Speak to Lead

Create a Marketing Habit in 21 Days: A Guide for Professionals

This is for those of you who lead small or solo practitioner professional services firms, and suffer the frustration of not having time to market when you're busy.The solution lies in Paula Black's new book, The Little Black Book - A Lawyer's Guide to Creating a Marketing Habit in 21 Days.

Don't get distracted by the lawyer focus; the process applies to all professional services. Paula kindly sent me a pre-launch copy and I think it's terrific. (In the interest of Washington DC's new love of transparency, I should be clear that I do not derive any income from recommending, nor from purchases of, the book.)

Here are 3 reasons I like TLBBALGTCAMHITOD (just try pronouncing that acronym!)

1. The 21-day plan breaks marketing into easy to do steps, short enough that you can fit them into a tight schedule. 
2. Because the steps are short and clearly defined, they do become habit forming. 
3. The formatting, typography and page design are worthy of an award. Key meaning jumps out at you; the look of the pages energizes you.  

For further information, and to see the bonuses Paula is offering for purchases today and tomorrow, follow this link http://tinyurl.com/nb8z3j

Media training/Reputation Protection: Reporter's Words You Don't Want to Read

Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference 2009 (WWDC 2009) opened today in San Francisco. It's described by Apple as "the premier technical event for developers and IT professionals innovating with Apple platforms."

One thousand Apple engineers; 5,000 developers. A new iPhone expected to be announced.

And here is the first tweet from the Wall Street Journal's legendary dean of technology, Walt Mossberg (shown here with Steve Jobs):

waltmossbergAt Apple #WWDC where it's all about iPhones and AT&T service is overwhelmed. You'd think they'd have prepared better.

OUCH! "You'd think they'd have prepared better."! What a great first impression.

I don't have any inside info from AT&T as to what went wrong. Maybe they thought they had done everything possible. Coverage would be, it seems to me, an obvious concern. 

Still, having observed how often the obvious gets overlooked, I wonder if coverage was on anybody's checklist.

Where were the reputation czars for AT&T and it's iPhone partner, Apple?

Media Messages: Sound Bites Gone Wild - Over 30 Sound Bites in 1 Statement

One form of sound bite is the use of vivid words - words that evoke the five senses and emotions or are different (often made up). 

This is one of the most frequently used sound bite forms and generally involves using one, two or at most three vivid words. 

So it was with great delight that I read in The Washington Times the following statement by Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas). It contains nearly 40 clauses or phrases, any one of which could be lifted out and used as a sound bite or quote. Most of these sound bites are vivid words, but a couple of cliches, absolute statements and a prediction also appear. 

To make it easier for you to keep score, I've numbered the sound bites.

1) Could it be a bad dream or a nightmare? 2) Is it my imagination, or have we lost our minds? 3) It's surreal; it's just not believable. 4) A grand absurdity; 5) a great deception; 6) a delusion of  momentous proportions, 7) based on preposterous notions and on ideas whose time should never have come; 8) simplicity grossly distorted and complicated; 9) insanity passed off as logic; 10) grandiose schemes built on falsehoods with the morality of Ponzi and Madoff; 11) evil described as virtue; 12) ignorance pawned off as wisdom; 13) destruction and 

impoverishment in the name of humanitarianism; 14) violence, the tool of change; 15) preventive wars used as the road to peace; 16) tolerance delivered by government guns; 17) reactionary views in the guise of progress; 18) an empire replacing the republic; 19) slavery sold as liberty; 20) excellence and virtue traded for mediocrity; 21) socialism to save capitalism; 22) a government out of control, unrestrained by the Constitution, the rule of law, or morality; 23) bickering over petty politics as we collapse into chaos; 24) the philosophy that destroys us is not even defined. 

25) We have broken from reality; 26) a psychotic nation. 27) Ignorance with a pretense of knowledge replacing wisdom. 28) Money does not grow on trees, 29) nor does prosperity come from a government printing press or escalating deficits. 30) We're now in the midst of unlimited spending of the people's money, 31) exorbitant taxation, 32) deficits of trillions of dollars spent on a failed welfare/warfare state; 33) an epidemic of cronyism; 34) unlimited supplies of paper money equated with wealth...

Of course, 35) it could all be a bad dream, a nightmare, and that 36) I'm seriously mistaken, overreacting, and that my worries are unfounded. I hope so, 37) but just in case, we ought to prepare ourselves for revolutionary changes in the not-too-far-distant future.

Phew! What a bonanza for a reporter!

Persuasive Sound Bites: Word Pictures that Change Behavior

Steve Farnsworth (twitter user TheRealPRMan) has written a super blog entry titled Let's Shoot the CEO: Is Pay for Placement PR a Brilliant Idea or Acutely Ignorant.

Steve makes a powerful case against pay for placement. But that's not the focus of this blog. 

What excited me, and why you should read it, is Steve's use of a word picture to change behavior. 

Rather than attempt to convince with industry statistics, a long monologue comparing pay for placement vs traditional, or even testimonials, he cuts to the chase with a simple, but vivid word picture to shift the potential client's mindset.

Steve's experience also provides one other lesson on persuasion. You have to believe in what you offer. I can think of numerous service providers who would have immediately acquiesced to what the client thought they wanted. In Steve's case it's clear he knew the value of what he was offering and wanted the client to get the full benefit of his service. That's the power of the confidence that comes from firm belief ... and a determination to see that the client gets full value. 

Oh, and make sure you read all the way to the end to see the extent of the change.

Leadership Under Fire: Answering Tough Personal Questions Positively

Unprepared interviewees.

They seem to be ubiquitous in the news these days. Every election, at almost any level of politics, seems to have at least one candidate who stumbles when asked a question about embarrassing personal or professional conduct.

And it's not only politicians. Business executives, professional athletes, and plain Joes suffer the same fate.

I'm often asked why people, many of them experienced public figures, aren't prepared when the inevitable questions come.  

Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, who was forced to resign after being caught in a sex scandal, provided an answer.

When asked by NBC Today Show's host Matt Lauer whether it had ever occurred to him his actions might be exposed, Spitzer replied,

Persuasive Speaking: Reputation Protection Part 3 - Five "Quick Fixes" to Safeguard Your Client

In Part 1 (Do Speakers Need a Reputation Czar?) I pointed out that many high-profile speakers end up looking bad because their personal staff and public relation advisers fail to make sure the speaker is ready for "prime time."

In Part 2 (Why Staff & PR Pros Fail to Protect the Speaker) I identified six triggers that produce poor counsel.

Here then are 5 tactics you can do to protect your speaker's reputation:

1. Be clear about what the speaker wants to accomplish in the speech or interview. Thendetermine what conditions you'll need for that to happen. In Secretary Geithner's Wall Street presentation, for example, a major goal was to reassure investors that the administration's rescue plan would work. A necessary condition to get investor buy-in was a detailed plan. Instead, investors got generalities. 
2. Become the audience. Ask the questions they'll be thinking: So what? Who cares? See your speaker's actions through the listeners' experiences. Perhaps using the corporate jet does save money for General Motors in terms of the CEO's time, but that's not part of the listeners' experience.  Note: If you're too close to the speaker and having trouble thinking like the audience, bring in someone who can. 
3. List your speaker's vulnerabilities. As you think like the audience, you'll discover soft points in the speaker's thinking or inconsistencies in his or her actions. Write them down. Then decide how to eliminate or neutralize them.
4. Know your speaker's comfort level and don't exceed it. For example, in Governor Jindal's response to President Obama's Address to Congress, the staging required him to speak directly into the camera for several minutes while standing in place. That unnatural staging would have been hard for even a good actor to pull off, let alone Governor Jindal. 
5. If something doesn't work in rehearsal, change it. In these high-profile situations, rehearsal time is often short. If your speaker is still having trouble with a word, phrase, or movement after two or three tries, change it or move on. Trying to "get it right" is unlikely to succeed and will lead to heightened frustration.

  Applying these five tactics well will help your speaker accomplish the desired objective.

Persuasive Speaking: Reputation Protection Part 2 - Why Staff & PR Pros Fail to Protect the Speaker

In Part 1 (Do Speakers Need a Reputation Czar?) I pointed out that many high-profile speakers end up looking bad because their personal staff and public relation advisers fail to make sure the speaker is ready for "prime time."

Why is it that even competent, often highly-paid, professionals fail the speaker? Here are six reasons I've observed:

1. Too close to the speaker, the issues, and doing business as usual. Out of touch with the audience. To the auto execs, flying the corporate jets to DC was normal. To members of Congress and the American taxpayer it was wasteful and arrogant.
2. Underestimating the symbolic impact of the speech, and not understanding that symbolism is much more than just the speech text.
3. Being unable to get the speaker to commit the time to rehearse, arrive early, and prepare mentally.
4. Complacent. Operating with an everything-will-be-fine attitude and therefore not aggressively anticipating potential problems and developing contingency plans. 
5. Unable to be blunt in telling the boss or client that something isn't working, especially if what isn't working was the boss or client's idea. 
6. No experience as a director and performer able to recognize all aspects that make a persuasive speech a powerful experience.  

Hence the need for a specialist, a "reputation czar."

In  Part 3 I'll give you a list of "quick fixes" that even an inexperienced staffer can use to protect the speaker's reputation.

Persuasive Speaking: Reputation Protection Part 1 - Do Speakers Need a Reputation Czar?

Recently Pfizer announced a new position--VP, Corporate Reputation and Policy Communication. Its role? Build (translation: repair) Pfizer's reputation. 

That job used to be an automatic part of public relations. Clearly Pfizer management decided reputation needed more emphasis, a reputation czar.

Executives giving high-profile, high-stakes speeches also need a reputation czar, because their staff and public relations counsel are failing them.

Witness 3 recent disasters: 

1. November 19. Detroit's "Big Three" auto execs come to Congress asking for a bailout.  Their messages are weak, but that's really not noticed because the defining moment is admitting that each of the execs flew to DC in his own corporate jet. Who was looking out for the executives' reputations? Apparently not their internal or external communication folks.
2. February 10. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner presents the administration's financial sector relief plan. Flawed messaging, uninspiring delivery. Stock market reacts by dropping 5%. Who was looking out for the Secretary's reputation and effectiveness? Apparently no one.
3. February 24. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal delivers the Republican response  to President Obama's Address to Congress. His "speech" is an article, not a speech. The staging makes him awkward, ill at ease. Who was watching out for the governor? Not his staff apparently, or anyone else involved in arranging the response.   

Why did otherwise competent individuals fail to protect the speaker? In Part 2, we'll examine 6 reasons speakers don't get the reputation protection they need.    

Media Interviews: Why Canceling Is a Bad Idea - Jon Stewart Rips CNBC Financial Analysts

Were William Congreve writing today, his oft quoted (or misquoted) remark might be, "Hell hath no fury like a TV host scorned."

Remember David Letterman when John McCain canceled? 

Now it's Jon Stewart over the cancellation by CNBC analyst Rick Santelli. Watch Jon shred the reputation of CNBC's financial analysts.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

CNBC Gives Financial Advice

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Joke of the Day

Special thanks to Marivic Valencia of Broadcast Interactive Media for bringing the Stewart piece to my attention.

Voice & Word Power: Paul Harvey - The Curtain Pulled Back

CNN contributing writer Bob Greene describes (Commentary: Paul Harvey, behind the voice) what it was like watching Paul Harvey prepare for and deliver his famous radio broadcasts. Note Harvey's routine and understanding of the importance of both style and words.