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Hi. I am a shipping company director, transport academic, author, family man and all round nice guy. I have worked as shipbroker, shipowner, freight trader and bulk charterer, in senior positions, with some of the largest and most disrespected (joke) companies in the world. Ask my advice on all things shipping and you will receive my blunt and always honest answer. Hang around to learn more about chartering and ship broker salaries, chartering and ship broker jobs, chartering and shipbroker recruitment agencies, cheap freight, maritime education, chartering and ship broker qualifications, become a ship broker, tips on how to be a successful bulk shipping executive, philosophy, Zen and the art of shipbroking, and much more. Yours The Virtual Shipbroker Andy Jamison is the alter ego (pen name) of ex shipping guy and blog creator Nick van der Hoeven Copyright © 2020 by Virtualshipbroker Contact virtualshipbroker@yahoo.com

Thursday, March 22, 2012

When less is more

Had a meeting recently where as a third party i was able to sit back and watch the courting process from a fairly unbiased position.

Unfortunately for one of my principals, during the course of the informal meeting, it became apparent that, how can i say this tactfully.......i can't. Basically he just couldn't (or wouldn't) SHUT UP!

In an effort to push his business he forgot to listen to the client.

I have a general rule. If i go to a meeting and I have talked more than the client then i know its been a failure. A failure for many reasons...

1. Clients like to be heard and they, like most people like the sound of their own voices. If they are the client then that is their right!

2. If I have talked too much the chances are that in my excitement I have actually "failed to listen". Terrible outcome when as a service provider I am trying to understand the clients problems. And clients don't always TALK verbally....they communicate by the way they stay silent, move their hands, move their eyes, and by the way they sit...

For me I try to look out for all those clues. And in truth this is a skill that has helped me read situations that others fail to understand.

3. Generally if I talk too much I say the wrong thing! Eventually anyway..

So whats the moral here...

ITS NOT ABOUT ME (AND YOU)!!!! (its about the client)



Cheers
VS

1 comment:

  1. Hi VS

    So true.. so simple.. so efective rule for business and privat life!

    and even tho it is this easy many ignore it!


    Thanks VS for this post!

    Regards
    Anon

    ReplyDelete