The Marketing Mix | official blog of the Marketing Mentor community

How to get out of a conversation

Clients sometimes tell me that the reason they don't like getting into conversations is because they don't know how to get out.

So in Chapter 5, What to Say In Person, on the Phone and Online, of our new book, The Designer's Guide to Marketing and Pricing, we offer a few simple ways to politely extract yourself from a conversation.

When this mini-article was posted on the local blog here in Hoboken, one reader suggested using "Stop Talking Business Cards", which I have never heard of.

Any other techniques to add?

Guest Post: How to help people "get" you

Guest mixer and Marketing Mentor client Drury Bynum of Workerbee Creative came across a simple way to help explain what you do in a way that people get.

"Explain this to me like I'm a 4-year old, okay?"

This quote was from Denzel Washington in the movie, Philadelphia. I'm reminded of it every time I meet someone who is telling me what they do, but confusing me with jargon, important sounding titles, and too many details.

This happened at a recent networking event. We were put into groups and asked to develop a 90 second "commercial" that would explain what we did. At the end of all the presentations, with the exception of one person, I still had no idea what any of these people did. I knew one guy worked at a bank, one guy did something complicated in healthcare and one guy was a lawyer.

The person who explained her business well was a woman who managed a hotel. I'll never forget her tag line, "We help put heads in beds." Granted, explaining what a hotel does is easier than talking about healthcare, but I wished Denzel had been at our table. "All right, now, explain it to me like I'm a four-year-old, okay?" Obviously, no one wants to be spoken to like a child, but the message is, "Can you simplify this so that I understand you?"

At this event, we were required to give some criticism after each presentation, which confirmed that I wasn't the only one not getting it. But in our everyday lives, when this happens, we nod out heads, pretending we understand and say, "Well that's very interesting." And then we move on, not knowing we may have just missed a great opportunity.

I think that there are three problems at play here:

1. We assume that others are familiar with our industry and therefore, our titles, acronyms and jargon.

2. We understand our business so well that we have forgotten what it’s like not to understand it.

3. We fear that "dumbing down" our descriptions might insult the listener or make our business seem simplistic and unimportant.

What is missing most often is consideration for the point of view of the other person. How can you provide them with a bridge towards understanding what you do?

Start with a simple metaphor. In my own business, I’m trying help companies market with online video. Instead of saying, “I help companies leverage thought leadership through social media,” I’ll say “I get companies to think of themselves as a TV channel, and their knowledge and expertise are their shows.”  Of course, I’m talking about the Internet and not TV, but the metaphor is universal and easy to grasp.

So here’s my advice: don’t assume everyone is familiar with your industry. Find a metaphor or a good story that illustrates the nature of what you do. If you make a connection with your description right off the bat, then you've started a conversation with a potential client. You can always fill in the details later. But if you puff up your description to sound impressive, then you may make no impression at all.

Have you heard any other memorable blurbs or taglines lately? Maybe even your own….

Heads up: Presentation Skills Seminar in NYC

If it takes good presentation skills to get ahead, why are so many top executives lousy public speakers?  The answer:  They can’t get honest feedback.  Whether you’re the boss who is “too high up” to ask for help, or the “direct report” who doesn’t dare offer comments, this stalemate frustrates everyone.  Here’s how you can break it:

• Employees, try suggesting that everyone on your team needs speaker coaching.  If everyone is going to get coached, your boss’s participation becomes “leading by example.”

• Executives, look outside your company for opportunities to grow—such as Communicate with Power and Purpose:  For Executive Women and Women in the Public Eye.  This intensive, all-day workshop will provide a safe, supportive and stimulating environment for 10 women to transform their public speaking skills. Led by Master Coaches Jezra Kaye and Miriam Goldsmith, Communicate with Power and Purpose will be held in New York City on May 3rd (next Saturday!) and in Providence, Rhode Island on June 14th. For more information, read Bernardo’s list, download the workshop flyer, or contact Jezra at JezraKaye dot com.

Designers with an eye for eye-candy

Lisa Baer of Baer Design (a Marketing Mentor client and President of the Chicago Chapter of Women in Packaging) needs images for the group's blog.

For their series on Retro Packaging Flashback they're looking for photos and images of innovative vintage package design from past products.

If you collect old packaging or enjoy photographing it, please send your photos to Lisa - at - baerdesign - dot - com. They will happily link back to your site as a thank you.

Submit your self promotion for publication!

If you've got a great self promotion piece (for yourself or something you did for a client), drop everything right now and submit it for possible inclusion in the The Big Book of Self Promotion due out in early 2009 from Collins Design, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. (BTW, Peleg and I are writing the introduction for this new book.)

This opportunity to get your work published, open to all creative professionals, is just one more tiny self promotion effort. As with all self promotion, you have no idea what could come of it, but if you don't take advantage, you won't know what you're missing.

Official deadline is this Friday (April 25) but it's been extended to next Wednesday (April 30).

As a bonus, there is no submission fee. Here's the submission form.

Don't wait another minute!

Fair fee or nickel-and-diming?

Most of my clients pay by check. And I pay most of my subcontractors by check, except for one German friend of  mine who does some development work—he gets paid by wire transfer, which I run through a personal account at the same bank I have my business account, so it's free (although kind of a hassle from a bookkeeping standpoint—I definitely wouldn't advise it for incorporated businesses.)

I feel vaguely conflicted every time I'm asked whether I take PayPal (I do) because of the fees. They're not huge, but they do eat into my profit margin, since I don't price my services to include transaction fees.

Whenever I've brought up the subject with other small business service providers, people split cleanly into two camps: the Cost-of-Doing-Business camp and the Convenience-That-Merits-Surcharge camp.

Ultimately, I've decided it's a cost of doing business, although I've started looking at revising my pricing to cover the charges.

I'm curious, all you solopreneurs, creative freelancers and small biz types: what's your policy and your rationale behind it (or the circumstance that brought you to it)? Would love your answers in the comments, along with what business you're in (look at it as a free plug!)

Guest Post: If you don’t have it, steal it

To finish out the week, Jennifer Neal of K9 Design writes about a networking event she attended last week where she hit the “hot prospect” jackpot.

My latest marketing “homework” was to find a group where my target audience – magazine publishers – hangs out.

So last week, I went to my first event with this new-found group, Magazines Canada and sure enough, my target market was “in the house” as they say.

This event was a show of the best advertising from around the world. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but this event had great music, was held in a very hip venue in the Design District of Toronto, offered great food and the all- important open bar. Kind of what you'd expect at a party, with a lot of very pretty, trendy, marketing newbies vying for the free drinks.

So how does one break the ice with these free drinking Newbies?

Before I could figure it out, a guy came up to me and said, "Do you have a favourite yet?" Brilliant!! So I stole his line and that became my ice breaker.

I walked the room in circles, talked to lots of people but only used "my new stolen material" on about 6 people with whom I ended up having really fun, non-salesy chats. In fact, they were so non-salesy that we did not exchange cards. I did, however, get their names (Ilise would have given me a really hard time if I hadn’t) and I made a point of scribing little notes after each conversation so as not to forget them. Then, I Googled each one as soon as I got home.

WOW!!! Three of them turned out to be some of the biggest names in my target audience. They were, in my opinion, people I would NEVER have gone after but have now serendipitously met. I know I must figure out a way to stay in touch with them.

Even though the other 3 were not prospects, I still managed to come away with some great ideas for my business. In fact, one was a design firm owner who has a marketing intern making her cold calls for her... Why didn’t I think of this?

Anyway...My next step is to follow up in a meaningful way - without looking too salesy - with the BIG 3. I’ve already got a few ideas but the main lesson I learned from this first event with my new group was, don’t always feel you have to come up with “material” – sometimes if you just smile they’ll approach you and then you can steal their line.

Guest Post: Do you get the shivers when you cold call?

One more perspective from Jennifer Neal of K9 Design, this time comparing swimming to sales and marketing.

Last week, I took my kids to their first spring swimming lesson. We picked a new rec centre this time because the water was said to be warmer and for the little ones that's very important.

So, first day there, first toe in and guess what? It's freezing! O.K maybe not freezing, but 80 degrees indoors, when it's minus 5 with a wind chill outdoors, is not tropical. This is Canada guys -  Pump up the heat!

But, with a lot of coaching and cooing, my 4 year old is in, albeit one toe at a time, and soon splashing around like an old pro.

I am often the same when it comes to making my cold calls. When I think about that first call of the day, I get the shivers. (Maybe that’s why we call them COLD CALLS.) So, of course, I have recently likened them to swimming. Once I get m6y toe in, I’m already deciding whether to put the rest of ME in. But, when the water's a little warmer, it's never quite so bad.

I am always trying to make this "marketing thing" easy for me. So one of my latest tricks is just that: start with a "warm call".

We all have these...these are the people who were nice the last time or for some reason you don't have that much invested in them. Last week, my "warm call" was a referral to another person (a purchaser of my services) in the company. Although I had not spoken to HER before, I feel, I sort-of have a mini-endorsement from another staff member at the company.

Sometimes my "warm calls" are contacts that are just guinea pigs for the real calls. (Ilise calls them “practice prospects.”) These are the contacts that I really don't care about messing up on for some reason. Once I get a few of these warm calls under my belt - I'm more than ready for the ones that really matter to me - the ones I don't want to screw up on or sound nervous on.

Sometimes you just need to get your MOJO going for the day and I use this little technique to help me do that - plus I’M TALKING TO PEOPLE. I bet you forgot that part - that's the whole point.

What are you doing to get on with the calls? And if you are one of those that are still making the excuses from last post - try this....find a way to dip your toe into warmer water.

Guest Post: Marketing really is like exercise

Today, Jennifer Neal of K9 Design challenges herself (and you) to not let yourself off the hook. Will you take the challenge?

On Mondays and Fridays I set my alarm for 6:30 a.m. to be at the gym by 7:00 so that I can work out for 30 minutes and get home before my kids get up. For some 30 minutes of lunges and squats is a breeze, but for me it's still a challenge and I pretty much hate it!! I can think of a million better reasons to set my alarm for 6:30 a.m....Why inflict the pain, especially at that hour of the day?

You know why? I am addicted to the RESULTS...mental and physical.

Once I start to feel the results I know the pain is worth it. I find myself working through the pain to get to the results. Sometimes I actually say out loud, "Come on Jennifer...just 10 more minutes and then you don't have to do this again until Friday."

Recently I realized I need to take that same approach to my cold calls and marketing in general. And so I have.

For the last week or so, I have adapted the "DON'T LET YOURSELF OFF THE HOOK" approach with my cold calls.

No matter what happens in my day, I do one hour of cold calls -- every day. Sometimes I do more if I have the time, but never any less. I might have 3 great conversations and leave a lot of voice mail, but I commit to one hour of outbound marketing daily starting at 10:30 a.m. And yes, I still say out loud to myself "Come on Jennifer only 15 minutes left and then you don't have to do them again until tomorrow." But unlike with squats, the pain in cold calls goes away after a while.

We can all come up with great excuses as to why we're not doing them...I think I have a particular skill in this area...some of my favorites are..."I'm busy enough working on a client's cool project"...or ..."How can I cold call when I have 3 proposals to write?"...or my all time favorite - "I've already had a bad day so instead of inflicting the pain of cold calling today I'll check out people.com first” and then, of course, I never get to it.

Whatever the reason, try not letting yourself off the hook.

I find that when I'm too tired to get up and work out, or my day is so busy I can't squeeze in my work out, it’s that much easier for me to rationalize the next time - then, the next thing I know - I'm not working out anymore. Sometimes when I look back on my day, I think "Wow, I made it to the gym today and it seems ages ago" - I remind myself of how little time it really took and how great it made me feel.

So I say...try not letting yourself off the hook for anything! Not unless hospitalization or resuscitation are required.

Try it!

Guest Post: Land with a bigger thud

Today we are introducing our first series of guest posts from Jennifer Neal, of K9 Design in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Jennifer and I have been working together through the Marketing Mentor program for the past 4 months now and she is having such great results with her cold calling that she can’t stop writing about it. I’m hoping this will inspire some of those who don’t want to use this very effective (and really inexpensive) marketing tool.

Here’s Jennifer…

As the owner of a boutique design firm in Toronto I find myself both in the position of "recipient of marketing materials" and "sender of my own".

It seems since the clock struck 12 on January 1, 2008 every Tom Illustrator, Dick Photographer and Harry Printer has sent out their post card to the members of the Association of Registered Graphic Designers of Ontario (RGD).

On average I am getting 1-3 pieces per day. Some are wrapped in pretty cellophane envelopes, some with clever wording but the message is clear - HIRE ME. There are no follow up calls and no further contact just a post card. These usually make their way into my "for future use" file or my other file - you know what that is.

When I think about the marketing that we (K9) have been sending out (read my recent post about making follow up calls after sending out a sample publication with a direct mail letter, 10 per week to a very targeted list) I feel I am getting very different results than my post card friends are getting. I feel like my marketing lands with a Bigger Thud.

This could just be a figment of my imagination, but when I call them after the mailing,  and I say..."Hi, it's me Jennifer....I'm calling about that BIG BLUE ENVELOPE that landed on your desk the other day"...and then they say....."it's right here"..or..."yes I got it".... And then we go off into this lovely conversation about what I sent them.

The package is so big and distinctive that they instantly know WHO I am, they know WHAT I sent them and they remember ME.

This is just the beginning of my marketing life with them but it starts off with impact.

I remember so desperately wanting another tool that I could use to put in front of my prospect's face. For 10 years I have attempted to come up with some maverick marketing that would do the hard part for me - a post card a brochure anything - just make them notice us.

Now I wonder...do you get better results from sending more to less? That way your stuff “lands with a bigger thud.”

I don't know the answer, but so far it's working.