Relationships is the Key to New Opportunties

Whatever success I have created or enjoyed has come from bring connected to other people. Not from applying to blind employment ads or knocking on unknown doors, but simply being connected and having conversations.

Practice Your Elevator Pitch – It Makes a Difference

Today we shot video of senior executives, owners and CEOs from 24 companies that had been nominated for an annual business recognition program (Association for Corporate Growth-Orange County, Annual Awards Gala). Lots of fun and incredible people!

The set-up: Executives come to a central location where they are able to network with other nominees and sponsors, spend time with the judging panels talking about their company, and sit for a brief video session so we can gather footage for playback during the Gala event.

During the taping session one of the statements the executives were asked to make was, "In 30 seconds or less, describe what your company does". The results were very telling.

• Executives that did the recording session before participating in the networking or time with the judging panel struggled to be concise and confident in describing their company. It usually took several minutes and multiple attempts before we had video we could work from.
• Executives that networked and sat in front of the judging panel before being in front of the camera nailed it almost every time, the first time. And, they spoke with passion and confidence.

The difference of course is the the latter group, in the moment, had time to practice. They were meeting new people and had to constantly answer the "What does your company do?" question, and talk about the category in which they were nominated. The former group came in cold.

I am certain the former group thought hard about what to say about their company, maybe even had a prepared script they wrote themselves or received from their marketing people. But, there is no experience like being "on the spot" and answering questions.

My recommendation: Practice, practice, practice. Not just out-loud to yourself in your car or office. Practice in front of people – your staff, your marketing department, your family... ANYONE! Your ability to tell people what you do without the experience turning into an epic could be the difference between interest and boredom. 

Job Choices for Well-Seasoned Marketing Veterans'

Being a "well-seasoned" marketer (meaning fast approaching 60 y/o and more than 35 years as a marketer), making a choice on what to do next is narrowed by time, experience and consideration by potential employers. As an incredibly experienced marketer there is no marketing position in my industry I could not perform well – yet most positions are no longer a good match; in challenge for me; the perception of potential employers; or how I'd like to complete my career (whether in 4 years or 15).

The list of choices as I see it are:

• CMO at large department company (which for me is at a professional services firm)
• Marketing, Networking or Leadership consultant
• Professional speaker or author
• Leadership/firm mentor
• Create a training program or trainer for an existing training company
• Sales and/or marketing for a company selling to the professional services industry
• Freelance marketing contributor (such as writing, graphics, project management)
• Doing something completely different and maintaining a satisfactory lifestyle

There may be other directions, but to stay specifically within the professional services industry these are the most choices.

Each choice comes with advantages, limitations, skill sets and an individuals desire. For instance, being an account or sales executive has never been attractive to me. No gonna happen. On the other hand, being a trainer or mentor feels like a great fit.

For me, a choice is at hand – what is next? If you have ideas, let me know, or wait to find out which direction I choose.

Context = Relevance

This post by Thom Singer about the desire to be relevant caused me to think about all of the incredible personalities I've encountered over the years, and which actually have been relevant to me. Thom's bullets are smack on – and I will venture to add one more:

• The person with the largest context is the most relevant. Be the person with the largest context.

Context is equal to; what drives me, a higher purpose, a theme, a reason for being. It encompasses not just what I want but what I want for others. It is a state of both humble and proud, quietly working and loudly proceeding.

Every person I can think of that has been relevant to me embodied the qualities Thom pointed out, and they had incredible context. What they said and did mattered to everyone around themselves.

What this looks like is: Sitting in a meeting where purpose and direction are going six ways to Sunday, all of the participants explaining, pleading, arguing for their point of view and no progress is being made in any direction. In walks the person with a greater context... with just a few words the meeting is rocketing forward and everyone is excited to contribute to "where we are going now".

I encourage you to look at why you're attempting to do what you do, find what really motivates you and turn that into a greater context. You will be more relevant.

Begin Your Presentation with the Result in Mind

Working the last few years as a promoter and event producer I've seen all sides of people either exciting their audience or boring them to death. The "boring them" part is too easy a trap (the result of doing the same thing as everyone else time after time). The difference I've noticed between great and grinding is how the presenter approached their presentation.

What is incredibly successful is:

• Don't think about what you want your audience to know about you! Instead think about what the audience wants for themselves.
• Don't think about what your audience will be saying on the way into your presentation. Instead plan for what you want your audience to be saying on the way out of your event.
• Start your presentation prep from the conclusion, and back into the opening remarks. It is amazing how differently your event will look when you begin with the end as your starting point.
• Be a story-teller. No one is excited by facts (unless you're a systems engineer listening to the spec's list on the latest Android chip). Make your presentation about real people, their challenges and their successes.
• Focus on connecting with your audience and creating relationships. Engage individuals from the audience, hear their voices and include them in a conversation – not "let me tell you, it's all about me".

Over the years I have attended hundreds of presentations, maybe even thousands. Unfortunately it's been rare that a presentation was exciting, different, engaged me and caused me to think differently...

And that is your opportunity! If you begin with the result in mind you will have leaped over 90% of your competition. I challenge you to try it – begin with your result in mind.

One Way to Make an Annual Sales Meeting Incredibly Engaging

Merit Property Management held their annual sales meeting this week at the Irvine Marriott — about 570 of their people in the room for the day. The program held the usual content of company updates, awards for successes and a fun series of videos we helped them produce. And mid-afternoon they did something that really blew me away!

The Chief Administration officer took to the stage and asked everyone to clear their tables of all content as a score of people started passing out gift bags to each table. As part of their annual meetings, beginning last year, they have determined to make charitable giving a part of the program. This year’s activity — care packages for military men and women serving overseas (last year they made blankets for children in need).

First they honored the existing veterans within the room and launched into preparing the care packages. Each table created a Hero’s t-shirt (drawing or writing whatever they wanted on a white t-shirt with colored markers), wrote personalized messages on provided thank you cards, and then filled a shipping box with multiple items purchased by Merit specifically for the packages. They had even done their homework and spoke with military representatives to find out what items a soldier, sailor, airman or Marine would want to receive.

Maybe this is something other companies are already doing … it was a first for me and I was moved. The activity was energizing, people were really engaged, there was a lot of laughter and I witnessed how it drew their workforce together.

I look forward to recommending this type of activity to everyone of our clients. I hope you pass it forward with your company.

A Short Riff on Attorneys Photos

Photos are a funny thing -- they capture our image in a instant and live forever as a projection of whom we are. And sometimes, a photo is the first time a potential client get a visual impression to match to a name.

So, what do your photos communicate?

Remember, attorneys are the product a client buys. While the brand reputation of a law firm is amazingly important a buyer ultimately makes a choice for the product. Understand there is a difference between the knowledge of an attorney and the personality of an attorney. Knowledge is the commodity -- personality is unique.

Do your photos reflect the unique personalities of individual lawyers?

There are so many great photographers out there that can produce much more than chest-up head shots half turned in front of a mottled blue canvas backdrop! Our lawyers deserve more than a photo one step better than a drivers license capture.