Spring Cleaning for Deeper Meaning

 

Yep, it’s that time of year again when Mother Nature blossoms, temperatures escalate and closets burst with stuff that needs sorted, routed and tended to.  It’s so tempting to get outside and enjoy spring, it’s torture to survey what needs to be done inside to spring clean. 

Let’s put your “stuff” aside for a moment (collective sigh of relief) and focus on freshening up your communication.  Never thought about it?  It’s called your “personal brand”.  And you carry your personal brand around with you wherever you go.  It’s your calling card, your resume, your reputation.  It’s what you’re known for.  Here’s the impact you have in the marketplace.  Researchers have found that we receive on the average of 250 emails a week; 100 phone calls a week. If you boil that down and cook up some annual numbers (take out two weeks for vacation) that is 17,500 impressions your personal brand has with colleagues, clients, referral partners, etc.  To carry your message in an impactful way is key.  How do you freshen up your communication?

 

1.       Change the channel – Has your communication become a broken record of chatting about the same old things?  Remember back in 1999 when you won a marathon?  Old news.  Keep the quality of your brand fresh by incorporating new things such as; new goals, new interests, travel, new app or website source for ______.

2.      Plan of attack – Are you headed out for that networking event?  What’s your headline for this event?  What’s your open?  Speak words to attract engagement.  It’s rather like waking up and deciding 5 minutes before you bolt out the door what you will wear.  We’ve all been there at times; it’s just not healthy on a consistent basis.

3.      Stay engaged – Awareness is the first step in taking action.  When you are fully engaged in listening to the other person, the other person leans in more, shares more and your personal brand is freshened up and elevated thanks to your gift of active listening.

Your personal brand is your identity.  Don’t let it get covered by months (or years) of useless, ineffective communication habits. 

 

15 Minutes of Fame

 

When I am in the car, I love to listen to talk radio or sports radio.  There’s nothing better to me than a hot topic and a great interview.  Recently, I have been hitting a rash of “turn off the radio” interviews.  Non-emotional, not interesting, not significant to the topic at hand. 

As I coach others to better performances in their business lives, I wanted to share some things that you can “Let It Go” (to quote a favorite contemporary movie song title) should you have the opportunity to get your message out to a larger audience in the electronic medium.  Here’s what not to do:

1.      Give the whole 15 minute interview in one long sentence.  I am constantly amazed by people’s lung capacity and their incredible use of conjunctions such as:  such as, like, so, but, however, etc… Why do people do this?  This leads into point #2.

2.      Not being prepared for the interview.  We all have easier days in our work calendar than others.  A live on air interview does not qualify for an easy day of non-preparation.   What’s important is not what the interviewer asks you, but what three key points do you want to share with the audience?  Take what was asked, acknowledge the question and weave one of your key points into the answer.

3.      Not being you.  You are being interviewed because of your expertise.  You are being spoken to because of your personality.  Let who you are shine in your words.  Verbs connect.  Does this issue:  Excite you?  Concern you? Please you?  Will the outcome:  Challenge us?  Calm us? Generate market growth?

Your goal in this very public conversation is to highlight the issue with a bit more conversation on what it all means to you and those who care about it.  Your 15 minutes of fame starts well before your open mike time begins.   Let me know how I can help.

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Miracle on CenturyLink Field

Hold onto your hat . . . Just when you thought it was Green Bay all the way the fourth quarter (and overtime) miracle of Seattle seals the deal and a seat in the February 1, 2015 Super Bowl Game against the Patriots. 

Let’s take a look at the indicators of success for Seattle.  Seattle didn’t let the first half get in their head.  It was 16-zip Green Bay at halftime.  Green Bay was playing to win; Seattle was just playing.  The weather was pelting rain, the wind playing a factor.  At halftime it would have easy to have a mind reset of survival for Seattle.  Instead, it seemed as if it was a mindset of thriving despite the first half and weather challenges.

Seattle believed in the miracle of “two quarters does not make a full football game”.  They believed that there was a way to make things happen based on their training, teamwork and mental toughness.  They did not allow the pressure of the clock to pressure them. 

Seattle scored 21 points in the final 5.5 minutes of play.  Players stepping up to take the challenge.  Belief that this win could be accomplished.  Overcoming despite field challenges.  Sounds like a good recipe for success for any team.

What comes first?

What comes first? I’m so nervous.  How do I get comfortable?

I was recently working with a student who was in first year of her Master’s Degree and wanted to work with me in preparing for her 30 minutes presentation of a final paper. She rapid fired questions about her upcoming presentation in presenting her thesis paper and how to calm her nerves for this oral presentation.

Easy answer – write the paper!  She had not written the paper yet so there was no framework for the presentation.  It’s like going on stage to perform without knowing what the play is.  You are confused and your audience is even more confused by your ad lib delivery.

The written paper will help you frame your content for delivery.  It will also give you tools to work within your personality and comfort zone while you are on the platform.  For example, this Masters student was going to be writing about music of the Romantic period.  One mode of presentation would be to let the music “speak for itself”.  That is, imbed a sound clip within her presentation, give a short narrative and then let the music be the featured “speaker” for the class to enjoy.

What’s the one thing that you can do to be really comfortable with your presentation?  Practice your opening paragraph.  Practice while you’re in the car, practice in front of the mirror, practice while you’re on the treadmill.  A great open sets the stage for the rest of your presentation.  It also helps, as Dale Carnegie used to say, “your butterflies to fly in formation”. Anticipation nerves haunt most of us whether it’s a marriage proposal, a championship football game or a presentation.  However, starting strong gets your energy up, your confidence up and gets you comfortable in front of your audience.

Make it Work.

 

As many of you know I’m a huge Pittsburgh Steeler fan.  I grew up in the era of domination where four Super Bowl rings were earned in 1974, 1975, 1978 and 1979.  It was during that time that the “terrible towel” was created as the rally flag of the Pittsburgh Steelers.  It’s been taken to the peak of Mt. Everest and on the International Space Station.  More importantly it’s raised over 3 million dollars for people with mental and physical disabilities. Any city in the USA that I traveled to I could find a “Steeler Nation” fan club to hang out with and grab a drink and a burger. 

This season, my terrible towel has stayed mostly neatly folded on a side table.  Conversation has been easy during the game because of low scores.  Wins have been nail biting close.  “There’s always next week” has become an ongoing mantra.

This week’s game against the Indianapolis Colts was different.  The Colts are #1 in the AFC South with the highest ranking in points in the league for offensive domination.  Great quarterback, solid team.  However, this Sunday, the Steelers found a way to make it work.  Their brand new, late drafted corp of receivers: Antonio Brown, Markus Wheaton, Martavis Bryant were catching passes.  The offensive line and quarterback Ben Roethlisburger’s complete confidence in and out of the pocket prevented sacks and enabled plays.  Offensive records were broken, fans went crazy, the game was won!

More importantly, it seems as if a rocky August, 2014 start of 53 individual professional football players committed enough, practiced enough and executed enough to create the kind of team that they believed they could be.  The greatest victory is not even that the Pittsburgh Steelers won the game.  The greatest victory is that the triumph of the Steelers became the victory.

Now, onto next week.

 

 

Just Wing It!

So many presentations, so little time – to prepare!  Sometimes it feels like that, doesn’t it?  You just run out of time. Or, you are so experienced at your specialty or topic that you don’t feel the need to prepare.  You could speak about it in your sleep.  The former speaks to no preparation at all.  The later speaks to being so confident that there is no preparation at all.  The common thread?  No preparation at all.  You just wing it!

Here’s why neither one of those approaches makes sense.  It’s not all about you.  It’s all about your audience. 

In real estate the mantra is:  location, location, location.  In speaking, the mantra is:  preparation, preparation, preparation.  Preparation prevents you from rambling, repeating yourself and getting the timing wrong.  It prevents you from leaving out key points.  Preparation helps you connect with your audience which will boost your confidence and credibility factor with the audience.  Thorough preparation is always good for your reputation and your career and the possibility of being asked back to speak again.

From the audience’s standpoint, here’s why you will score high each and every time you keep them in mind:

1.  You stick to the topic.  Without structure or a framework for the points you will cover, you either over instruct, forget or confuse the audience with what you do present.
2. Clear message content: You know exactly from what frame of reference you will discuss the topic.  This allows the audience to easily follow you through your presentation.  No confusion.
3. Quality presentation:  An audience can tell if you have done your homework.  And if you haven’t they assume you are either incompetent or can’t be bothered.
4. Audience-centric presentation:  You have researched the crowd to know what matters most to them concerning your topic; not what matters most to you about your topic. 
5. It’s an Olympic Gold Medal moment:  With a prepared talk, you score high with the audience and they get want they want from you.  You score high with glowing feedback and a possibility of securing additional business from them about a topic that has interest and momentum with them wanting more.

For a bird in flight, “just wing it” makes perfect sense.  For a speaker who is well grounded in his/her audience, a little structure with a lot of preparation makes better sense, and for a better talk. 

Shine With Your Customers

“Our work is the presentation of our capabilities.” – Edward Gibbons

Sometimes, it just happens.  You have one of those experiences either retail, restaurant, medical or business that everything flows quite smoothly.  And, from the receiving end, it’s like a gift.  From the merchants end, it’s no accident.  The interaction represents a well trained professional who is treating that particular customer like every other customer – consistent, courteous and with quality work.

So, in a world where budgets are tight, training is limited and customer requests are as different as jelly bean flavors, how does a sales person perfect his craft and his presentation?  There are many ways to shine with your customers:

Know your product – Not only the most popular products but the whole product line.  The depth of product is created to satisfy each particular market so to be acquainted with options, makes you the expert in your company.

Know the process – Once a product is selected, share the process of obtaining that product  and the payment options for purchasing that product:  in-store, on-line, gift wrapped, floor model, payment plan, payment options. 

Know the customer – Listen for the story behind the purchase so you can tailor the transaction for the ease of the customer.  For example, a customer lives far away from the store and needs to ship the product – can it be shipped to the home?  The customer is short on time at the restaurant because they have concert tickets – what entrees can be delivered to the table more quickly than others?

Know your approach – Stay present and connected to the customer – leave staff chit-chat post customer interaction. Let the best parts of you shine in the customer interaction – your humor, your commitment, your focus, your resourcefulness.

Your capabilities shine when the customer perceives not only the product benefits of working with you, but the relationship benefits of working with you for that product.  Bravo on a beautiful presentation!