via Flickr by Seattle Municipal Archives

Dear Telemarketers,

I understand your job is difficult. You have to make dozens if not hundreds of calls every day. You have quotas to make. You’re judged not by the quality of your conversations but by the quantity that you make and how many result in the desired outcome. You have it rough and I don’t envy you.

I receive a lot of these calls. On average 3-5 a week. I’m not sure how I ended up on these lists but I have a sneaky suspicion that those “free”subscriptions to industry publications exact the price of selling my name for marketing purposes.

I’m extremely busy and your calls interrupt the flow of my day. Sometimes, I answer the call – either because I thought it was from a colleague or contacts (caller ID does have it’s drawbacks) or I decided to pick up the phone. Since this is an unsolicited call, you have a few precious seconds to 1) catch my attention and 2) communicate your value.

Yet, 99% of the time, I abruptly end these calls!

Now, don’t get me wrong. I believe telemarketing does have a place within marketing, when used strategically – either to support an existing campaign, as a follow up from a conference or to provide a valuable offer.

But the bottom line is, telemarketing teams are typically inexperienced folks with minimal phone training. And when you’re trying to reach a purchase decision-maker, it’s painfully obvious.

So what I am seeking from the next telemarketing call? Who hasactuallycaused me to stay on the phone? It’s very simple.

1) Say my name correctly. I know there are folks with unusual names. But seriously, mine isNOTone of them!

2) Practice your pitch. It’s funny how many times the person on the other line seems surprised to get me live that they fumble away the precious seconds trying to get the first sentence out of their mouths. Practice. Practice. And then practice some more.

3) Call in the early morning or late afternoon. Yes, you probably have stats about the best time to reach people. For me, anytime after 8 am or before 4 pm is my busiest time with meetings, calls and frankly work.

4) Be courteous, respectful and even funny. I seriously had to chatise a recent telemarketer who not only fumbled on the first 3 steps but then had the temerity to tell me that I should take her call as I was being rude for not listening to her. Hello? Yoe called me with an offer or request. For the few who have been courteous and humourous, I have been willing to speak with them.

So what do  you say? Give me a call and we can discuss this further.

The last two weeks has been a master class on how to present brilliantly or poorly as that may be. While I am admittedly a Democrat and mainly watched the Democrat National Conference, my points are not based on party affiliation. Rather it’s about the power of speaking simply to convey a message.

This is an issue not related solely to politicians, but any person who presents publicly. A powerful speaker is remembered long after the speech has concluded. And the single quality that all memorable speakers have? Simplicity.

Here are four tips to brilliant speaking:

Tell a story

Telling a story helps to draw your audience in – it has a beginning, middle and end. A story can convey a message so much more powerfully than any talking point. When possibly, weave your key points into a relevant story to personalize it for your audience.

Eliminate jargon

Too often, we fall into the habit of speaking in industry acronyms or jargon. While there are appropriate occasions for this language, from my perspective, the jargon gets in the way. It can become a crutch to using clear language to convey your message.

Vary your cadence

Be mindful of the cadence of your presentation. We tend to fall into one “speed” when we speak, which can lead to a “monotone” presentation. Review your presentation to pinpoint what type of emotion you want to convey. For example, if you want to highlight an important point, pausing for 1-2 seconds before delivering the key point signals to your audience to pay attention.

Whereas, in some points, you may want to use stacatto, brief sentences to quicken the pace and excitement of what you’re stating.

Be direct

Our tendency is to build up to our main point. We lay out the facts. Point out the supporting points. And then with the flair of a magician, ta da! We unveil our key point. Instead, turn this paradigm around. You audience has a short attention span. Start with your conclusion first and then map back to it.

Conclusion

After watching the DNC most of last week, the presentations I remembered did not happen to be President Obama’s. Rather it was President Clinton and John Kerry. Each had his own style. His own message. But each delivered well and incorporated one or more of the above four points.

What tips would do you have?

When used well, LinkedInis a powerful business networking community and tool. I personally am more apt to accept a LinkedIn invitation to connect than Facebook. However, there are some pet peeves I have about LinkedIn. Here are my top 5 don’ts, in no particular order:

Sending generic invitations to connect: I’ve received dozens of invitations to connect via LinkedIn. In the past, I would automatically accept invitations, even from complete strangers. However, as LinkedIn members have become more aggressive with emails and connections, I evaluate each request carefully. One mistake is not customizing the canned invitation. Take 2 minutes to explain why you want to connect – prospective partnership, mentorship, job hunting, etc. Otherwise, I will click on reject versus accept.

Incomplete and boring profiles: Yes, I have to admit that my profile is slightly out of date for my current position With that said, my profile is more than just a listing of positions I’ve held over the past 15 years. It needs to read more than just a timeline. Rather, I’ve taken time to consider who may be viewing my profile – recruiters, current colleagues, prospective employees and more. And for those seeking employment, write your profile to capture someone’s attention within the first 10-15 seconds. Be bold. Be eye-catching.

Keeping profiles private: This one totally confuses me. While Facebook is for family and friends; hence why I maintain a private profile, to me LinkedIn, it’s about business networking. Keeping a profile private communicates you’re seeking to hide something. Not a good start for any relationship.

Spamming groups: I see more and more spam in my LinkedIn Groups. This reminds me of spam comments on blogs. While there is a way to limit this on blogs, it’s up to group managers or community managers to monitor groups. Take a step back and reconsider how your participate on LinkedIn Groups – it should always be educational and helpful. Otherwise this reflects poorly on you and your company/employer.

Mass LinkedIn messages: As LinkedIn has opened up premium services, I’m seeing more spam in my LinkedIn in box. I am receptive to receiving emails from individuals who have clearly reviewed and pre-qualified me based on my profile. Otherwise, sending LinkedIn messages is worthless spam.

What are your don’ts for LinkedIn?

Over the past few years, I’ve counseled and assisted companies establish their social media programs. As I think back to these program, I believe there are four key stages intrinsic to the evolution of a successful social media program: broadcast, inquisitive, participatory, and conversation. While I don’t want to oversimplify this process – some organizations may skip or combine these stages – I do think this is helpful for framing the general growth of a social media program:

Broadcast stage:While we recognize that social media is about conversations and engagement, I’ve found that the first stage is getting comfortable with publishing on this medium. As such, the first phase will mainly be broadcasting – upcoming events, new blog postings, product announcements, etc.

Inquisitive stage: Once an organization becomes comfortable publishing on social media, the next stage is being inquisitive – asking others for their comments, feedback, including polls and other similar activities. From my perspective, this is the first step from broadcast toward engagement.

Participatory stage: It is at this stage that an organization moves from broadcast to a participatory level. In addition to promoting it’s own content, an organization begins recognizing the contribution of others. This includes retweeting, commenting, and sharing links to blog postings, articles and other content of interest to your followers/target audiences.

Conversation stage: This is the most intensive aspect of a social media program and most desired stage that all aspire to. At this stage, an organization is engaging in an active conversation with their audiences – responding in real-time to constituents while adding value.

Are there other stages to consider when starting a social media program?

A business card is meant to develop a relationship between people, not a person and a company. However, the first tendency is to take all business cards back to the office, dump them into a sales database and automatically subscribe them to all the company emails. Come on, you know you’ve done it!

From my perspective, this is the quickest path to 1) decrease people’s interest to work with your company and 2) for future emails to be blocked. In the end, this is about permission marketing (as eloquently written by Seth Godin in the book with the same name). Here are my three tips to gaining permission and starting your marketing relationship on the right foot.

Always ask and say please

What did you parents teach you when you were growing up? Always ask and say please. This is no different with marketing. Instead of adding me to a an email newsletter and anonymously sending it to me, consider sending me a personalized note highlighting why I may be interested in your newsletter. My motto is, if you never ask, then you’ll never hear yes, right? So ask first and maybe you’ll be suprised how many will say yes instead of hitting the unsubscribe button.

Treat each business card as a first date

Treat each business card as a first date – you’re seeking to win me over to go on the next date and the next. To do this, you have to understand my likes, dislikes and unique habits that make me special. The same with business. A business card provides a wealth of information to determine what type of information the person may be most interested in. For example, a marketing person may want to optimize lead and demand generation programs while a sales person may want to increase closed sales opportunities. Though similar, the needs of each are different.

Don’t be desparate

Have you ever seen the movie Swingers? Remember the scene where the main character keeps on calling this woman he just met, leaving voicemail after voicemail until she finally tells him to stop. Believe it or not, this happens in marketing as well. While creating multiple “touchpoints” is good for generating awareness about your company, multiple phone calls and emails is not necessarily the right application of this strategy. The key is coordinating between sales and marketing to understand how often a person is being contacted and why. Otherwise, the person on the other line will just hang up.

Conclusion – Long-term relationships

If done well, permission marketing will allow you to develop a long-term relationship that delivers value not only to the customer but also to your company. While this begins with a “yes,” you must constantly maintain that permission by understanding the person’s business needs, likes and dislikes. In a way, it’s like marri

In the PR Group on LinkedIn (must be a member to view the discussion), some asked, “How do you justify fees to clients in an era of social media?” I believe many PR and marketing consultants have faced this as potential clients believe that social media is “free.”

I think there are two parts to this equation that we need to consider before answering the question, assuming that we’ve done the background work of evaluating target audience, prospect personas, and the channels where these individuals congregate.

First, Defining Social Media Monitoring: This entails helping the client to listen, monitor and respond to what is happening on key channels of import to the client. For example, I rarely recommend B2B clients monitor Facebook while Twitter and LinkedIn are channels to consider. This can be done either through a service or establishing the right searches to encompass 75-80% of their universe.

Second, Positioning Social Media Marketing: This encompasses more than point 1 but looks at how social media fits into the larger marketing funnel for the company. It involves closely collaborating with your client and its marketing team to understand how social media fits into the sales cycle for the organization. Maybe a Twitter inquiry is at the beginning of the funnel while a LinkedIn discussion is at the purchase phase. This intelligence can be drawn from the organization’s existing lead generation programs – yet, you may discover an opportunity to help an organization refine or establish this process because of the focus to start a “social media” program.

I find that many prosepctive clients confuse social media monitoring with marketing. Yes, while the first point is “free” and can be done exclusively by the client, the second part provides the larger context of how social media fits into the marketing strategy. This is the value that consultants  - PR, marketing and/or social media – can provide to organizations. And I believe this is what will sell clients on social media programs.

What do you think? How have you sold social media within your organization?

Photo by Gregg Salomon

Finesse Your 30-Second Elevator Pitch

Let’s be frank, in today’s ADD world, it’s more like the 140 character pitch. The goal – can you succinctly describe what your company does and why should I (i.e. the venture capitalist, potential customer, or average joe schmo) care.

Tell a Story

Whether you’re selling cloud-based software or shoes online, take your 30-second elevator pitch and tell a story. Stories engage and enthrall your audience. Product specifications and features do not.

Create a Company Brand or Persona

To me, a brand is communicating a specific persona to the market place. Are you the know-it-all Uncle Joe, chatty Aunt Sue, or gentle Nana Betty? It’s a technique that marketers use to describe their different target audiences. Why not use it as a way to position the company within the marketplace? Personally, I’d rather relate to a person versus a “company entity.”

Develop a Tagline

This is something I read in Jeremiah Owyang’s blog regarding start-up companies at the Disrupt conference. Lacking the first three points, companies should craft a 4-6 word tag line. The tag line would at least provide a springboard to a larger discussion about your company and value proposition.

Empower Your Employees

In today’s world, a company is no longer represented by its founders but also by its employees. As such, communicate the key messages about your company to your employees and empower them to be your ambassadors.

Conclusion: Memorable is more than buzz

In the end, launching your company is more than creating short-term buzz via publicity stunts. It’s about telling a story with an engaging persona that people will remember weeks and months after the launch.

by jasleen_kaur via flickr

Social media has become increasingly popular for business-to-business and business-to-consumer marketing. I recently did some research on social media by healthcare professionals and wanted to share some of the articles and stats I found in the form of Storify. There are interesting implications in how, as PR and marketing professionals, one would reach and engage with this audience. What are your experiences?

by opensourceway via flickr

Over the past few years, it’s struck me how often people ask me the best way to participate on social media. While we are becoming more mature in how we leverage social media for public relations and marketing, there are still some common mistakes I see peopel make. Here are the top five mistakes that I think you or a company should avoid when you begin any social media activity:

1. Self-serving comments: It’s a fine line between being helpful and being self-promotional. I think this is the most common mistake you’ll see. Companies or individuals will research blogs and post comments only as way to promote their content. As a rule of thumb, it’s better to leave out any promotional stuff and add comments that contribute to the overall discussion.

2. All About Me: Many marketers and people still subscribe to the notion of broadcast media, just sending out updates about themselves. Social Media is about conversations and engagement. Listen to the conversations and participate when appropriate (see point 1).

3. Follow You, Follow Me: I call these folks the “pied pipers of social media.” You know who I mean. They’re the folks with hundreds and thousands of friends and followers on Twitter or Facebook with no discrimination. Unless you’re a top personality, be selective on who you follow.

4. Hit & Run: I’ve been noticing this trend recently. It’s very similar to point 1 but in a different way. These are individuals who join communities, liked LinkedIn Groups, and only post discussions or responses that are only related to their company. I call these folks hit & runners as they run in, post, and run out again.

5. Hot to Trot to Not: When individuals or companies begin participating on social media, they tend to be very excited. They join different networks, jump in on tweetchats and comments everywhere. But after the luster wears off, their participation begins to wane, until eventually they disappear. For corporate brands, it’s important to have a calendar of content and several individuals contributing to your social media channels.

And believe me, I’ve committed a few of the mistakes above, though I won’t tell you which ones =) What other mistakes do you see?

Last month, I had an opportunity to speak with Scott Albro, Founder and CEO of Focus (note: I am listed as an expert on the Focus network). I previously wrote about the company here and was interested in learning more about the company.

Here is a quick overview of our discussion:

1:10: Where is this space heading and trends? Albro highlights his thoughts on the knowledge marketplace and how human participation will help create and distribute knowledge.

2:50: How does Focus maintain the level of engagement, quality and experience for members? Albro discusses how Focus incorporates human capital for quality control while incorporating up and down voting features.

4:35: Where is Focus headed in 12 months? 5 years? Focus is looking to disrupt the industry on business expertise. With more than 30 million businesses in the US alone, the company is seeking to help these businesses make better business decisions and to open up the world of business expertise.

7:35: How does PR and marketing fit in to the success of Focus and his advice as a CEO? Albro provides an interesting appraoch to PR and marketing with three lessons: focus on product development before marketing; build a community to be your advocate; and focus efforts on a few, high-quality campaigns