Azerbaijan, Baku, Aug. 27 / Trend V. Zhavoronkova/
One of the major mistakes of modern companies is not listening to their customers, David Gallagher, Senior Partner and CEO of Ketchum Pleon - global communications consultancy specializing in marketing and corporate communications, issues and crisis management, corporate and social responsibility and public affairs.
"I think all companies make mistake of not really listening what is happening with their customers, their suppliers, their employees or anybody who is interested in their business," Gallagher said in an interview with Trend.
He believes the companies now make mistake of "just talking to themselves".
Even if they listen, they are not actually believing in what they hear and not acting in accordance with it, Gallagher added.
"Doesn't matter whether it is true or not, but if people believe in something you have to respond," he said. "If a company wants to keep doing what it was doing before it has to help people understand it."
Other mistake, in Gallagher's opinion, is that modern companies do not evaluate or measure the result of their activity. He believes that if a company wants to be more successful, it has to do three things - listen, act in accordance with the conclusion of what it has heard and then go back and measure what it has done.
Talking about the tools of being more successful for a company, Gallagher said, that the manager have to attract customers to know who he is.
"So a manager should have some visibility and be creative and now there are so many ways to attract attention," he said.
Also he added that in this regard it is still very important to have good relationship with journalists.
Gallagher also stressed the importance of modern social media.
"I think you have to be committed to attracting attention to your business and to keep your clients and you should not be afraid of asking tough questions, such as "How are we really doing?"," he said.
"I think the most important think you can do is to keep the clients is to listen without fear to what they might say about what you are actually doing."
Gallagher stressed, that as a specialist in the area of Public Relations (PR), he at first has learnt to be very carefull in what he says, because what you say is being repeated.
"Very early in my career I've made a few mistakes, I typed something incorrectly and I think the first lesson that I've learnt is to double check what you write and what you say," he said.
During Gallagher's tenure as, first, CEO of London, and, now, as Chairman of London, the office has been frequently recognized as one of the best places to work in the U.K. by the Financial Times and Sunday Times.
Talking about the ways of achieving this, he said, that the management of the office really thought that making a great work environment will make them more successful and profitable business.
"We actually thought that if we will create a place that people will want to come every day, they will want to do great work, they will want to see their careers flourish and they would actually do better job with clients, so the clients would invest more," Gallagher said.