Have you ever have a time where you could swear blind you have told someone something but they don’t seem to remember? Maybe you have great communication skills normally but sometimes people don’t seem to listen? Perhaps one of your family or friends seems oblivious to something which they really should know about you? Well, maybe it’s just me then!
This week I was talking to a really good friend of mine about my Leading Women in Business event (Fizz, Fun and Fab Females), which was taking place last night. She – we will call her Cheryl, because that’s her name – was due to speak at the event last night and we were talking about the running order.
And then she said something to me that really shocked me.
Cheryl said “Carole – I know you have a recruitment business but what’s this other business you started last year?”. That question shocked me for several reasons.
- This is one of my good friends and I was sure she knew that I started Strategy Social Media in June 2015 on the back of many years experience in social media and being the first company in Greater Manchester to hire a social media apprentice back in 2013, before there was even a college course for him to go on. I was SURE I had told her that story.
- It made me wonder who else didn’t know that I thought did know.
- It made me realise that there have been other times over the years when staff, or family or friends that I thought I had told something to, claimed no knowledge of it whatsoever.
You see – if you, like me, are an entrepreneur – it is quite possible that you have a lot going on in your head. Much of that is internal dialogue, where you rehearse conversations you are going to have with people or you mentally make a decision about something and then sometimes you think you have actually done that thing or told that person. Does that sound familiar?
There is also that very British thing of not bragging and the even more female thing of hiding your light under a bushel. So, all in all, however I had done it, I had completely failed to let one of my very good friends know what I do. And if that were the case, then how many other people had I failed to tell. Maybe you didn’t know?
So at last night’s networking meeting, I did not make the assumption that everyone knows what I do. I told them that I run a social media company – which means we do social media for small businesses who don’t have their own marketing department, who are missing the time or the knowledge or the inclination to do their own social media. I told them that we create the content – because that is what most people struggle with; that we write their blogs and in some cases their email marketing, their website and their strategic plans. And we make sure that every day their social media happens, posts go out, new connections are made and stories are told.
Because stories are what create relationships. Stories are what capture our imaginations. Stories are where we learn. With stories, we begin to create the relationships of ‘know, like and trust’ with our potential client base. With stories we reach people. And those people may at some point become our customers – depending on what we do next.
So – if you didn’t know about Strategy Social Media (so named because most businesses do not have a strategy when it comes to social media) – and if you would like some help with crafting your business stories – then email me on [email protected], and let’s have a coffee and a catch up and we will see if we can help.
And let me leave you with this thought. Where are you making assumptions about what your clients / potential clients know about you? How many times have you come across a customer who has gone elsewhere for a product or service that YOU offer? Isn’t it time to make sure communication is not just all in your head?