Less talk, more listening

Scott Thorpe, director, The Money Group

We said recently that we planned on doing some U-turns this year and we are not embarrassed to carry on with that!

One of the reasons we are happy to change our minds on things is because we have opened ourselves up to new thinking in the first place.

There is a massive risk to all of us sitting in the echo chamber of social media that thinks because my bestie liked my tweet it must mean I am right and all other active social media users therefore must agree with me.

Keep on doing what you’re doing and you keep on getting the same results.

That philosophy isn’t good enough for us here at The Money Group, so we decided to reach out for some honest feedback from our peers on how our social media output is gauged by not only people within the industry but among the wider public as well.

Well, what that exercise taught us was very enlightening:

• Shouting into the void was doing more harm than good, not only to the market in general but to our own brand as well
• Pushing people away is easier than bringing them together
• We needed to talk the market up and not just our agenda at every opportunity
• Turn negative media comments into positive posts
• Not to shout down bad practise in public but talk, improve and rectify these behind closed doors.
• You don’t always need to hug a tree but there is no need to set fire to it either!

The last point is probably the main point for us. There have been many times in the past few years where we went on the offensive only to misjudge the situation and end up just being offensive. We called out people on social media and while the intention was honourable, the way we went about is certainly wasn’t. We were like a pack of rabid wolves. We can see now that is wrong and I think I am big enough to apologise publicly to anyone that was on the receiving end of that.

So you may have seen a recent change in our attitude on social media. We have calmed it down, tried to be more professional and taken a conscious decision to walk away when we see others doing what we once did. I won’t always get it right, you can’t turn an oil tanker on a sixpence and it takes time to unwind an old philosophy and deliver a brand new one.

But we all have a responsibility to the industry to try promote it in a positive manner, whether that is by sharing best practice, successful outcomes for consumers or, something we will be doing a lot of over the next 12 months, having a social conscience and giving back to the community.

So, in conclusion, I apologise for previous bad behaviour. The public image we all portray on social media is not always the real person.

This was evident in the week when I met for the first time Sonny Gosai from Clever Lending. He was the first to admit he had a pre-conceived idea about me but that was now redundant having met me face-to-face. I don’t often get called a “lovely bloke” so I’ll take compliments wherever I can – thanks Sonny, you’re not so bad yourself!