Michael Katz's E-Newsletter On E-Newsletters
January 6, 2006
Issue #143
Take Your Foot Out Of Your Word Of Mouth
For reasons that I frankly can't remember, I
volunteered to coach my son Evan's basketball team
this winter. It's not a huge time commitment,
however as someone whose involvement with
organized basketball (i.e. referees, scoreboards,
fans) came to a screeching halt midway through the
Carter
administration, I've found myself scrambling these
last few weeks trying to pull things together.
(By the
way, If you've got a simple offensive strategy you
could send to me that would work well for 12 year
old boys, with basketball skills ranging from excellent
to "crustacean-like," I'd appreciate it.)
One of my responsibilities as coach involves
communicating with the parents. Yesterday, after a
brief e-mail exchange regarding our upcoming game
tomorrow, I received the following question from one
of the moms, apparently in response to my e-mail
signature:
"I just have to ask....what exactly does a Chief
Penguin do? Sounds fresh, but I was wondering what
your company does."
First of all, you'll be proud to know that I resisted the
temptation to tell her that a Chief Penguin does
whatever he wants.
It did get me thinking however. Because having
a
good answer to the "What does your company do?"
question, is both important and challenging.
It's important, because if you believe in the
power of
word-of-mouth as a way to grow your business, it's
in your best interest to take advantage of every
opportunity that arises to spread the word. When
somebody actually asks the question, you
want to be
ready.
It's challenging however, because unless
you give
the other person something that can be both
understood and remembered (more or less), they'll
never be able to carry your message to the next
person.
For a long time, I thought I had this problem
solved
with my "elevator statement." If you're not
familiar
with this concept, it refers to a short, pithy summary
of a person or business, so called because you're
supposed to be able to spit one of these out in the
time it takes to ride in an elevator.
What I eventually decided however, was that my
pat, highly polished statement was both hard to
understand and too slick for the recipient to hold
onto. Like wedding china, it was the kind of thing I
would trot out of the cabinet whenever company
came over, but as a practical matter, it wasn't quite
right for everyday use.
The thing is, most of the word-of-mouthy-ish
opportunities that arise in my life — and, I'm
willing
to bet, in yours — are not formal ones.
They
happen
at the supermarket, or at the movie theater, or when
somebody's mother asks, "What exactly does a Chief
Penguin do?"
And so with that in mind, I'd like to encourage
you to
start 2006 off on your best word-of-mouth foot, by
developing a more conversational description of your
business. Here are some specific suggestions
for
doing that:
- Lose the jargon. Telling your next
door
neighbor
that your company is "the leading provider of
cross-promulgated supercalifragilized wolverines" may
impress, but believe me, your message will die right
there on your front lawn.
- Focus on what you do, not how you got
there.
In
my (former) corporate life, it mattered how I got to
my current position — history was tied to
credibility. When I went off on my own however, I
(slowly) realized that nobody cares. All they want to
know is what you do and how it can help solve
a problem (today).
- Keep it short. Last week I made the
mistake of
asking somebody what his company specialized in.
After prefacing his answer with, "In a nutshell," (a
red flag if ever there was one), he spent the next 20
minutes answering my simple question. Even if I
understood and remembered the gist of what he said
(I didn't), it was just too much for me to hold
onto.
By the way, in case you're wondering what I
emailed
back to that boy's mother, here it is:
"I'm a marketing consultant, and I specialize in
electronic newsletters for professional service
companies (attorneys, financial planners, executive
recruiters, etc.). You know how everybody wants
more clients? What I do is help professionals create
informative, non-salesy newsletters that they send
to their house list of contacts. As a result, they stay
top of mind, and when somebody has a need that
they can fill, the phone rings."
It's not poetry, I admit, but her reply back to me
of, "Got it," was all I was looking for.
P.S. Thanks to my friends at the Society of
Professional Consultants, from whom I learned
the, "You know how. . . What I do. . . As a
result. . ."
format demonstrated above.
The PENGUINscore Spotlight
The PENGUINscore is an easy (and did I mention,
free?) tool for improving your business
communications. You can read more about it here.
The purpose of the PENGUINscore Spotlight
is to
highlight one aspect of this newsletter each time I
publish, as an example of how to put this
approach
into practice.
This week we focus on the
letter "G," for "Genuine"
One very effective way to make both your written
words and spoken presentations feel more real,
genuine, human, is to use recent examples of
things
that have happened to you. I really did get an
e-mail from a player's mom yesterday, and we
really do have a game tomorrow.
Test it out. Go back and replace the
word "yesterday" in the second sentence of the
third paragraph up above, with something less
specific like "recently." Can't you just feel the
difference?
Be on the lookout for specific, recent events that
you can weave into your words and watch how much
more genuine your writing feels.
How about you? What's your PENGUINscore?
Enough About You, Let's Talk About Us
I am proud to announce that I will be giving a
presentation this coming Thursday evening at
Harvard.
OK, it's Harvard,
Massachusetts, not Harvard
University, but there's no reason any of you need to
share this minor distinction with my mother.
I'll be speaking to the Women's Business
Network on the topic of (surprise,
surprise) "Growing Your Business With an
Effective E-Newsletter." The meeting is open to
the public and
I hope to see you there. More info here.
If you'd like to have me as a speaker at your
next
company or association event, get in line. Sorry, I
mean just give me a call at 508-497-0900 and let's
talk.
About Blue Penguin Development, Inc.
Blue Penguin Development helps professional service firms get clients,
by showing them how to strengthen relationships with the people they already know.
I specialize in the development of electronic newsletters.
Click here for an overview of my services.
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