Talking Is Not Overrated

I’ve been listening to a book series by Vince Flynn on my drive to and from work. The series is based on a CIA agent named Mitch Rapp. I’m about five books in to the 22-book series and I find myself enjoying the books so much that I’m excited for the drive. Rapp is a non-nonsense agent that is the CIA’s most effective and lethal agent.

In one recent book, in the middle of a discussion with another agent, Rapp made the comment, “Talking is overrated.” When I heard him say this, it brought me back to an interview I participated in last season with Channing Frye of the Phoenix Suns.

For the past 15 years I’ve worked part time for the NBA’s Utah Jazz. On January 18, 2019 after the Utah Jazz beat the Phoenix Suns, I was in the visiting locker room doing postgame interviews. It was near the end of the interview session and I was just about to leave when I heard a booming voice. I turned to see who was talking and it was Frye. It’s not uncommon for players to speak in a low voice, but Frye spoke so everybody could hear him. Once I joined the fray, one reporter asked him how his teammates respond to his mentoring and the feedback he provides. He was quick to respond, saying.

“… My biggest thing that makes me upset, more like furious is, and the only thing that I pretty much yell at is we don’t talk to each other. I think that’s the most frustrating thing for me because you know, as a shooter, you can have nights where you’re just not making shots and I think, let’s be real, we’re not the best defensively whether it’s because we’re too small, too hurt, whatever it’s a lot of excuses, but at the end of the day if we talk it’s going to solve a lot of problems. I know I talk a lot and I try to talk a lot when we’re out there and it solves a lot, it slows the game down. Good teams talk. Their team (the Utah Jazz), we call a play, all of them relay that play and then everybody’s like send it this way, this guys gonna roll and then boom, boom, boom and so like we need one guy within the group, maybe two, shit, maybe even three that know their plays, that’s studying that film and that’s going to help us out there. I know some of this stuff, but I’m only out there two times, three times a month so we need guys to become good defenders and just know guys plays and tendencies. That’s what a good defender is, just take percentages. So, I think that’s the next step for us…”

There were other questions during the interview and I remember walking away so impressed with him and thinking that I wanted to be friends with him. If he never hit a basket for the team that entire season and just talked to the younger players about the finer points of being a professional, he would easily eclipse the value of his contract.

I’ve thought about what he said ever since that Winter day.

Good Leaders Communicate

I recently read an article previewing the NFL season, specifically the Green Bay Packers and the relationship between their star quarterback, Aaron Rodgers and their new head coach, Matt LaFleur. The article highlighted how well things are going between the two and how the relationship they’re building now will benefit them and the entire team during the upcoming season.

The two met in the Spring to discuss expectations and get to know each other better. Recalling that meeting months later, Rodgers said there were two important things to getting their relationship off to a good start.

“What I’m expecting from him and what can he expect from me,” Rodgers continued. “What kind of approach do I have? What do I like? What do I not like? What has worked for me in the past? What maybe hasn’t worked as well in the past and just what kind of guy I am.”

Good Communicators are Also Good Listeners

I have a friend that is an incredible listener. When you talk to him he makes eye contact, and hangs on your every word. Others may try to interject and he never wavers. If there is an interruption, when it’s time to pick the conversation back up, he always knows exactly where you left off. He’ll often come back to the conversation and say something like, when we got interrupted you were saying … and he’ll repeat the last sentence or few words where you left off.

Going back to the article I read about the Green Bay Packers, Rodgers said: “Two things I think are really important: listen and communicate. Everybody, in general, wants to know that what they’re saying is important and that people care about what they’re saying, and the best way to do that is listen. I wanted to get to know who he (Coach LaFleur) is and what makes him tick and what’s important to him.”

Good Communicators Get What They Want

A friend of mine always says, “If you don’t ask, you’ll never get what you want.”

I’ve found that to be true. It’s just as true in your personal life as in your business life. The most effective communicators are straightforward, direct and quickly get to the point. Their ability to ask for what they want often allows them to get exactly what they want, when they want it.

Contrast that to poor communicators that are passive in their communication and lack the confidence to come right out and ask for what they want. As a result, they struggle to get what they want.

Communication Slows Things Down

In my experience, good communication is an effective way to make things slow down. When you’re trying something new or that you’re not experienced in, things seem to move fast. Once you gain experience or start to feel comfortable with a situation, things slow down and are easier to handle.

In my interview with Frye, he was asked why his team doesn’t talk?

He said, “I think the game is moving very fast for everybody. Like I said, it takes a long time for the game to slow down. It took like three or four years for the game to slow down…”

So often, when a problem arises, you hear the people involved say something along the lines of, “It was due to a lack of communication.” That’s more fact than it is an excuse. Effective communication will eliminate the frustrations and anger when communication is lacking.

Four Tips to Overcome Failure

I like to listen to sports radio in the mornings. The other day while listening to The Dan Patrick Show, Dan Patrick, the show host shared a story about Carl Lewis.  For those of you who don’t know or remember him, Lewis is one of the greatest American Olympians of all time.  He was a sprinter during the 1980’s and over the course of his career won nine Olympic gold medals and one Olympic silver medal.

Failing Big

After retiring from Olympic competition, he made news by launching a music career. I was surprised at this news. I had no idea he was a singer. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one. In one of his first public performances, he sang the national anthem at a basketball game. It was a rough outing. People made fun of him and this one moment that many might call a failure made him the butt of jokes for a while after it happened.

Flash back to the present day. Well, at a least a couple weeks ago. Patrick recounted the story of an interview he did with Lewis while he was still working for ESPN. This is not Patrick’s exact words, but his story went something along the lines of: As they were getting set up for the interview, Lewis’s brother was there. Patrick began talking to his brother and brought up the national anthem. More along the lines of wondering if Lewis still gets asked about it.

His brother told him that he did and that he really couldn’t understand why. By the time of this interview, a significant amount of time had passed since the failed national anthem attempt. Lewis’s brother wasn’t upset but was more curious as to why people still wanted to bring it up after so many years, especially when Lewis had accomplished so many other incredible things in his career. Lewis had moved on but others hadn’t and seemed to take pleasure from making him relive one of his worst professional moments.

Lewis said he was glad it happened because it’s a part of his journey. He says it’s created interest and more knowledge about his track career amongst the younger generation. When he’s interviewed and reporters laugh about it, he’s good natured, but quick to point out that his anthem has been viewed by more people (more than 2.5 million views on You Tube) than have seen or heard their show. He also points out that he has two albums and a gold record. He says that if that’s how people want to define him, then that’s fine. In his mind, it helps define the type of people you’re around. If people choose to define you by one bad moment, that’s on them. He says the one thing he always wanted to be was Carl Lewis and he’s been that for fifty-seven years so he’s the lucky one.

Hearing Patrick tell this story got me thinking about failure. In life, things happen. Good and bad. There are disagreements and quarrels and sometimes bad blood is left as a result. Other times there are wonderful things that happen and unfortunately, in my opinion, the good is often forgotten or overlooked.

Over the course I’ve my career I’ve had experiences that I don’t care to relive or have people know about. I think we all have. I’ve failed and I’m ok with that because it’s helped me learn and become the person I am today.

Advice from the GOAT

Michael Jordan talks a lot about failure. He once said, “I can accept failure. Everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying again. I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

While failure is never fun, here are four tips to help alleviate the toll failure takes and overcome it to become successful.

• Have a short memory. In basketball or sports of any kind, coaches talk about having a short memory. What this means is that you’re going to miss shots. That’s ok. It’s even expected. You can’t let a few misses stop you from competing or derail your career. In basketball the best shooters have a mindset that the next shot is going in. It doesn’t matter how many shots they’ve missed, they always believe the next one is going in and aren’t afraid to keep shooting.
• Be honest. My mother always taught me that, “Honesty is the best policy.” I believe that to be true and I counsel my clients to keep that in mind when dealing with the press. Even if the truth is embarrassing or unflattering, it usually only hurts once whereas lying and being caught in a lie can lead to more embarrassment and questioning of character.
• Set goals. I look at goals as a challenge for the things I want to accomplish each week, month or year. Writing them down makes them feel more real. They’re not just in my head, I’ve expressed them and made them tangible. Once I‘ve written them I become obsessed with accomplishing them. I’ll often set long-term, monthly goals and then smaller goals to help me arrive at and achieve these goals. I also set goals that will take me out of my comfort zone and force me to extend myself. An easily attainable goal is boring for me. I want to challenge myself and stretch my capabilities. If for some reason I don’t accomplish my goals I’ll review them and reevaluate them if necessary. I don’t like excuses, but I do like to know and understand what prevented me from achieving my goal. In my experience, goals help keep me focused on what I want and what’s important most.
• Measure and review progress. Sometimes in the hustle and bustle of everyday life we forget to stop, review and appreciate not only the journey but the accomplishments. On a day-to-day basis it can be difficult to see how much progress you’ve made and how far you’ve come. About four years ago I began running again. The first week or two was rough. I could only run for short distances before becoming fatigued and wanting to stop. As I started running again, I created a calendar to track my runs. I track distance and time. In the beginning, I would also track how many times I stopped and what point along the course I was stopping. Early on it was pretty easy to track progress as I was consistently running for longer periods of time. It was invigorating and motivating to have instant access to the progress I was making. Once I got into better shape, the progress was more difficult to track. I had to pay attention just to notice even little improvements. At times I wondered if I was progressing. At the end of each month I sit down and review my calendar and monthly goals. It’s at these times that I can see the progress I had made during the month. I would not only hit goals, but often exceed them. I remember at one point my family and I drove to Disneyland. As we drove I tracked the mileage and realized as we were arriving in Anaheim that the distance we drove was roughly the distance I had run to date that year. It was an eye opener and a significant realization of just how far I had come. To this day, I still track my daily runs on a calendar and still find myself surprised and at times impressed with what I’m accomplishing on a monthly basis.

I find that when I am doing these things, when failure happens I’m able to meet it head on and grow from it.  It’s still not easy, but I’m able to approach it from the perspective that it’s part of my journey to becoming the best version of myself.

Five Tips to Deal With Negative Press

I recently had the opportunity to work with a client on a high profile public event. The event was designed to make a significant difference in the communities in which we live, play and work featuring a well-known celebrity and some of his friends and fellow celebrities.

During the planning phase I was brought in to help with the public relations (PR) efforts, specifically to create awareness about the event and the cause behind it. As part of the PR strategy, the celebrity driving the event committed his time to any and all media interview opportunities. In fact, he flew in to town for one full day to do all the media interviews I could secure.

All of the interviews I set up that day were great and highly positive with praise from the media outlets as well as the general public. During one of the pre-taped broadcast interviews, the reporter conducting the interview asked my clients to “talk” so they could test the microphone. As they spoke the reporter asked a couple questions that were for “background” only and said they wouldn’t include these in the report that would air later that day.

Later that day when the interview was published on the TV channel’s website they included the background questions they promised wouldn’t be included.  When my client saw it, he was upset. He wasn’t upset because he said anything wrong but because he was doing other things to get ready for the interview as they talked. He didn’t want it to look like he was being rude or not taking the interview seriously.

His assistant reached out to me demanding that the piece be taken down. I told him I’d reach out to the reporter and get it taken care of. The assistant said if they wouldn’t change it that they wouldn’t give them press passes to the event and allow their station to come cover it.

This exchange brought up an interesting discussion and I counseled him on the best ways to handle a situation like this. The advice I provided is relevant and worth sharing with a much larger audience.  My advice included five key points.

• Don’t threaten the media: Regardless of how angry you are, don’t make threats. Nobody, including the media responds well to threats. Threats will put the other party on the defensive and escalate the situation to a point where both parties act irrationally and do or say things they normally wouldn’t.
• Stick to the facts: In this instance, it was easy to point out the facts. On the video you could clearly hear the reporter say that they were asking background questions only and that these questions wouldn’t be included in the final piece. You could also hear my client ask if they were still checking the mic or if the actual interview had begun.
• Go to the source: When I called the media outlet, I went straight to the source. I spoke to the person I set the interview up with and discussed the issue with him. I spoke to him clearly and calmly and expressed my clients concern over the video. I explained why we had an issue and what my client’s expectation was based on their conversation. As this person watched the video, the facts were clear and he appreciated me reaching out to him to discuss it.
• Have a solution in mind: When I made my call to my contact, I knew what I wanted. I wanted the video to be edited to not include the background questions. I told him what I wanted and expected and we discussed it calmly. He said he understood and agreed to fix it.
• Work together to come to a mutual resolution: The story was still a great story and my client was happy. We worked together through the process to ensure that it was fixed quickly. Upon fixing it, my client shared it on his social media channels which brought even more visibility to the piece. In the end, the reporter and I had greater respect for each other and our relationship was stronger as a result.

Had I approached the situation as my client’s assistant wanted when he called me there would have been a far different resolution.  The reporter would have been mad, a bridge would have been burned and we would have been forced to deny them access to the event. Nobody would have won in that situation.

Following these five steps will allow you to build better, stronger relationships with the media as opposed to creating an adversarial relationship that doesn’t benefit anybody involved.

Even Chocolate Chip Cookies Can’t Help When You Don’t Know Your Audience

Years ago while I was in college a friend that wanted to be more than friends tried to woo me by bringing me homemade baked goods, specifically a lot of chocolate. I’m not a big chocolate fan. Never have been and never will be. In fact, I generally think the worst kind of chocolate is chocolate chips, and that’s what was being brought to my house on a regular basis.

I felt bad because I know a lot of time was being put into these cookies and other baked treats. I would thank this girl for the treats and then set them on the counter for others in the house to eat. Truth be told, I never ate one of them and I’m not even sure if anybody else did or what their ultimate fate was. I just know that after a couple days the plate they came on was no longer on the counter.

I know how that sounds, and I’m not really proud of just leaving the goodies out and not knowing what ever happened to them. However, it raises a good point as it pertains to a very important aspect of PR, the importance of knowing your audience.

One of the things the media despises most is being pitched on topics that have nothing to do with the areas they cover. Reporters talk about this all the time and are quite vocal about the waste of time people are that don’t know what they write about and call to pitch them on things that have no interest to them.

Over the course of my career, there have been a number of things I’ve learned and implemented into the way I approach the media and PR in general that help me understand my audience better.

The most basic of these items is the research aspect. It’s not that hard to find out what individual reporters or media outlets cover. Social media makes it even easier, but even a quick Internet search can provide insights into areas of interest and specific details about how individual reporters like to be pitched and the types of opportunities that exist. By doing some quick research you’ll save yourself from being the person that calls and aggravates the media with stories and pitches that are not relevant. By knowing what their interests are and calling with solid tips or story ideas you’ll become a trusted source for them.

Once you’ve identified the right contacts creating a good pitch is of critical importance. An important part of crafting the pitch is thinking about and identifying all the important aspects that will help make the story a real story as well as the components the press will need to tell a complete story. These components can include photos and images, videos, experts that can provide insight into the story as well as customers to validate what you’re telling them.

When pitching and working with the media it’s important to know what they need and when they need it. Reporters are constantly working on deadlines and absolutely can’t miss their deadlines. If you promise to do something for a reporter, keep your word and do it. And, just as important, do it when you say you’ll do it. When you keep your word with the press, and anyone for that matter, you build confidence and trust.

Another key way to become a trusted resource for the media is to help them even when it doesn’t benefit a client or one of your own self interests. I used to work with a guy that had been an executive producer at a CBS affiliate in Las Vegas, Nevada and the ABC affiliate in Salt Lake City, Utah. After he left the media and focused on PR he would reach out to the press for his company and clients but he would also reach out to them on a regular basis for other news stories outside of his regular business. For example, in one instance he was driving on the freeway and saw the start of a forest fire along the interstate. He called a couple of the TV stations and gave them the tip about the fire. His call was the first call the media had about it and they were able to get out there and cover the story while providing viewers with valuable information about road closures and delays. While the story didn’t benefit his company or a client, it did provide him an opportunity to reach out the local media and provide them with a valuable news tip, specifically something that was relevant to them and their coverage.

Once you build these types of relationships with the media they’ll turn to you when they need help. I have a reporter friend that I’ve worked with for more than 15 years. He writes about my clients when I pitch him. He also calls me when he has an article he’s working on and needs sources to talk to. In a number of cases I haven’t had clients that fit what he’s looking for but know of other companies that would be valuable resources for him. In these instances, I proactively work with him to introduce him and help him get the interviews he needs to complete his article. By doing this I’ve become a trusted resource to him and he knows that our relationship is such that he can come to me when he needs help.

Years ago it was common to hear new clients express the same desire, to “sit on Oprah’s couch.” The theory was that if you got on the Oprah Winfrey show your business would flourish and you’d be rich. There were so many businesses and products that got featured on her show that everybody believed that a simple appearance on her show equated to guaranteed success and riches.

Many of my clients at this time were technology companies and start-ups, specifically software and hardware companies. Quite often I had to manage their expectations and explain that their product wasn’t the right fit for Oprah’s audience. Oprah featured consumer products that appealed to mass audiences, including books, movies and a variety of other consumer products and services. It was rare that she would feature software products that didn’t enable consumer products.

In these instances, with these clients, a pitch to Oprah and her staff would have been ignored because they weren’t the right fit for her audience. Many times clients were disheartened if they couldn’t get on Oprah’s couch. This didn’t mean that their product or service wasn’t valuable, it just wasn’t what Oprah and her audience wanted.

An understanding of who your audience is will lead to greater results with the media as well as other business endeavors. It’s important to know who you’re talking to. By knowing the interests of your audience you can more easily and quickly get to the point and begin driving results and success.

Being annoyed when people approach you or pitch you on things that you have no interest in is not exclusive to reporters. It’s annoying and frustrating no matter your profession. Regardless of environment, when you know and understand your audience you’ll have far greater success and achieve higher results.

Smashing PR Success At Salt Lake Comic Con

Salt Lake Comic Con recently wrapped up its seventh event in three years. It was another smashing success and I was proud to be a part of the team and contribute to another record setting event. I met with somebody the other day that asked what I was most proud of with my work with Salt Lake Comic Con. There are a couple things, but for the purposes of this blog entry I’ll focus on one.

Leading up to the first event in September of 2013 I began setting up media interviews with the founders of Salt Lake Comic Con and the local media. The founders were thrilled with the press coverage and some of the celebrities that had committed to come to the convention took notice as well.  One celebrity in particular, Lou Ferrigno, the actor that played the Hulk on the Incredible Hulk TV series was impressed by the media coverage I was generating. In fact, he said he’d be open to doing some interviews if I thought I could arrange some.

I told him that I could and decided to be bold and told him that if he would come out a day or two before the convention started that I could set up a series of interviews with all the local TV and radio stations as well as daily newspapers.

Ferrigno was doubtful but said to go ahead and if I could provide him with a schedule of opportunities he would consider coming out a day or two in advance of the convention.

I began pitching the media immediately.  I hadn’t given it much thought before speaking but I was confident that most news outlets would be interested in talking to him. As I began talking to the press my hunch was confirmed. The press was very eager to meet with him. I began building a schedule of press interviews and within a couple days of our initial conversation reached back out to Ferrigno to present the schedule and secure his final commitment.

Ferrigno was impressed and agreed to come to Salt Lake City two days early.  When he arrived, I spent the two days leading up to the event chauffeuring him around town to meet with every TV station, radio station and daily newspaper.  I remember as Ferrigno, who is 6’5” tall climbed into my Honda Accord. His knees jammed up against the dash and I told him he was welcome to slide the seat back and create more room. My exact words were, “It’s usually my 11-year-old son that sits there so please feel free to move the seat back.”

Riding around with the Hulk was fun. He’s a great guy and he shared a number of stories and experiences from his career. The media we met with loved him. At one radio station, one of the hosts asked for a photo and requested that Ferrigno put him in the sleeper hold, similar to what he did to one of the characters in the movie, I Love You Man. Ferrigno obliged and started adopting this into the photo’s he’d take with fans at his booth on the show floor during the convention.

After the con ended, Ferrigno reported that he had his best show ever. He attributed the success to the fact that he came in early to do all the media interviews I set up for him. After that first Salt Lake Comic Con he engaged in more social media activities and began seeking media opportunities in other cities where he attended comic cons.

The next year as we were ramping up for the second annual Salt Lake Comic Con I got a call from Barbara Eden’s agent. He asked if I could do for Barbara what I had done for Ferrigno at the first Salt Lake Comic Con event. I told him that I could and proceeded to do the same thing for Eden. Every show since I’ve had agents or celebrities reach out asking if I could set up media interviews for them.

Word spreads fast in the con community and celebrities and agents alike know that Salt Lake Comic Con will do whatever it takes to make them successful. What started off as bravado on my part has helped make Salt Lake Comic Con a can’t miss event for celebrities which is something that I’m very proud of.

 

Creative Thinking

During a recent interview somebody asked me what I had done for a client that was unique or different. Two things immediately came to mind.

In 2001 while working for the Salt Lake Olympic Committee for the Olympic Winter Games of 2002 (SLOC), Mitt Romney came to the PR team and said he was going to be in New York and had a free night. He said if we had anything or wanted to plan anything for him he’d be happy to do whatever we recommended.

There was the usual talk about who we could reach out to for an interview. However, I wanted to do something different. Mitt was always up for different and I was eager to take advantage of his adventurous spirit.  I came up with the recommendation to see if we could arrange for Mitt to throw out the first pitch at a New York Yankees game. I checked the schedule and the night he was going to be in town the Yankees were scheduled to play the Boston Red Sox.

I presented the recommendation to the team and we decided to act upon it. In those days, all requests to throw out the first pitch went through George Steinbrenner himself. We wrote him and explained what we wanted to do and why. Mr. Steinbrenner approved the request and we set the date.

When we told Mitt about it, my boss arranged to walk Mitt through the lobby where a colleague and I were playing catch with our gloves and a baseball. As my boss and Mitt walked out, naturally Mitt was curious why we were playing catch and of course asked us about it. We told him we were there to help him warm up to throw out the first pitch at an upcoming Yankees game.

At first he didn’t believe us. As we assured him it was happening he kept saying, “no, no. no.” We thought he was excited but it turns out he had injured his shoulder a few years prior and was limited in his range of motion. He didn’t think he could throw the ball far enough and didn’t want to embarrass himself.

We spent the next couple weeks working with Mitt and helping him warm his shoulder up. We measured the actual distance from the pitchers’ mound to home plate. I acted as his catcher and by the time it was time to leave for the trip back East he was ready and could throw the ball the entire way.

His trip included a stop in Washington, DC before New York. As Mitt was wrapping up his visit to our nations capital and heading to the airport, he was driving past the Pentagon when the freeway was suddenly engulfed in black smoke. As they exited the plumb of smoke, Mitt realized that there had been an accident at the Pentagon. He didn’t know it at the time but terrorists had just flown a plane into the Pentagon and into the World Trade Center in New York City.

Mitt missed his flight to New York. He was scheduled to throw the first pitch out on the night of September 11, 2001. Needless to say, it never happened.

The second event that popped into my mind was from when I first started working with Salt Lake Comic Con in 2013. The founders of Salt Lake Comic Con kept telling me that the press always wants to interview attending celebrities but that the celebrities typically don’t do interviews during the convention. Hearing this, I made the recommendation that we do a kickoff press conference and invite celebrities to attend and participate.

I recommended that we set up tables in the Grand Ballroom of the Salt Palace Convention Center, the venue for the convention and treat it like Super Bowl media day where the celebrities can sit at a table and media can approach them and interview them.

As we were about to start the press conference, Lou Ferrigno, the actor that played the Hulk in the Incredible Hulk TV series asked how long the press conference would last. I told him an hour and he said he would stick around for 30 minutes. We had about a dozen celebrities in attendance and about 150 media that were all eager to interview the celebrities.

About 30 minutes in I walked over to the table where Ferrigno was sitting to tell him that 30 minutes had passed and get him out of there. One of his handlers saw me coming, stopped me and asked what I was doing. I explained my conversation with Ferrigno and his handler told me not to worry about it. In his words, “Lou’s having too much fun with this, he’s not going anywhere.”

He and most of the other celebrities stayed for about an hour-and-a-half to make sure all the media got the interviews that they needed. Ferrigno approached me after and told me that he goes to all the comic cons in the country and nobody else does a press conference like this. He expressed how much he enjoyed it and how beneficial it would be for the celebrities and creating awareness of their appearance at the convention.

Other celebrities expressed the same sentiment to me and the founders. Since that first show, Salt Lake Comic Con kicks off its convention with a press conference. It’s one of the things that has helped differentiate Salt Lake Comic Con from other cons around the country. Each year our celebrity participation at the press conference increases. They all know we do it and all want to be a part of it. Additionally, at that first con, multiple celebrities told us that the awareness generated led to them having their best and most successful con ever.

Both of these examples illustrate recommendations I made that were outside the box and that led to huge success for clients and companies I work with.

Crying Wolf

I grew up with my mom reading me the story of the boy that cried wolf. I thought it was a good lesson but that things like this would never happen in real life let alone in the business world.

I was surprised to learn that in business people cry wolf all the time.

Several years ago I had a boss that personified this issue. On my second day on the job she ran out of her office and gathered the team together. Once everyone was there she began screaming at us about an issue to which I had no idea what she was talking about. The gist of the yelling was at the end when she asked, “Am I going to have to fire all of you?”

That caught my attention and I remember thinking, “I can’t afford to get fired, I just got here. I have no idea what she’s talking about but I’m going to figure this out real quick so I don’t get fired.”

I figured out what she was talking about and made sure I never did what she was upset about. A few days later she came running out of her office again and gathered the team around her. She was all fired up again and screamed and yelled at us and ended with the threat to fire us all. This time the fear factor associated with this had lessened.

A few days later when the same routine happened, the effect she was hoping for was lost on me. By this time I knew she was all bark and no bite.

I’ve found over the course of my career that there are a lot of business professionals that behave in similar ways and lose credibility as a result. After living through that experience and others, I’ve developed a list of the ways to avoid crying wolf and losing credibility with those you work with.

• Stop and think before you freak out. It’s easy to fly off the handle and let the emotion of the moment get the best of you. When something unexpected happens or that angers you the initial response is usually to just react. Often that initial reaction to a negative situation is itself negative and can cause unexpected reactions from others involved. I recommend taking a minute to breath and gather your thoughts before reacting. In my experience, taking a moment before responding can give time to clear your thoughts and take some of the emotion out of the situation.
• Don’t make snap decisions or exaggerations. In the situation I described above, my boss at the time went straight for the jugular every time something went wrong. At first her harsh reactions scared people. However, it didn’t take long before we all began to realize that she was just crying wolf and that we really didn’t have anything to fear. If you can respond calmly and rationally and avoid the dramatic theatrics of threatening to fire people with every mistake or problem your team will respect you more and will be able to know and understand the gravity of a situation based on your response. The team will in turn respond accordingly and give their full effort to remedy the situation.
• Have a resolution. Before losing it and freaking out, strategize on a resolution to the issue. By taking the time to think about and come up with a resolution to the issue you’ll diffuse the issue by taking the emotion out of it. Stopping to think about a solution will delay an outburst you may regret later and serve as a way to calm your nerves before speaking.
• Don’t be afraid to communicate. So often things aren’t said that should and things that shouldn’t be said are. If you think it’s important and can benefit somebody or a situation then express it. Good old fashioned communication will do wonders for building trust and loyalty.
• Be honest. The best form of communication is honest communication. If you’re mad about something or disappointed, be honest and explain why. Similarly, if you’re pleased or happy about an accomplishment share that. Everybody appreciates honesty. It may be hard to hear at times, but if you’re consistent with your honest feedback people will respect that and even come to expect it.

By tempering your reaction to stressful or challenging events you’ll be able to manage the situation more effectively while at the same time earning the respect and trust of your team. Crying wolf creates animosity and uncertainty with colleagues and team members. Uncertainty leads to hesitation and a lack of creativity and desire to perform and give maximum effort. While a flare for the dramatic may be popular on TV there’s no place for it in a business setting.

Your Role In PR

In talking to a client the other day, I was caught off guard by something he said. Since he said it, I can’t get it off my mind and thought it is worth writing about to clarify and shed some light on the issue.

This client said he was surprised that since he started the PR program with my agency that he was required to do some work in support of the program. He said he was surprised at the amount of work he had to do as part of the PR we’re doing for him. I asked him to clarify and he explained that he didn’t realize that a PR program would require any of his time.

As we met with him and were putting together the program I explained that my team and I would take care of things like writing and setting up interviews with the media. He took that very literally. As we set about executing on the PR strategy we created I set up some interviews and came back to him to get them on his calendar. We also wrote a couple of press releases and, as I customarily do, I asked him to review it to make sure I had represented everything accurately.

When I said I would take care of everything he thought it would all happen and he could just sit back and watch. While that’s true, it’s only true to a certain extent. I’ll take care of executing on the PR strategy but it will still require time from the client.

With this experience in mind, I’ve listed some of the things a client will need to be involved in when working with a PR firm. By no means is this everything, as your time commitment will differ based on goals and objectives, but these items are things that, in most instances, will require some of your time and commitment.

• Media Interviews: The wow factor of any PR program is the media coverage. In most instances, this is why businesses engage in PR. Media coverage helps build awareness, credibility and establish a company as an industry thought leader or an individual as an industry expert. For the most part, if a reporter is interested in talking to a company they want to talk to the CEO or an executive that can talk about the company, it’s products or services as well as the company’s vision, not the PR person. While your PR team will pitch and set up these opportunities and prepare you for the interview you will need to give the time to prepare and conduct the interview. Most interviews will last anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. Take these opportunities serious and, even more importantly, take the time necessary to prepare for these interviews so you can maximize the opportunity.
• Press releases and other written materials: Press releases are vital tools to educating the public or your target markets. It’s an opportunity for you to quickly share important news about your company, product or service. Writing a press release often requires the time to share the pertinent details and information with your PR team. Once the release is written you’ll need to set aside some time to review, edit and approve the press release. For one, you’ll want to make sure you’re aware of what the release says and that more importantly the information included is accurate. Once a press release is issued it’s hard to go back and correct the details and can lead to distrust or lack of confidence from your partners, clients and customers.
• Regular meetings with your PR team: The purpose of engaging in a PR campaign is to create awareness and build credibility for your brand. To do this you’ll need to meet with your PR team regularly to update them on progress, company initiatives and other activities so they can do their job effectively. These regular meetings can vary on frequency depending on goals and objectives, but they need to happen to maximize your investment in PR. I always tell clients to tell me everything and then I can tell them what is newsworthy or valuable to the PR campaign. You can keep these meetings short and to the point by creating an agenda and sharing it in advance of the actual meeting.

In my experience the more my team and I know the more effective we can be for our clients. Similarly, the more time the client is willing to spend engaged in the PR program the more success we can generate. I’ve had clients that have said they want to talk to the press, create awareness and credibility only to pass on the opportunities we create. In these instances they have minimal success. I’ve also had clients that are fully engaged in their PR program and are willing and eager to participate and leverage the opportunities we create for them. For those that are committed to PR success and give of their time they are more successful and are able to fully reap the benefits of their PR program.

I’m Running Late. Translation: “I Don’t Care About You or Your Time”

I don’t like to be late. In fact, you could even say I hate being late. So much so that to the irritation of my wife and family I leave early enough that I usually arrive 10-15 minutes early and end up waiting in the car until the actual start time of whatever event we’re attending. I’m the guy that takes the advice when traveling to show up at the airport early to ensure you’re not stuck in the security lines and end up reading a book or magazine for an hour or more while I wait to board my flight.

In my mind, I’d rather be early than late. I don’t want my brand to be such that everybody knows I’ll be late to any and every meeting. It seems like more and more I find myself wishing that others would share this same feeling. The other day I had a meeting with a person that is always late. It’s a chronic issue with this person, so much so that her brand is built upon her tardiness.

As I sat and waited, I got a text saying she was going to be late due to a traffic issue. As I received the text I saw the person getting out of her car carrying an empty McDonald’s bag and sucking down the last of her soda. I laughed but at the same time was thinking, “Typical. “

I was taught that being late was rude and an indication that you don’t care about the others involved in the activity. In essence, when you’re late you’re saying, “Whatever it is I was doing is far more important than what you’re doing.”

In the experience I shared above, the person has been branded by me and others she deals with as always being late. People that deal with her know that no matter the meeting or appointment she’ll be late. That’s a brand I never want to be saddled with.

Here are some tips to arriving on time and not being branded as the person that can’t ever show up on time.

• Prepare in advance. Take some time to think about how long it usually takes you to travel or get from one place to another. Think about the other tasks you have to accomplish and prioritize these activities. I start every day by creating a list of the things I need to accomplish. I prioritize those activities and start with the most urgent tasks. If something unexpected comes up, I know which activities I can postpone in favor of the unexpected emergencies that sometimes come up.
• Create a schedule. A schedule should give you a checklist to work from. In my experience, it’s nice to have a list to work from and to ensure that you’re not forgetting something. I travel once a quarter for onsite meetings with a client in another state. For these meetings I create a schedule to help ensure that when I arrive onsite for the meetings I have everything I need.
• Start early. My wife taught me this. When we have a vacation or event like a holiday to prepare and plan for she starts early. She creates a list of the things we need to do to be ready for the event. If the event is a vacation, her list includes things like arranging for mail to be held during the trip, cleaning the house, packing luggage and paying bills in advance. She even plans grocery shopping and charging camera batteries in advance. By doing this, we’re not waking up the day we leave for vacation trying to pack luggage in time to catch our flight.
• Plan for unexpected events. I set up an interview with one my clients the other day and on the way to the interview my client was involved in a fender bender. It wasn’t his fault, he was rear ended by another motorist. This was certainly something that was not expected but he had left early enough that even while waiting for the police to come and issue citations he was still able to get to the interview on time. Things like this happen all the time, but if you plan and leave early enough you can still keep and make appointments.

There are always exceptions to arriving on time and being late, but when it’s a chronic problem there are no excuses. An inability to arrive on time is a sign of laziness and demonstrates that you don’t care or that a meeting or commitment is unimportant. In the business world it can destroy your brand and reputation. By being prompt and keeping commitments you build trust and demonstrate your commitment to your career, your clients and the others you work with.

A Deadline’s A Deadline Is A Deadline

In public relations (PR), the most important thing to remember and master is the ability to meet a deadline. Deadlines get tossed about in every profession and rarely are taken that serious, but in PR, specifically when dealing with the media is not something to take lightly. Fortunately for me, I learned the value of meeting a deadline at a young age.

When I was in college I took a class on news reporting and the professor would give very specific deadlines for our assignments. She was a former newspaper photographer and took deadlines very seriously. I’ll never forget the first day of class she told us that if we miss a deadline we might as well not even show up for class that day because if we’re late, even by a second we wouldn’t get credit for the assignment.

It didn’t’ take long before this rule was put to the test and proven by the professor. One day, shortly after the start of term one of my classmates was a few minutes late. Our professor would stand at the door with a watch in hand keeping track of the official time. The deadline was set by that watch and she kept time using that watch for all assignments. True to her word, she did not accept the assignment. From that point on we knew she meant business and we all set our own watches by that watch.

One day I woke up and my wife told me that it had snowed overnight and that traffic was going to be slow due to the unexpected snow. I peered out the window and was shocked at the sheer amount of snow. The first thought that crossed my mind was my deadline for my news reporting class. I had worked hard to complete the assignment and was suddenly worried that I wasn’t going to make it on time and get credit for the assignment and all the hard work.

I left immediately. The trip to campus took longer than I had anticipated and as I pulled in the parking lot I was the first car to approach the empty parking lot covered in a fresh blanket of about 15 inches of snow. I pulled into the parking lot and was immediately stuck due to the deep snow. I had about five minutes until my deadline so I abandoned my car and made a mad dash for the classroom.

I ran as hard and fast as I could and finally reached my classroom. As I entered I caught a glimpse of myself in the glass door and realized I was covered in a layer of snow. As I walked in, sure enough, my professor was standing there watching her watch. I handed her my assignment and she responded with, “Just in time. You’re the first and only student here and the only one that truly understands a deadline.” She proceeded to inform me that as of that moment the deadline had passed and nobody would be getting credit for that day’s assignment.

I felt a huge sense of relief and explained to her how I made it. She laughed and informed me that she didn’t care about the how, only that I made my deadline. She then dismissed me to go free my car.

As I left to return to the parking lot to try and free my car I remember thinking that I really did understand what it means to meet a deadline. With this experience in mind, I’ve listed below four tips consider to ensure that you successfully meet your deadlines.

• Prioritize: Some projects or assignments are more important that others. When you have more than one project you’re working on you should know which ones are more important than others. If you don’t ask your boss or supervisor. In the movie The Shawshank Redemption, one of the characters is stealing a TV. He’s got the TV rested on his shoulder when the police arrive and one of the officers points his gun at him and yells, “Freeze! Put your hands in the air.” The thief stands there and the cop asks him why he didn’t do what he was asked to do, and he responds, “Well which one is it? Freeze or put my hands in the air?”
• Communicate: If a boss or supervisor comes and gives you an assignment, don’t be afraid to tell him or her what other projects you’re currently working on. If they give you a new assignment with an aggressive deadline and you’re already working under another tight deadline with this boss, remind them of that fact. Provide them with a recommendation and strategy for how you’ll accomplish both but emphasis that it may require a delay in one of the deadlines. By talking to them and communicating these issues they can agree to your strategy or provide other input. Either way, they’ll be aware and you’ll have their buy off.
• Set milestones: I believe that milestones play a critical role in accomplishing and meeting any deadline. In the first bullet point I described my son’s book report assignments. When my son tells us about these assignments, my wife and I (usually more my wife than me) sit down with him and set goals and milestones for accomplishing the book report. We start by setting a date to have identified a book for him to read. The next step is setting a goal for reading the book followed by a target date for writing the report. If one of these milestones is not accomplished we can sit down and review why it wasn’t met and identify what we need to do to still meet the deadline.
• Plan for the unexpected: In the experience I shared above, the snowstorm was unexpected. That didn’t matter to my professor though. I didn’t’ necessarily plan for this and there was really no way that I could have, but I acted immediately upon learning of the snowstorm. I didn’t waste time but rather made the most of the time I had. I’ve learned since then to allow for and plan to give myself plenty of time so even if I get a flat tire I can still be on time and meet my deadline. At times my insistence on leaving early drives my wife crazy but I’d rather be a little early and end up waiting in the car than be late and miss a deadline.

Deadlines are critical to a successful working relationship with the press. An ability to meet a deadline will help you build long-lasting relationships of trust with the media and will help you accomplish your goals and secure the desired coverage for your business or clients. By following these tips, you’ll have a significant leg up on understanding and meeting critical deadlines.