photo credit: James Jordan

Two potential clients came by the other day for what I like to call a “chemistry check.” In the course of our conversation, they asked an interesting question: when we have found that we have not been successful with clients in the past, what did we think was the reason for that failure?

It’s a great question. In an industry that has its fair share of egos, it’s easy to point the finger back at the client for not listening to our wise counsel. But if we’re honest with ourselves, many of our client “challenges” come down to one thing: unclear expectations.

In the excitement of starting work with a new client, it’s tempting to rush to begin without doing the proper homework. But those first few meetings with clients are critical; they set the stage for the rest of the relationship, which often succeeds or fails based on what is decided in the beginning.

Several years ago, we put in place processes that ensure that we are providing top-notch value and service to all of our clients. Key in this initiative is a process for determining what the client expects from us right up front so there are no surprises down the line. We sit down with clients and walk through a process designed to uncover their communications preferences, measurement milestones and overall goals for their organization so we can not only be a seamless partner but provide on-target strategy. The most important part of this conversation centers on establishing realistic expectations about progress and results. This can be challenging when we have a client who, for example, wants us to guarantee a story on the front page of the New York Times within two weeks. But it’s incombent upon us as counselors to manage those expectations right up front. If we don’t, it almost always leads to disappointment on the part of the client and frustration on the part of the agency.

Let me point out that this conversation shouldn’t be one way. The wise potential clients whom I referenced above also asked us what they could do on their part to ensure success. It was a great opportunity to talk about the importance of access and timeliness, among other things. These gentlemen understood that expectations are a two-way street. If our clients don’t think to bring this up themselves, then we shouldn’t hesitate to let them know–up front–how their actions can contribute to a successful outcome.

Charles F. Kettering said, “High achievement always takes place in the framework of high expectation.” You do indeed get what you expect. So let’s continue to focus on setting clear, realistic expectations in all of our engagements rather than having to clean up the mess later.

I recently attended a very helpful presentation training offered by my colleague Brian Ellis. For this session, we were asked to prepare and give a new business presentation to a potential client. We were filmed and critiqued by our colleagues on content, energy and style. Horrifying, perhaps, but extremely helpful.

Besides realizing you should always wear dark colors when being filmed, here are some of my key findings. In reading Brian’s recent blog post on advice in managing crisis situations (http://blog.crt-tanaka.com/2009/11/ellis-rules-of-crisis-management-2/), I was struck by the similarities of these lessons.

A great rule of thumb comes also from advice given by Chris Atherton, a UK psychology professor, to his students in a recent blog post:

“When giving presentations, the only rule that matters is the rule of attention.” Good point, Chris. In the end, people have short attention spans. Here are some ways to prepare for this, and other presentation challenges:

1.  “Admit you are Wing-It Challenged”

How often have you practiced your material in front of an audience before a new business presentation? You likely know your material on paper and have practiced in your head, but the delivery could appear awkward without conducting a few dress rehearsals before the big day. Being filmed was extremely helpful in this regard, but practicing in front of a mirror or a friendly colleague would also do the trick.

2.  Harness your Nerves for the Common Good

Everyone is nervous before giving a big presentation. That’s a fact. The good news is rarely are these feelings perceptible to the audience. Instead of letting your fear paralyze you, embrace your nerves and channel them into positive energy and in this case, a lively and passionate presentation.

3.  The Rule of Three

Stick to three messages throughout your presentation. Why not four? Because people can only remember three. According to the American Psychology Association, people are more easily convinced by repetition in sets of three. At the end of the day, you want your potential client to walk away with these three key messages.

4.  Keep it Simple Stupid…and Visual

Don’t fall victim to laziness and simply paste your proposal into PowerPoint slides. All words and no fun…well, you know the rest. Why not use this often abused medium to create something that won’t put our new business prospects to bed!

Keep it simple and visual. Load the PowerPoint up with cool images, videos, graphics, photographs, and very little text. Know your material inside and out, and spare your audience from scrambling to read all the thrilling bullet points on the screen. Instead, they’ll focus on something more interesting…you!

5.  Respect the Time Limits

This might seem obvious, but stick to the time your host has allotted. Keep your presentation short and sweet, be consistent but not repetitive and stick to the point. Time management is key and practicing in front of the mirror or  a willing colleague will help you achieve this goal. The worst thing you could do is not allow sufficient time for questions or socializing with your potential client.

In the end, it’s not your impressive Power Point skills, or even your out-of the-box ideas the client is buying. It’s your sparkling personality that makes the overall package worth the investment.

The other day, I found myself sitting with two other PR professionals, doing what I swore I’d never do–talking about “young people today.” The conversation began when one colleague was relaying a recent experience he had while sitting on a panel for a journalism class at the local university. Despite the fact that the panel included four highly experienced PR professionals from well-known organizations–several of which could be considered controversial–when it came time for questions, no one had any.

No one.

Since when do students not have questions, especially journalism students? My friends and I continued to grumble a bit more, and then laughed at ourselves for acting like old people. But the conversation stuck with me. I thought back to several informational interviews I’ve done lately with people who are in the midst of job searches, and realized that there were very few questions asked of me during those interviews. It’s not that the conversations weren’t engaging–most of them were–but very few people actually asked me questions about my company, my client work or the industry in general. Mind you, these people had done their homework–they had researched the agency by looking at our Web site. But still, there were few questions that indicated a want to dig deeper, learn more, even push me to think harder to provide a meaningful answer.

When did we stop asking questions? Do we not ask because we think we can learn everything we need to know from the Internet? Believe me, the Web is a great source of information. But it doesn’t provide nuance, context, experience, emotion–that we get from other people. That we get by being curious. That we get by asking questions.

I would be remiss if I didn’t add that the lack of curiousity definitely is NOT simply an attribute of the younger generation–unfortunately, it affects all of us. And many of the younger people in my office are constantly asking questions so they can do better work for our clients–including one who has tackled barley cultivars and biofuel, another who has become an expert in fire-resistant fabrics, and yet another who makes it a point to learn something about nearly every one of our clients, even when she doesn’t touch the account at all. That type of curiosity leads to a better work product, more creative thinking and frankly, a more interesting life.

Take a look at what Donald Latumahina has to say about why curiosity is important. Then go find someone and ask questions. Lots of them.
photo credit: State Library of New South Wales collection

With our economy still in the tanker, many businesses are flailing about, searching desperately for the nearest life preserver to grab and someone to reel them in. A recent Reuters article detailed a report indicating that in the service sector, the decline seems to be slowing somewhat–but not enough to indicate a turnaround. It’s enough to make PR agencies–and many of their service-sector clients–long for a rainmaker to sweep in and save the day.

Unfortunately, it’s up to us to be our own rainmakers, for ourselves and for our clients. We have to push hard, dig deep and think differently about how to pull in new business when everyone around us seems to be stagnating. It requires us look in unexpected places and often to move outside of our comfort zones to uncover new ways to bring value to our clients and their stakeholders. It means we can no longer rely on good luck–or an accurate meteorologist–to bring on the rain.

Take a look at this video of how one man led his team to create a thunderstorm in a most unexpected way.

How will you make it rain?

photo credit: jmtimages

So how does that relate to you and me? Perhaps we can learn a lesson from one of the best communicators this country has ever seen. President Obama understands that all of these other issues are simply noise that will divert our attention away from his primary message. As you can see, the media machine is all over these stories and if the president fuels the fire (makes comments about the noise), the issues won’t go away. These basic principles apply to all forms of communication. The more disciplined we are at delivering our message, the more effective communicators we become.

But this week also featured at least one example at the other extreme of carpe diem – the U.S. Men’s Soccer team’s victory over Spain, the world’s number one team, in Confederations Cup semi-final play in South Africa. Our nation’s first-ever FIFA men’s world final! This is a way big deal for U.S. soccer – a sport that as a nation we have simply not figured out if and how much we want to embrace.

Regardless of how the team fares in the finals against the legendary Brazilians this Sunday, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for U.S. Soccer. Whether you are an avid soccer fan, a reluctant soccer mom/dad or simply couldn’t care less about the sport, it is a marketing opportunity extraordinaire for soccer. National pride. Chants of U-S-A, U-S-A reverberating in living rooms and sports bars. Soccer is relevant to more American’s this Sunday than perhaps at any other time in the sport’s history. I sure hope they seize the day in a way that advances soccer at least one incremental step up the sports scene ladder. As a marketer, it would be tragic to miss such a golden opportunity.