbing what they have to tell me that I can ask insightful questions, generate meaningful dialogue, and get the answers I need to do my job: making their message clear.
Over the years, I’ve been on both sides of the client/vendor equation. When I was in corporate, I was stunned by how many people walked through our door telling us what we needed to know about our own products and services, rather than the other way around. As a result, most projects and vendor relationships felt like we were trying to match a square peg and a round hole. You can’t make a client’s message clear when you can’t even hear the message over the din.
And so, I place great value on listening as perhaps the most important tool I can use to deliver a quality product and ensure client satisfaction. At the end of the meal, I opened my fortune cookie to find this: “You will be rewarded by a peer for being a good listener.” Perhaps the universe is trying to tell me something. I’m listening.
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