The skill nobody teaches you to practise

I want to talk about something I think is genuinely a skill, even though nobody ever tells you to practise it.

Watching people. 👀

Not in a strange way! Just really noticing the people around you, whether in person or online. I've always done this - perhaps the most exciting part of marketing for me. People. 

I'll watch people in a coffee shop, watch how someone talks to the barista, whether they make eye contact, whether they're already on their phone before the conversation's even finished.

In a supermarket, watching which aisle gets busy and which one nobody walks down, whether people go straight for the shelf with the sale sticker or whether they ignore it completely.

I'm always watching people online too - especially how they react to things they disagree with, it fascinates me. It doesn't have to fascinate you though, but it is a great skill to bring to business. It's about training your brain to notice patterns in how people actually behave, not how you assume they behave.

I'll give you some examples…

🧑‍🏫If you work with teachers, you start noticing how quickly they go from calm to stretched, because the demands just keep coming.

🧑‍🍼If you work with new parents, you start noticing the frustration that comes quicker than usual because of lack of sleep, and increased worry.

🤵If you work as a restaurant manager, you notice every interaction your team has with its server, how observant they are, are they listening to their needs, interested in their experience, how the customer looks when they leave. Every audience has its own version of this, and you only spot it by actually watching the people in front of you, not by reading a demographic breakdown of who they are.

The other half of this, and it's just as important, is turning the same attention on yourself.

Pay attention to what makes you say yes to something being sold to you, and pay attention to what makes you recoil from it.

Both are data. 📈

If a particular sales approach makes you cringe, that's not just a personal preference you can ignore. You know your own audience, and the thing that puts you off is very likely the same thing that'd put them off too. You don't need to learn customer psychology as a theory. You're already practising it, most days, just by buying things.

I think that's why audience work has never felt like its own skill to me. It's just paying attention to people, including myself, and actually learning from it.

Worth trying this week. Pick one place, a shop, a queue, a meeting, and just watch properly for five minutes. See what you notice. And please let me know what you found helpful if you do this, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.

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