Overcoming Communication Barriers to Increase Sales

 Only the fear of death is ranked higher than the fear of public speaking on the list of what people fear the most.  It is no different for professionals in our industry.

I have developed a Communications Skills program for industry professionals and written about use of jargon and communication pitfalls to avoid in previous articles.  However, before we get into  completing 2022 goal plans , I thought it would be helpful to continue the dialogue on communications skills. 

Why are face-to-face communications skills important?

Remember, there is no emotion, body language, tone or facial expression in a written communication.  Has someone ever read one of your emails and didn't recognize your intent?  Without tone or emotion, an email can be a cold form of communication.

Social networking is really about the written word and many in the industry have come to rely on this for their primary communication links.  Even communication on the telephone lacks many of the tools you use in face-to-face meetings.  Firms that use Hangout, Skype, Microsoft Lync or Go To Meeting bridge many of the communication barriers but are in no way equal to a face-to-face encounter.  The fear factor is higher when we are asked to present to a group or even an individual.  Whether you are just starting out in the business development arena or a seasoned professional who could benefit from improved client communications, this article is for you.

Today, I want to review the three skills that are essential for building trusting relationships with clients. 

The first skill is your voice.  I had an economics professor in college who made a boring class absolutely intolerable because of the tone of his voice.  He had a monotone cadence and would cough or clear his throat after every other sentence.  The pitch of some voices brings the same reaction as scratching on a chalk board.  If this is you, you need to practice voice control.  You could find a voice coach or simply contact your local Toastmaster club for assistance.  Improve your voice and you will see immediate results in client reaction to your presentations.

Are you an introvert, shy or quiet person?  None of these qualifies you to be a poor speaker.  You just need to expand your comfort zone.  Speaking with a client requires a clear and strong voice.  This is not to be confused with shouting.  Listen to great speakers and learn how they project their words.  A simple search of YouTube will get you on the right track. 

Confidence is the second skill you must master. 

Why would your client give you a million dollar deal, if she doesn’t believe what you are telling her?  Are you afraid to look the client in the eyes when you are making your presentation?  The client is more likely to give you careful attention when you make it a point to make eye contact first.  However, you don’t want to get into a staring contest.  Look down to take a note or remove something from your briefcase.  This makes it easier for the client to pay attention to you because she has had a chance to check you out without having to do so while listening to you.  Are you excited about what your firm has to offer, or  does your facial expression remind the client of someone who has just gotten out of bed? 

Confidence in what you are presenting will make the client more interested in selecting your firm than you are in selling it.  Understanding the nuances of the client’s business, the industry, and market is the beginning of your homework.  How he thinks and reacts to pressure points is probably the hardest area to quantify.  However, when you have done all of the required homework, your confidence will soar.  Remember what legendary basketball coach Bob Knight has to say about preparation, “The key is not the "will to win" . . . everybody has that. It is the will to prepare to win that is important.”

Remember, you client likes you or you wouldn’t have been given the opportunity to stand in front of him or her to make the presentation.  The same is true when you have been asked to make a presentation in front of a group.

Finally, you don’t want your body language to betray you or sabotage your message. Experts tell us body language accounts for between 55% and 65% of our communication. 
 Just what is body language?

It is carriage, facial expressions, and gestures. All go into establishing your presence and making a connection with the audience. Gestures can be made with your hands, arms, shoulder, torso, legs, feet or a combination of these but hand gestures are probably the most common. What does the client think of your message when you present it with your arms crossed against your chest?  If you are confident, why are you slouching and not standing tall? Many speakers worry about their hands and keep them in their pockets.  However, appropriate use of your hands can result in a marked increase in the understanding and retention of your message. Correctly used, hand gestures can help you say more in less time, show what you mean without having to resort to visuals, signal your conviction and confidence and add texture and dimension to your material and ideas.

This might seem simplistic but don’t forget to smile.  In fact, you should practice pleasant expressions in front of a mirror.  Try it until you see one you like and then hold it for 15 seconds and repeat it.  Remind yourself of this expression as you go about your daily business until it becomes a memory.  The conditions that surround you during a client presentation or speech in front of a large group can be uncertain and frightening.  But, this memory will keep your expression pleasant and positive.

Whether you are presenting to one person or a hundred, you still have to deal with nerves.  Everyone gets nervous before a major presentation.  My simple advice: Take a breath!

I went with my wife to a Lamaze class when we were expecting our first child.  I still remember the breathing exercises that were intended to calm the mother during childbirth.  Similar breathing exercises are used by public speakers because they release fear, lower stress levels and  enhance their speaking voice.

Incorporating these tips into your client presentations or speeches in front of groups will help you be more effective and enable your message to be understood clearly. The bottom line to clear client communications is the bottom line. 

Creativity: Become a Broker of Possibility and Hope

A lot has been written over the years about creativity.  People who market professional services are thought to be creative.  Creativity is expected, if you want to enter this business.  What do you know about creativity?

Many think it is simply a right brain condition where creative people have strengths while left brain folks are better suited for the technical, numbers and details of the industry.  Viewing creativity as solely the realm of one side of the brain limits ideas and possibilities. It fails to respect how creativity impacts science and rational thinking. Creativity comes from an assortment of traditional and non-traditional sources.

Are you a broker of possibility and hope? 

If not, you need to look at your creativity in the context of emotional intelligence. The chart shows how both sides of the brain come into play. The quadrants of emotional intelligence include: Self-Awareness, Social-Awareness, Relationship Management and Self-Management.  Understanding each of these will enable you to unleash your inner and sometimes hidden creative forces.

You might be asking yourself how creativity comes into play with your relationships.  Vision, influence and leadership drive creativity to support your relationships. 
Have you gotten tired of people saying, “Think outside the box?”  The creative marketing professional doesn’t think outside the box, they create a new box.   Marketers don’t like to play on a level playing field.  They are under constant pressure to create a competitive advantage.  If they believe they are on a level playing field, they will look like Notre Dame against a larger Alabama team in the National Championship game.   The services that your firm delivers to clients are like hundreds of others.  How do you make yourself and your firm memorable to clients?  The internet has made it easy for clients to assess the capabilities of firms they want to do business with.   In an industry that considers sales a dirty word, the word creativity brings on images of crazy, outrageous, and unwise.  Therefore, your creativity must be tempered by your flexibility and adaptability.  Management realizes that traditional marketing and the status quo no longer build business.  A change agent must be a leader first. 

 Think about what these people had to say about creativity:

“A truly creative person rids him or herself of all self-imposed limitations.”
Gerald G. Jampolsky

“Creativity is a highfalutin word for the work I have to do between now and Tuesday.”
Ray Kroc

“Creation is a drug I can't do without.”
Cecil B. De Mille

It is interesting that the movie make, De Mille, and the entrepreneur, Kroc founder of McDonalds, both viewed creativity as essential for their work.  You should feel the same way.

Six Myths Of Creativity

A groundbreaking study about innovation in the workplace uncovered six myths of creativity. The study, conducted by Teresa Amabile, a professor and head of the entrepreneurial management unit at Harvard Business School, was summarized in a December 2004 article, "The 6 Myths of Creativity," published in Fast Company magazine. Here is what she found:

• Creativity comes from creative types: The reality is that anyone with normal intelligence is capable of doing some degree of creative work.

• Money is a creativity motivator: The reality is that money isn't everything.

• Time pressure fuels creativity: The reality is that time pressure stifles creativity because people can't deeply engage with the problem.

• Fear forces breakthroughs: The reality is that creativity is positively associated with joy and love, and negatively is associated with anger, fear and anxiety.

• Competition beats collaboration: The reality is that the most creative teams are those that have the confidence to share and debate ideas.

• A streamlined organization is a creative organization: The reality is that creativity suffers greatly during a downsizing.

How do these findings relate to the conditions in your firm?

You now know that both sides of the brain are important in the creative process.  Do you ever believe something in your gut but are afraid to offer the idea or proceed?  Intuition is one of the strongest ways to deliver your creative process.  There are other things to consider, if maximizing your inherent creativity is a goal in your career path.  Don’t second guess yourself or live in the pit of self-doubt.  Accept criticism but don’t accept it as an absolute. Observe and learn from your mistakes.  Become a risk taker. 

Break free from the naysayers, external constraints, internal biases and fear of reprisals or consequences.  Your curiosity should compel you to ask questions.  Marketers who are afraid to ask questions continue to play on a level playing field.   We are all solution providers and are, to one extent or another, creative people.  If you are having problems with this, stop asking “why” and start asking “why not.” 

You will be well prepared to become a broker of possibility and hope. 

 

 

How to Measure Social Media and Discover New Clients

Who believes that management is skeptical about social media? Perhaps it is because they haven’t seen new clients or projects as a result of their efforts. It might have more to do with a lack of measurement tools. We should begin at the beginning.  How are industry marketing services professionals measuring the results of their social media endeavors? 


The smart money in social media is now on discovery and analysis rather than monitoring and analytics.

Why is this important for professional services firms? The industry is searching for actionable information in their social media activities. How many managers believe that marketing people are playing when they monitor social media sites like LinkedIn and Facebook? Yet, other networking activities are all about business. The promise of social media must start to bring networking results. But, like other marketing channels, it is simply another door clients can come through. Social media discovery helps you understand the most valuable characteristics of your clients. This understanding enables you to be relevant in your communications.  It sounds so easy. Maybe that is the problem with management, we sold it as an easy marketing operation.

Simply joining a social media site is not enough. It is like joining an allied industry (client-oriented) organization and never going to any meetings. The process is simple. You need followers. Followers are interested in content. You deliver compelling content on the social media sites and people will follow. Followers, followers everywhere, but not a client among them is management's concern. Therefore, social media is not about shouting at your clients, but becoming a magnet to draw them in.

Management needs to understand that social media is all about conversations and somehow becoming part of the conversation. Yet, what we need to measure is the context of the conversation. At a cocktail reception, do you just barge into a conversation between one of your clients and a prospect?  Probably not and social media requires a smilar etiquette. When management can see the relationship between the audience and the author (their thought leaders), the power of social media will be revealed. Unfortunately, most companies are currently promoting solutions that measure static counts of words, phrases and other text attributes, at the exclusion of context and theme. This is a huge issue, because when you separate words from context, you lose relevance and accuracy. Management is not only frustrated but they can claim that social media is a waste of time and money. It is your responsibility to change their minds.

Dancing with Strangers: Turning a First Date into a Wedding Celebration

Have you ever gone on a blind date or danced with a stranger? The blind date is filled with mystery and intrigue. It doesn’t matter how the encounter was started, your response is directly related to a positive outcome. It can be nerve wracking, but remember the other person is having a similar response. Both parties are at risk. A wedding is the furthest thing from their minds at the initial encounter.

The same is true in the professional services industry when one business wants to interact with another. There is always a first meeting and it often feels like you are dancing with a stranger.

Everything that comes in between is the interesting part. When you’re dating, you’re gathering information about each other: what you both like to do, eating and entertainment habits, recreation, family, job, and even hobbies. This courting process can take some time. Sure, there is always love at first sight, but that doesn’t work for a majority of people. Even when it does, additional knowledge does come in handy, especially when you’re discovering the things that you do well together. Your heart says a lot about developing this relationship, but so does your head.

It's no different when it comes to professional services marketing. You need to deepen your relationship with prospects over time, interacting in a variety of settings, learning more about each other's needs and capabilities while progressing seamlessly from one interaction to the next. Many firms will call this a strategic approach to business development, but not every firm employs it. Like travelling on the road to a lifelong relationship with another person, you need to know when to commit more resources to the relationship as well as when to pull back and give the prospect some space.

When you are courting, it is a process of nurturing the relationship. In your business it is the same thing with every lead you come across. You have to dance with a lot of strangers before you find the ones worth developing a deeper relationship.

The process for professional services firm is defined as building a relationship with qualified prospects who are not yet sales-ready, regardless of budget, authority, or timing – and of ensuring a clean hand-off to principals at the right time. Just as in dating, lead nurturing can be described with defined stages, including:

1. The Prologue
2. First Encounter
3. Dancing
4. The Proposal
5. Negotiation
6. The Wedding

The Prologue
The introduction is the first time your future client hears of you. It is up to an associate, vendor, mentor, website, social media profile, or some othermatchmaker to make you seem interesting and attractive. You don't have direct control over the introduction, but the more you can do to
influence it, the better. Just as a nice haircut and a manicure prepare you for that first date,
every marketer should prepare for that introduction.


Discover Your Ideal Prospect
The first step in the introduction should be to determine your ideal prospect. Just as you
know you like tall, dark and handsome, you should also know that the best prospects for
your services and solutions are companies in the United States with 100 or more employees,
in the pharmaceutical and healthcare verticals. It’s not usually this simple, but having an idea
of what your ideal prospect looks like will help you focus your marketing. If you know that tall, dark and handsome is often at your alma mater’s tailgate parties, you’ll probably want to be there, early and often. In other words, network where your ideal prospects congregate.

Build Your Brand
If you’re wondering whether branding matters in professional services marketing, a 2010 branding report says the answer is yes, concluding, "If you are well known, whatever lead
generation tactics you employ are likely to work better." In fact, 65% of companies that claim
they are well known report being good or excellent at lead generation, while only 44% of the
not well known companies report being good or excellent.

Brand matters because buyers of professional services are still people and emotions impact economic decisionmaking. Your prospects are overwhelmed with choices and information – more than any buyer could evaluate rationally. This means that no matter how disciplined a buying process is, emotional brand impressions do influence vendor selection. Web 2.0 is also changing the way marketers build their brand. With the growing popularity of blogs, podcasts, social media and the like, buyers would rather talk to each other, instead of listening to a marketing message. So take advantage of this by creating thought leadership, using Web 2.0 techniques.

Create Thought Leadership
One way professional service firms can build their brand is by helping buyers research early in the sales cycle, demonstrating that they are trusted advisers who understand the prospect's problems. By using thought leadership to engage prospects early, you build awareness and increase your chances that the prospect will respond to future demand generation efforts.

Creating thought leadership helps your prospects learn more about you, your background
and how you think. It helps build the foundations of a relationship: familiarity and trust. At
this stage, don’t hide your thought leadership content behind registration forms. Set this
content free to allow it to spread virally.

Write White Papers
White papers are used at almost any stage of the pipeline, from lead generation to customer retention. They typically range from four to eight pages, and shouldn’t be more than
12 pages long. According to Michael Stelzner of Writing White Papers, “A white paper is a persuasive document that usually describes approach of an article and weaves in
persuasive corporate messages typically found in brochures.” And studies have shown that white papers are highly viral; that is, they are passed around by 60% of technology professionals. According to a study by MarketingSherpa and KnowledgeStorm, this is because white papers are considered to be credible resources for thought leadership and subject matter expertise.

Create eBooks
As an alternative to white papers, consider eBooks, defined by David Meerman Scott as the
"hip and stylish younger sibling to the nerdy whitepaper." An eBook delivers the content in a
form that's designed for quick scanning and reading online. The content tends to come in
more bite-sized chunks (as in a presentation). With newer versions of Microsoft PowerPoint,
audio can be added to each page/slide.

Use social media
Social media continues to grow in popularity, and has become another conduit to your
prospects. Sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace allow people to build online
relationships by joining groups, chatting and commenting about products and services. On
LinkedIn, for instance, you frequently see questions from your network asking for
recommendations for services and consultants.

Blogging is a great way to build thought leadership and, therefore, your brand. Your blog
should fill the information needs of your prospects and invites comments from readers.
Podcasts – essentially audio clips of you speaking instead of writing, or of an interview with
another thought leader – are a great attachment to your blog. RSS feeds and content
formatted for mobile devices such as Blackberry, Treo and iPhone extend your blog’s reach.
The YouTube phenomenon cannot be forgotten. A funny or clever short video that goes viral
can quickly build your brand.

The First Encounter
The first encounter is all about making a good first impression. Remember, you don’t get a second chance to make a good first impression. Don't come on too strong or you'll scare your prospect away. Who would say, “will you marry me,” after their first dance? Think about philosopher, Toby Keith, when he wrote that “sometimes I want to talk about me”. Don’t make the first encounter all about you. Use the precious time as an opportunity to learn more about your prospect's wants and needs, as well as to share some relevant information about yourself.
The prospect might be in the early stage of the selection process so carefully plan the delivery of information. If you know where the client is at, you might want to go with thought leadership information. Either way, they should be short and to the point. You’re trying to make a good first impression.

Develop case studies
Also known as success stories, case studies are short, one or two page documents that
vangelize a client’s success and ROI from use of your solution. Sections typically include
an introduction, challenge and solution. And don’t forget to include a compelling client quote or two and a short section at the end that tells about your services and company.

Dancing
Prospect development starts here. Your prospect has shown at least some interest in you. You don't want to ruin a good first impression by calling too often or asking for
too much commitment too soon. Instead, develop the relationship by sharing additional information at the right time. If tall, dark and handsome responds to your overtures,
you want to talk to him and try to gather more information: Is he single? Is he interesting? In professional services relationships, it’s much the same: make offers of more information at scheduled intervals and determine the level of interest at each stage. The goal, of course, is to get agreement from your dance partner that the relationship should move to the next level.

Share relevant third party information
You don't need to create all the lead nurturing content yourself. You can demonstrate how well you understand each prospect's wants and needs by sharing relevant third party content with them. This can be as simple as emailing a news article and saying "Based on our conversation last week, I thought you'd find this interesting."

Make it personal
Remember, the goal of "courting" is to build a relationship with a real person. Buyers of professional services are people, so the human touch matters. John Nesbitt in his best seller Mega Trends, wrote that as our culture became more dependent upon technology, we would need to have more human interaction. He coined the term: Hi Tech=High Touch. Lead nurturing is a conversation, not a series of disjointed campaigns. Personalize email responders and landing pages. Make sure each step connects with the prior one. And except for webinar invitations, don’t make the same offer twice in one email flow.


Make it personal. The goal of courting is to build a relationship
with a real person.

The Proposal
When identifying your ideal customer, marketing and business development must work
together to determine the best indicators of success, in terms of what
the client looks like (markets,services,geography, etc.). During this discussion,
you should also determine the activities that result in agreement-ready
lead. For instance, if a prospect fits your demographic target, responded to your email, and asked for more information, you might give him a 5 or 6 on readiness to move forward. If he asked for your assistance in writing the RFP or talks to you about project-specific budget issues, you might put the prospect at an 8 or 9.

Use customer references
Client references are always excellent ways of closing new clients. Marketing should
cultivate and nurture existing clients and gain permission to use them as references. Care
should be taken with references to ensure any single reference isn’t over-used. Remember
that they’re doing you a favor. Get these references published on LinkedIn as well.



The Wedding
The Deal. The Close. The Win. Ultimately, making the sale is up to your
principals, but by implementing a sound nurturing and scoring process,
you have helped them by establishing a relationship and positioning your
company as a leader with the prospect.

Small Design Firms Benefit from Sending a Monthly Client Newsletter

Small business in general, but small engineering and architectural firms specifically are behind the eight ball when competing agaist larger firms with more resources and larger marketing departments. How can they even the playing field? Last week I posted a blog about using social media to compete. That is the first step. Small firms need to drive clients and prospects to their websites. Websites have to be interactive and offer visitors something worth the visit. Review my previous blog for details.

However, sometimes it is not about resources, but past experience.

I once served as the Marketing and Business Development Director for a 50-person engineering firm and struggled with ownership over website design and external marketing communication. The owners couldn't agree on what should be listed on their website, ignoring my advice and the advice of a web designer. For more than five years, they had been trying to find agreement and perfection in a new website. I checked the site the other day and it is still the same. An idea to create an external client newsletter had the same result. Therefore, sometimes it is not the lack of resources that prevents small firms from communicating with clients, but a mindset that shouts "what we have always done is not worth changing." Some small firms look at marketing as risk they are not willing to accept. However, I digress from the topic...... Client Newsletters.

Small firms should be using another tool to connect with their project universe. They need to create a monthly client newsletter. The newsletter should be electronic, one page and offer news, trends and articles that would be of interest. Lessons Learned could be the topic of an on-going newsletter column. Articles that add to your firm's "expert" status will also help to drive readers to your website or to the telephone to call you direct. Another valuable column would be anything to do with your involvement in community activities. A client interview would provide your messge with third party credibility.

However, when a small business is up to its neck in alligators, it is hard to remember the mission was to drain the swamp, or in this case, to build additional business. In addition, many small firms don't have the internal resources to produce a professional quality newsletter each month and can't afford to outsource the project to a marketing firm that might charge several thousand dollars per month. Maybe they did outsource marketing in the past and the results did not meet their expectations. These firms are not interested in throwing good money after bad.

Would they use this business building tool, if the cost was about $500 per month? That is the question I am asking 100 small architectural and engineering firms this week. What would they receive for their investment? They would receive a list of everyone who opened the email, as well as the names of people who clicked the links that were included in the newsletter. They would be obligated to provide the list of people they want to send the newsletter to and reivew and approve the content in a timely fashion.

This is simply an idea to help small architectural and engineering firms level the playing field with some of their larger competitors. Do you know any firms that could benefit from such an investment? Email trystanderson@businessdevelopmentpros.org

http://www.businessdevelopmentpros.org/