November 5th, 2008
By Dave Imperiale
Voicemails should not be longer than 30 seconds. Whether it’s personal or professional, unless someone specifically asks you to leave instructions, you should really try not to have a conversation with yourself on someone else’s voicemail.
People often ignore my directive voicemail of “leave me a quick message.” Saying “keep your message to under 30 seconds” might be inappropriate for customers who don’t know me yet, or that’s what it would be.
One of my favorite recent examples is from an SNP colleague of mine. For purposes here, let’s call him Porter. I had written an email on a Saturday morning addressing three concerns/suggestions I had about a project. On Sunday there’s a voicemail that begins with pleasantries and then the following: “I wanted to get back to you about the concerns you had in your email yesterday. With regards to the first point you made….” That’s when I looked down at the iPhone1 voicemail meter (best feature ever) and saw that it was 3 minutes, 45 seconds long. That one was deleted before the 30 second mark. Now if it had started: “Hi Dave, I dropped my laptop down a sewer, things got romantic with my home desktop last night so that’s not working, my car was stolen, I can’t get to a computer right now to email you, so let me respond to all of the issues you had in your email….” I would have laughed, but still deleted a message that long. That kind of explanation is meant for a conversation – with two people. (more…)
Filed under All, Dave Imperiale.
October 31st, 2008
By Scott Tibbels
Several years ago I spent a good amount of my study time reading and listening to some of the founders of the personal development movement.
One particular author recalled his time with Andrew Carnegie, the great steel magnate of the early 20th century. The author described Carnegie’s idea of creating a leadership support team called a “Mastermind Group.” It’s a group of like-minded individuals who get together on a regular basis for the purpose of supporting each other professionally.
A good way to build a foundation for any group like this is to focus initially on a good read. Here in Austin, our little group of four business professionals are concentrating on a book entitled “Total Leadership” written by Stewart Friedman. We assign a portion of the book to each other to read along with the exercises. This gives us a good deal to talk about when we meet and really gets the ideas and discussion flowing.
Mr. Friedman has put together a stellar book on leadership. The core message in “Total Leadership” is that we can manage our lives in such a way that our work and our personal lives are not at odds with each other. What a concept. We all struggle with this at one time or another. And it’s really magic when you work in an organization that supports this type of leadership style.
Pick up a copy of this book when you get a chance and study Mr. Friedman’s ideas. My royalty is zero, but I get the satisfaction of knowing that you may realize a more balanced and productive approach to your work, family, self, and community.
Filed under Leadership.
October 22nd, 2008
By Renn Vara
I’m a news and cable network nut. Over the years, I’ve been known to write a number of letters to the editor along with emails to TV and radio hosts. Yep, I’m one of those guys.
Well last Friday night, I did it again. This time in response to a cable show hosted by marketing guru Donnie Deutsch. He had financial madman Jim Cramer on talking about today’s market reality. Between their overly earnest laments about the down economy, they gave advice to fledgling entrepreneurs.
During one call, a couple in their 50s who owned a cookie company asked what to do during the current economic mess. After a few questions, both Donnie and Jim suggested they “put their business on hold.” I couldn’t believe it. The host of a show called The Big Idea and THE Jim Cramer were telling these hardworking people to quit. That’s right, quit. (more…)
Filed under All.
October 20th, 2008
By Renn Vara
Like with many things, we often hold on to dated perceptions well past their truth. While we have never called ourselves a public relations company and probably never will, we often do provide services that fall under its umbrella, -ella, -ella. Sorry, I couldn’t help it.
And contrary to their often misunderstood role, those leading public relations efforts have had to make a number of substantive changes in recent years. For example, the days of spin are all but over, giving birth to candor and truth. And with the proliferation of social networking, blogs, and online communities, the public face of business has had to embrace the multiple voices and opinions that now radiate their public ecosystem.
This redefined role of public relations has pushed SNP right into the business. You see, we’ve always been about candor and truth, anti-spin, and embracing the public conversations versus trying to control them. So while we don’t like to call ourselves a public relations company, public relations has now become who we’ve always been. Confused? Well, we’re not. We’re pleased to see the world come our way.
So with our new role as public relations communicators, how do we define it? Well, like so many other communication companies, we’re still working on it. But by building on the basics of candor, truth and embracing your audience’s view, we think that’s a good start. What do you think?
Filed under All.
October 2nd, 2008
By Renn Vara
I realize saying shut up isn’t polite. If it makes you feel better, use the term “active listening.” Here’s the format we suggest for shutting up during a sales meeting:
- Once through the initial introductions and pleasantries, begin the substance of the meeting with a dialogue opener. This includes an agenda statement, a reference to time and ends with an open ended question. 30 seconds tops.
- Once you ask the question, actively listen to their answer. Tip: Think of their answer as a list of issues, concerns, or observations. If you can, write the list down.
- When they run out of air, repeat or restate the list back to them eliminating their emotion and agenda. Use common sense. You don’t need to repeat everything, just the top points. And don’t sound like a therapist for god’s sake.
- Always end with another question. Here you can probe on one of their points or create a separate open ended question to lead in a certain direction. But be careful. Don’t drive your agenda unless it ties back directly to their issues, concerns and observations. And whatever you do, fight the urge to pitch.
- Abide by the 55/5 rule. Your customer talks 55 minutes for every 5 minutes you talk.
- Keep your customer talking until given “professional status.” This means you don’t talk about your product or service until they directly ask you for your opinion or ideas.
- You can do this process – common sense prevails – a number of times. But be sure you’re really listening. Don’t pretend.
- Then end the meeting early with a summary, next steps and calendar date if appropriate for follow up and/or a next meeting.
Why do this? Because people value people who listen. Be a person of value. This active listening should result in giving you the type of information and insight you need to better serve your customer. Use it but don’t abuse it.
Filed under All, CommTips.
September 30th, 2008
By Dave Imperiale
Virgin America is Awesome….
…if you’re a teenage girl from Eastern Europe and you’ve never been on an airplane before.
When I step foot onto a plane all I ask for are general feelings of safety and comfort. While other airlines aren’t always successful in providing those sentiments, I also don’t feel like I’ve been dosed before walking into a club. I don’t want to be enclosed in an aircraft where the predominant lighting is neon and the choice of music is House. “Trippy” is not the experience I’m looking for.
This feeling becomes even more prevalent when VA presses play on their psychedelic cartoon version of a safety video.
At first I was hopeful – a fresh interpretation of a universally futile message. But about ten seconds in it starts to feel like Ralph Steadman was commissioned to scare the sh*t out of you before takeoff. Please watch it, and imagine you’re on the plane. My personal highlights: (more…)
Filed under All, Dave Imperiale.
September 25th, 2008
By Renn Vara
One of our long time customers speaks passionately about how times like these create the opportunity for firms to take market share. His point is that when facing financial hits, most companies naturally adopt the bunker mentality and pull back. That means that those companies which do the opposite can take ground much like pulling on a rope in a classic tug of war. So here’s what we’re doing in the next few weeks:
1. We’re meeting with each of our customers to find out how this financial crisis is impacting their business and how we can help. In the past, we’ve been able to keep projects going through creative options. We’re good at it.
2. We’ve targeted a number of prospective customers to introduce them to SNP and our services. The whole SNP team is getting involved. The point is to help them get their work done during these difficult times.
3. We’re aggressively meeting with other firms like ours to discuss partnership ideas so we can better serve all of our customers. Finding ways to package solutions to eliminate duplication helps. It’s what we do.
You get the idea. Along with this, we’re increasing our commitment to sales and sales people. Time to take some ground. What about you and your team? Let us know. But don’t tell bunker-mentality competitors what you’re doing. Who reads blogs anyway?
Tags: corporate communications,
innovation,
management
Filed under All, Corporate Media.
September 23rd, 2008
By Renn Vara
Today I had a minor epiphany. It’s been a week of sales and customer meetings, which I really enjoy. Different personalities and business needs and challenges. All levels of responsibility from directors to senior VPs, even a CEO or two. On one plane ride back to San Francisco, I thought about my role in all this. Where’s my place? I didn’t come up with an answer but it got me thinking:
1. I don’t like working with business people who are political. For that matter, I don’t like political people who treat politics like business.
2. I like people who focus on their job rather than focusing on their next job.
3. I like to be of value and hate when I’m not.
4. I like being busy doing cool stuff and helping people be successful.
5. I’m not very good at office work, finding that I’m better meeting and working with customers and potential customers. (more…)
Filed under All, Corporate Media.
September 16th, 2008
By Renn Vara
With yesterday’s financial news, I’m having déjà-vu all over again. Could it be that we’re facing another drastic fall out in the current business cycle? Having been here to some degree a few times in the past, let me steal some unattributed quotes as a guide for getting through the next few months. (more…)
Filed under All, Corporate Media.
August 26th, 2008
By Julianne Manske
I have a confession to make. After months of mocking it, I used the word ping.
For awhile now, I’ve been aware of this word and a little unclear on its meaning. If you’re asking me to ping you, do you want me to email you? call you? IM you? If so, why don’t you just say that instead?
Ping has rapidly increased in trendiness, and I’m hearing it more and more. (I recently passed a woman on the street wearing a Ping Me shirt. Isn’t that reason enough to stop using it?) (more…)
Tags: corporate communications
Filed under All, Digital Natives.
