Too many people think the secret to a great presentation is a dazzling PowerPoint presentation. Not quite. Whether you’re an occasional presenter or a seasoned pro, the answer is the same as the punch line to that tired joke: “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?”
It’s practice, practice, and more practice, pure and simple. The people who deliver presentations that seem to be so natural and casual are usually those who have practiced the most.
We live in a nation that simultaneously idolizes, fears, and holds contempt for members of the legal profession, depending upon how we and they are situated at any particular moment. One odd side effect of that relationship is a desire to imitate attorneys in an effort to make ourselves appear to be smarter.
You’ll see it when executives try to draft legal-style language or when ad writers try to pen their own small print. You’ll also see it when people borrow elements of contracts, such as that odd habit of spelling out numbers and then showing the numerical value in parentheses, which I notice thirty-one (31) times in the average day.
The Olive LLP accounting firm was one of the region’s largest, and its financial institution practice was one of its strongest. But there’s always room to grow, and the practice leaders were looking for ways to raise the profile of its professionals.
The practice served banks, thrifts, and credit unions in a four-state area, with different professionals assigned to offices serving each state. The leadership recognized the value of staff-authored articles in industry trade magazines, but didn’t have the time to develop articles or the know-how to place them. They looked to Scott Flood Writing to find a way that would provide the highest visibility and recognition for the firm without reducing the staff’s ability to rack up billable hours.
As the parent of a Purdue grad, I just received a letter from the university’s president, Mitch Daniels. Given the time of year, and the fact that Mitch and I are not regular correspondents, I assumed that the enclosure would be a pitch for money. And it was.
But after looking at the envelope, I hope that President Daniels chooses to invest some of the money Purdue will get from other recipients to fund some remedial education. That’s because the headline printed on the envelope noted that this was “no oridinary time” for the university.
When I bought my car, it came with a trial subscription to satellite radio. Neat product, but I don’t drive enough to justify the alternative to my trusty iPod.
As my trial nears the end, I’m getting letters from SiriusXM, letting me know that the trial is ending and offering subscriptions. I remembered the annual cost being around $200, so when the latest letter included the annual option with a price of $159.39, I thought that wasn’t too bad, and considered subscribing.
In my last post, I mentioned the amazing power of frequently asked question pages or documents. As I noted, these simple, easy-to-create tools can strengthen your sales efforts, overcome resistance, minimize misunderstandings, and boost customer satisfaction.
However, FAQs won’t do any of those things effectively unless they’re completely candid and honest. An FAQ isn’t the place to duck tough subjects or hide behind weasel wording. That’s because your customers and prospects are much better at spotting that kind of stuff than you realize.
I’m not sure who first created a frequently asked questions document or page, but I hope I get the opportunity to thank her someday. (And yes, I’m pretty confident that it was a “her,” given the innate male reluctance to pose questions.)
For marketers and other communicators, the FAQ is one of the most powerful tools you can use. It can strengthen your sales efforts, overcome resistance, minimize misunderstandings, and boost customer satisfaction.
Some companies’ missions are easy to define. Pizza Hut sells pizzas. General Motors wants you to buy a car. And Southwest Airlines flies people here and there. But what do you do if your company’s mission and capabilities aren’t so easy to define? What do you do when most people see you as a wholesaler and warehouse when you’re actually a sophisticated strategic partner?
That was the challenge facing Brightpoint. Although the company was well-known for being the world’s largest mobile device distributor (if you’ve have a cell phone in the past decade, they probably touched it somewhere along the way), their capabilities went far beyond shipping products in a timely fashion. They wanted a quick, simple way to summarize all their capabilities and the strategic role they could play for other companies for trade shows and presentations.
I’ve railed before about automated email marketing campaigns that lack common sense. For example, when I buy products from a particular office supply store, it tries to resell me the identical product a couple months later with the message that it’s time to refill my order. No, I don’t need another shredder, thanks.
Just as annoying are the companies that send emails asking you to complete reviews of your recent purchases. A case in point was the email I received today from a major hardware retailer. While working on a home repair a few days ago, I needed to replace some rusty bolts, washers, and nuts, so I stopped in and bought a few new ones. I swiped my customer loyalty card when I made the purchase.
“Thank you for calling XYZ Corporation. Please listen carefully, because the menu items have changed …”
It’s a familiar phrase, and it’s one of my biggest pet peeves. Why does such a seemingly innocuous phrase drive me to distraction?