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Freelancer = Team Leader

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The observations and experiences of leadership gurus, whether academic or in the field (i.e., on the job), indicate that hiring the most talented and qualified candidates for a job or project is just half the story. Those who study performance in the workplace learned long ago that other than professional expertise, plus a basic ability to work cooperatively with others, the ingredients needed to cultivate and development a high-performance team that achieves excellent outcomes are psychological.

Decades of research has demonstrated that when workers and team members feel psychologically fulfilled, they tend to be happy and productive. Autonomy, competence and camaraderie lead the list of conditions and attributes known to give rise to the best teams, Respect (emanating from the team leader and fellow team members), trust and ____. These are the supporting pillars of team spirit that inspires cooperation, collaboration, creativity and enthusiasm for the project and realization of the full expression of goals.

Successful leaders create the conditions that beneficial relationships on the teams that they lead, using the usual resources available—communication style, showing appreciation, productive meetings, and deeper friendships, every workplace has the ability to fuel people’s basic psychological need for relatedness and lift team performance.

Leaders of high-performing teams hold productive meetings

It’s no secret that poorly run meetings contribute to are a waste of time. They are are also demoralizing, they sap enthusiasm and creativity and contribute to diminished outcomes, work ethic and worker satisfaction. Studies of workplaces indicate that the leaders of high-performing teams run good meetings. Smart leaders avoid the inadequate planning associated with poorly run meetings by incorporating practices shown to make meetings worthwhile.

Those leaders/ meeting conveners take the time to develop the the right agenda. Further, they invite only those who should to the meeting who should attend—-team members plus key stakeholders, as needed. Next, the team leader/ meeting convener will ask for reports to be sent out with the meeting agenda aand expect meeting attendees to read the reports and contribute information or ask questions. Finally, the team leader/meeting convener will open the proceedings with a round-robin progress check-in that invites team members to give a concise update on their work that creates the benefit of keepsing fellow team members apprised of the big picture of the team’s progress.

By ensuring that time together is both efficient and collaborative, leaders of high-performing teams don’t just make better use of their meetings, they also set the stage for more positive interactions, contributing to shared information, cooperation, group problem-solving where necessary and good relationships.

Leaders of high-performing teams pick up the phone

While telephone calls are, unfortunately, much less common in the workplace in general, that’s not the case with leaders of high-performing teams. Research has found that the best leaders communicate more frequently in general, and they are significantly more likely to communicate with colleagues using the telephone than their less successful peers (10.1 vs. 6.1 calls per day on average).

While studies have found that most people expect that telephone calls will be somehow awkward or uncomfortable, that’s a misperception. Not only are phone calls no more awkward in practice, they also tend to strengthen relationships and prevent misunderstanding, contributing to more fruitful interactions among teammates.

Leaders of high-performing teams show appreciation

A key reason the need for relatedness contributes to better performance at work is that it makes us feel valued, appreciated, and respected by those whose opinions we prize. It’s why recognition is often a more powerful motivating force than monetary incentives.

Within our study, members of high-performing teams reported receiving more frequent appreciation at work — both from their colleagues (72% more) as well their managers (79% more). Critically, they also reported expressing appreciation to their colleagues more frequently (44% more), suggesting that within the best teams, appreciation doesn’t flow from the top down. It’s a cultural norm that’s observable in peer-to-peer interactions.

Leaders of high-performing teams support authenticity

Members of high-performing teams are significantly more likely to express their thoughts, ideas and values with their fellow team members. In emails to the team, they use exclamation points and add a personal touch to messages by including emojis. They’re also more likely to compliment, joke with, and socialize outside of the office with their teammates.

Incidentally, members of high- performing teams also complain, when they feel the need and they’ll get sarcastic, too. They feel free to be themselves, while holding fast to respect and professional behavior.

By incorporating simple, evidence-based practices that yield better communication, more productive meetings and deeper friendships, Freelancer/ team leaders have the ability to fuel people’s basic psychological need for cooperation and camaraderie and support the achievement of excellent team performance.

Thanks for reading and Happy Thanksgiving,

Kim

Image: Mountain climbing on the Arctic Team challenge adventure race in East Greenland

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Semiotics Storytelling

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Semiotics is the study of signs and symbols in verbal and nonverbal communication— language, gestures, or clothing and images. Semiotics explains meaning and reveals how we instinctively interpret the messages we receive, wherever we encounter them. The field of semiotics has plenty of lofty academic associations (maybe that’s why I never considered becoming a semiotics major), but I’ve discovered that the field has boots on the ground implications for marketers, too.

Your typical marketing professional is unlikely to realize it, but semiotics is the foundation of everything we do, from creating marketing messages to logo design, encompassing calls to action and all sorts of customer persuasion campaigns that are intended to influence buying decisions.

Laura Oswald, author of of Marketing Semiotics: Signs, Strategies and Brand Value (2011) and Founder/ President of Marketing Semiotics, a boutique brand strategy and research firm in Chicago, IL says, “Semiotic theories and methods can be used to identify trends in popular culture, to understand how consumer attitudes and behavior are formed in relation to popular culture, including brands, and how marketing and advertising programs can best meet the needs of consumers by improving communication with the end user.”

The decisions we make are often influenced by our emotions and those emotions are often guided by our subconscious interpretations of words and images. Semiotics can help decode those subconscious messages and marketers can use that awareness to create messages and branding that draw in the target audience.

You tap into semiotics as you articulate the brand identity, brand communication style and also your brand ethos, i.e., your company’s reputation and how customers (current and potential) perceive your brand. The quality of the products you sell or services you provide, along with the customer service and customer experience your company delivers, are the essence of brand ethos.

You rely on semiotics to create or select all of the marketing sytories and symbols that represent and promote your business—the behavioral, verbal and visual identities. To ramp up the power and broaden the reach of your brand, with a goal to inspire or strenghten customer loyalty to your brand, marketers are also advised to incorporate selected preferences and values that are popular with your target audience into your brand symbols.

So let your ads, social media posts, website and marketing emails echo the terminology or slang, images and colors most meaningful to your target audience loves. In addition to the colors that represent your company’s visual packaging and brand identity, even shapes carry meaning.

In particular, the shape of your logo communicates more than you may have thought about your company. Circles communicate friendship, unity, inclusion, safety and warmth (but you knew that!). Squares symbolize power and professionalism; those straight lines telegraph strength, dependability and also tranquillity.

So tap into the resources that semiotics provides to marketers and discover the secrets of how your audience may interpret what you communicate and learn the best ways to appeal to those you want to persuade.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Photograph: Kim Clark October 2021

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6 Soft Skills You Need Now

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The behaviors known as soft skills continue to be highly valued in the workplace. Unlike technical, or “hard” skills, that encompass job functions, soft skills refer to the values and practices that shape your working style—-how you interact with clients and colleagues, how you manage your work and how you solve problems. Soft skills govern how you behave in different situations. They reveal who you are.

Technological innovations such as artificial intelligence and automation have made the execution of numerous mechanical or routine tasks faster, cheaper and more accurate and that saves time and money. However, the adoption of AI has contributed to the value of soft skills because the jobs that the machines cannot do are often dependent on soft skills.

Freelancers, who must present ourselves to prospective clients as not only possessing the hard skills required to get the job done, but also communicate that we’re good to work with—- resourceful, cooperative, dependable, pleasant—-are perhaps more explicitly in need of soft skills than are employees. It is now obvious that for Freelancers, soft skills such as emotional intelligence, adaptability, optimism, self-motivation and resilience are critical success factors. It is doubtful that you can build and sustain a successful venture without displaying your command of soft skills traits. Soft skills are also elements of your personal brand, BTW.

Of the many soft skills that Freelancers might cultivate, the following come to mind for me (and I’m sure that you, dear reader, can suggest several more):

  • Analytical ability
  • Creativity
  • Judgment
  • Communication
  • Organization
  • Teamwork

Analytical ability

Problem-solving starts with analyzing the issue you need to unravel, examine, evaluate and resolve. Looking beyond the surface to discover the root cause or motivators of the problem is usually necessary. Analyzing a dilemma can include a number of problem/solving skills, including:

  • Research
  • Forecasting
  • Historical analysis
  • Risk management

Creativity

The solution to a problem is not always obvious. Predicting what clients may want next is an ongoing puzzle. Out-of-the-box thinking and other points of view can be very beneficial as you search for a viable ideas and solutions.

  • Brainstorming
  • Editing
  • Design or presentation of products and services
  • Narratives

Judgment

Drawing from your life experiences is the most reliable way to develop good judgment because ideally, we learn from our experiences. As you navigate the personal and professional sectors of life, you’ll eventually learn how to consider the nature of a problem, understand what resources could be needed to bring about the solution and recognize what might go wrong along the way. The soft skills you’ll rely on will include:

  • Critical thinking
  • Decision-making
  • Collaboration

Communication

Communication is the foundation of problem- solving. Leaders (and managers) must be able to inspire, motivate, reassure, coach and constructively criticize. Being a good communicator also helps you to articulate your decisions and persuade your team to align and support your vision.

  • Active listening
  • Patience
  • Persuasion
  • Negotiation
  • Empathy
  • Building rapport
  • Public speaking
  • Body language
  • Verbal communication
  • Written communication

Organization

Once you’ve chosen a solution to a problem and communicated it to your team, you still have to create a process to carry out your plan. Organization skills help you implement the steps everyone needs to take, which can improve alignment and efficiency. Executing a strategy to achieve your solution requires a number of problem-solving, among them:

  • Prioritization
  • Initiative
  • Project management
  • Time management

Teamwork

Teamwork is essential to successfully collaborate with your colleagues. or your work partner or contact at a client’s firm. It’s necessary for brainstorming and exchanging ideas, delegating tasks and efficiently working toward a solution.

Even if your role is largely independent work, you still need teamwork to collaborate with colleagues in different departments and keep your goals on track. As a Freelancer, your role could involve interacting with multiple people. Make an effort to develop the skills that will make everyone want you on their team:

  • Collaboration
  • Delegation
  • Feedback, giving and receiving
  • Goal setting
  • Dependability
  • Prioritizing
  • Setting expectations
  • Assessing employee strengths and weaknesses
  • Setting expectations
  • Performance evaluation
  • Identifying outcomes
  • Trust
  • Respect

Thanks for reading,

Kim

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What the Elevator Pitch Must Do in 2022  

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Yet another pandemic-era reboot that everyone who earns a living would be wise to make is how you introduce your professional self to prospective clients, a potential new employer, or your colleagues and peers. In-person meetings and events are reappearing and your clients are returning to the office, maybe reluctantly and just a couple of days a week. There are advantages to getting back into the swing of things, but your face2face interaction skills may have become a little rusty from lack of use.

I recently attended a virtual meeting of about 15 people and since we didn’t really know each other, we were asked to introduce ourselves and say a little something about our professional background and current role—- in other words, everyone gave an Elevator Pitch. Most of us were a little flabby because that muscle hadn’t been flexed in many months.

But hitting the restart button and expecting your 2-fer Elevator Pitch/ self-introduction to slide off your tongue the way it did in January 2020 is magical thinking. Navigating life and business in the New Normal requires a skill set update.

Remember that the purpose of an Elevator Pitch is to facilitate the growth of your network and your business. In a good Elevator Pitch, you persuasively communicate your value proposition and help prospects understand what you can do for them. A well- worded pitch will express the purpose and usefulness of your business and make clear what sets it apart from alternatives offered by competitors.

Craft your Elevator Pitch to:

1). Capture the attention of prospects and entice them to devote valuable time to listening to you tell them why your product or service might interest them.

2). Help prospects see a possible role for your product or service in their organization.

The prospect

In-depth and continuously updated knowledge of your target customer groups is a given, so you’ll know who you’re selling to. What do you offer that they might need and value? How can your product or service help them to either achieve objectives or solve/ avoid problems? What might your prospects find worrisome in 2022 and how have they managed that challenge so far?

Taking a few moments to think about these questions will help steer your pitch in the right direction and lead to what you’d like prospects to remember about you and your business. The goal is to make your pitch powerful yet succinct, clearly articulating why prospective customers should choose you.

Your value

What are the unique attributes and selling points of your product or service? Understanding the value you deliver will bring to the forefront talking points that prospects want to hear. Keep your customers, competencies and your competitors in mind as you develop your value proposition. Your task is to recognize and articulate what differentiates your company and how you are uniquely positioned to more effectively, quickly, or inexpensively solve problems and help customers achieve objectives, as compared to the competition.

BTW, your main competitor is inertia. Doing nothing is a popular “solution” because it’s easy and people think they’re saving money. Can your pitch motivate listeners to become customers? Assess the response your pitch receives from different customer groups and make adjustments where necessary.

How you say it

Experts recommend that you limit your Elevator Pitch to about 30 seconds and 75 words. Ideally, your little story will be clear, concise and compelling. Fine tune the wording to ensure that you express your company’s (and your own) unique value proposition in uncomplicated language that resonates. The ideal pitch will also be adaptable and easily made longer or shorter to fit different contexts.

Do it well and you’ll make a memorable first impression on a potential client (or new employer). A good Elevator Pitch in your back pocket makes it easier to start conversations off on the right foot, with the ultimate goal of discovering or creating opportunities. The process needed to create your pitch will take not only time, but also face2face experiences before you get it the way you need it.

In 2022 and beyond, all sales and marketing messages must be digestible in mere seconds if you intend to hold a listener’s attention. Clearly and concisely roll out a maximum of three or four selling points known to intrigue prospective customers and become persuasive and memorable takeaways.

  • What you do

Identify the need for your product. Encourage your listener to become interested in your products and services. Show that there is demand for what you provide.

  • For whom you do it

Describe your product-market fit with a powerful sound-bite that sums up in a sentence or two the customers you usually work with and why they do business with you.

  • The value delivered

The listener is more likely to trust your solution when it’s presented as an easy-to-picture remedy that gets the job done. After you establish the need, briefly explain how or why your solution works, based on real-life examples.

When and where to pitch

To more consistently recognize circumstances when it would be appropriate to present your elevator pitch, train yourself to be hyper-aware of your surroundings and the people you meet. Opportunities to deliver your Elevator Pitch don’t always occur where and when we might expect. Do not overlook casual settings as places to meet and interact with potential customers or employers. A wedding you attend, a running group or book club you join, a summer holiday barbecue, or chatting in line at the grocery store can lead to a door-opening, satisfying or lucrative discovery.

Follow-up

Conclude your Elevator Pitch with a call-to-action when the listener shows an active interest in the use and outcomes of your products or services. Ask for a card and offer yours, so that everyone’s website and social media sites can be viewed. Better still, offer to send the link to a newsletter, podcast, blog post or other source that addresses the topic or questions that were raised. You’re looking to establish legitimacy and expertise, build a relationship that leads to trust and rake in some billable hours.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: © Associated Press President John F. Kennedy visited Tirana, Albania while on a state visit to Europe June 23 – July 2, 1963.

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When Your Client Goes Hybrid

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You’re a Freelance consultant and well aware that continually demonstrating your value to clients, prospects and potential referral sources is an ongoing must-do. You may agree this is especially true when you recently arrive at an assignment. Your new client may throw a curve ball, maybe as a test or maybe because s/he is crazy busy. Whatever the motive, you’d better not fumble.

Increasingly, the ability to function effectively in a hybrid work environment is a competency that Freelancers and company leaders and their teams must acquire. Those of you who specialize in process improvement might even be hired to help a client institute systems and protocols designed to enable a hybrid team to operate well. Others may discover—-surprise!—-that you’ve arrived at a gig where the team is in the midst of going hybrid. Don’t be surprised to see that it will be up to you to figure out how to interact with both at-home and office-based staff and still hit your milestones and meet the deadline.

So in your back pocket it’s a good idea to have a road map to guide you through the hybrid landscape, a blueprint designed to minimize any awkwardness or missteps between the at-home and in-office crews and you. The objectives are to demonstrate your project management and political skills, produce the deliverable you’ve been hired to produce (on time and on budget) and, most of all, increase the odds of getting called back for another project. You can do it.

Martine Haas, Ph.D., professor of management and organizational behavior at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton Business School, notes that the most common challenges resulting from hybrid teams originate from what she named 5C Challenges: communication, coordination, connection, creativity and culture. You can study her 5C guideposts as you prepare to encourage hybrid team members you’ll work with to bridge the divide between working from home and working in the office. Do that and you’ll support efficiency and productivity, enhance the success of your project and lower your stress level, too.

Communication

Sometimes, a team member who should be included in an email is accidentally omitted. That little error can result in that person being unintentionally dropped from an important conversation. The error might also result in that person being excluded from an important decision. This type of unfortunate consequence is disproportionately borne by those on the WFH shift.

Freelancers might consider developing a list of primary and secondary contacts and stakeholders and making note of who is present or absent from communications and also when decisions will be made. Politically savvy and practical Freelancers take steps to ensure that all who can contribute valuable work and perspectives will participate when you need them most.

More often than in-office teams like to admit, WFH team members are also prone to be omitted from informal discussions and minor decisions made by those who are working together in the office. The problem lies somewhere between out of sight, out of mind and the logistics of bringing WFH folks into the conversation.

Connection

In addition to technological and logistical coordination, the importance of the team’s social interactions should not be minimized. It’s vital to also encourage social connections between in-office and WFH crews, although composition of each may vary depending on the day of the week. Life and work are about building and nurturing relationships. Our networks contribute quite a bit to the success and happiness we achieve. There’s a reason that most people consider networking to meet peers or potential mentors, partners, investors, or sponsors so important.

Because a WFH schedule physically separates coworkers and has the potential to isolate and cause relationships to wither, occasional informal videoconference meetings could provide a helpful balance. Freelancers should be able to schedule an informal video meeting or two without appearing to over-reach. Nurturing relationships within your working team will make the experience better for all. Speak with your primary contact and propose an ice-breaker introduction video call designed to bring your project team together and set the stage for positive 5C experiences.

Coordination

Hybrid teams bring a greater risk of snafus than working face2face. The most common downside is the gradual onset of a rift between the in-office and WFH crews. Freelancers would be wise to apply extra effort to coordinate and follow-up with team members who work remotely. Without diligence, WFH team members could slip out of the loop.

That could result in the WFH crew not being completely on board with certain assumptions or adjustments that the in-office crew has agreed upon, for example. Freelancers working in a hybrid environment would be wise to take whatever necessary steps that bring in-office and WFH crews into agreement and on the same page. Freelancers usually depend on certain information, access, approvals, or actions to reach project milestones. Agreement and coordination are essential to success and must be enabled.

Creativity

It was probably discovered a few centuries ago that conversations spark creativity. It’s becoming apparent that teams working together in the same physical space experience a sort of collective creativity that arises organically when co-workers spontaneously begin to discuss a problem or opportunity. Scheduling a videoconference to conduct a brainstorming session is just not the same. It’s so much better to bounce ideas around with others or work intensively on solving a problem together. If it’s possible to bring WFH team members into the office once or twice during the project timeline do so. All 5C metrics will get a boost.

Culture

The phenomenon known as The Great Resignation, which was discussed in the September 7, 2021 post, has had a profound effect on working in America. The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently reported that in February 2022, U.S. businesses had nearly 12 million unfilled jobs.

That means once cohesive teams are in danger of weakening as people exit. When experienced employees leave and new ones arrive, another challenge of the WFH era is how to onboard newcomers and integrate them into the company’s culture, the expression of its brand and respect for its values. If a fluid but essentially constant percentage of a company’s workforce will remain in WFH mode, rarely or never working side-by-side with colleagues or spending time together to talk shop, how can a company’s unique “personality” be maintained or communicated? Back-channel, off-the-record. tellings are powerful. Institutional memory is a precious resource.

One fact is clear about the future of work, at least in the near term and that is, the hybrid workforce will be the norm for many organizations large and small and we’d better learn to navigate them.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

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B2B Selling: Virtual or Face2Face?

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Hand-wringing regularly ensues when business owners and their sales teams discuss the subject of B2B selling in the pandemic era of the digital age. Gaining access to prospective customers, especially, has never been more challenging. Work From Home has sharply limited personal contact between buyers and sellers and impeded the development of a mutually beneficial relationship that the standard face2face sales call enables.

I spent about a dozen years selling at a Fortune 100 company and built a 7-figure sales territory by driving around to meet customers and prospects face2face, developing and nurturing relationships and creating business. There’s lots of evidence to prove that the ideal sales call takes place In Real Time. However, there are exceptions. Much depends on the product or service being sold as well as the industry tradition.

Office-based sales reps at one time earned a nice living by using the telephone, the original virtual communication tool, to sell ad placements for magazines and newspapers. Sellers and buyers often developed cozy relationships that over time led to regularly appearing ads and excellent life time customer value for many accounts.

Telephone sales of ad placements in print and online publications continues, but customer lists and revenues have withered. Advertising on social media platforms, especially Facebook and LinkedIn, plus Google, Bing and Yahoo are robust and growing. With the exception of Google, which employs telemarketers to call prospects, email appeals and pop-up ads on the sites are the sales strategies. Other than a record of prior sales, customer knowledge and relationship development have been shunted aside. No one is complaining, so the practice continues.

Despite the new normal sales landscape, every business will eventually need B2B products or services of some sort. The traditional role of the sales professional—sharing anecdotal user experience data, recommending solutions that could potentially deliver the desired result, earning trust and building relationships—-is even more valuable in our prolonged state of uncertainty. The customer and the type of product or service being sold will guide you to the most effective sales approach, face2face or virtual, if you have the luxury of making a choice.

When face2face is best

New customer acquisition is more difficult in the virtual realm, whether telephone or videoconferencing. Many subtleties of voice, body language, or facial expression could be unnoticed by the seller or go unexpressed by the buyer in a medium that some consider to be unnatural or inscrutable.

Whenever possible, arrange a face2face sales meeting with prospects. You want to enable good communication so that the prospective customer will be relaxed enough to tell his/her story—- the problem or goal, the purpose, the deadline, the budget and the decision-maker.

You don’t want clunky technology inadvertently putting up a barrier. There’s just no substitute for the reassuring presence of a friendly, efficient and knowledgeable sales professional to encourage the customer’s confidence and trust in your organization and its products and services.

Especially in complex sales situations, virtual connections alone can’t match the ability of a sales professional on the scene, to draw out of the prospect the kind of full disclosure that puts all the cards on the table and allows for the best solution to be proposed.

When phone calls work


Cross-selling, up-selling, add-ons and renewals can usually be successfully achieved by way of a digital medium, including the phone. Many are weary of videoconferencing and will be relieved to work things out on the telephone.

The WFH environment presents a credible excuse to call customers to initiate a check-in to verify that they’re fully realizing the purpose and value of the solution that’s been purchased. The phone call can also open the door to a cross-selling/ up-selling pitch. Phone follow-up is especially useful when products or services are bought as a subscription (e.g., SaaS) or consumption-based (e.g., cloud services).

Usage by customers is the key to repeat business (and sales revenue growth) and usage is ruled by value. Technology companies have customer success managers who work mostly by phone and videoconferencing to help existing customers maximize the ongoing benefits of their purchase.

Leverage the virtual advantage

B2B sales execs are learning that effective virtual selling requires more than just shifting their usual face2face script to a videoconference or phone call. It’s much easier to make a call than to take a plane and for that obvious reason, virtual meetings make sense for customers located in geographies not easy to reach.

But the real power of virtual selling is realized by leveraging its unique advantages. Consider this—both buyers and sellers can easily pull into a sales meeting key stakeholders and experts from multiple locations—corporate HQ, region office, or WFH. Meetings can be recorded. Participants can quickly look up or verify information and share it on the screen. AI-driven prompts can be activated(e.g., about the preferences of similar customers) to guide the discussion.

Find the balance

Tailoring your product or service talking points to customer needs has always been a cornerstone of successful selling. Now, successful selling also includes tailoring your communication modes (when possible), employing the right mix of face2face and virtual selling, supported with email marketing outreach and online customer self-service, as appropriate.

Making a sale has always required fine-tuning the sales process to match the purpose, experiences, priorities and expectations of buyers. The question is no longer whether online digital tools will overtake traditional selling methods. Now the question is, how can sales professionals best integrate digital technology with traditional sales techniques to create value and trust and generate sales?

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: In 2020, Los Angeles filmmaker Jesse Orrall showed how he one-upped a few virtual meetings by creating a pre-recorded image of himself to substitute for his actual presence at the meetings.

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Self-Promotion that’s Savvy, Not Shameless

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If you do not put the word out about your talents, achievements and (perhaps discreetly) your ambitions, or if you do so ineptly, you are leaving money (and also a satisfying life, I think) on the table. Despite what some people would have you believe, no one finds success on their own. The self-made man is a myth. You are going to need some help along the way and to rally influential people to your side, you must let them know what you can do.

Bill Gates’ mother held a job at IBM that gave her access to a powerful person in the company, who agreed to meet with her son and his friend Paul Allen so that the two could explain the special project they were working on. As we know, their project eventually became Microsoft.

How to deliver your self-promotion

Effective self-promotion is a subtle and powerful communication skill. I consider it an art. It can be learned. Maybe we should start with what to avoid?

It’s frightfully easy to come off as obnoxious when telling others about how fabulous you are and the riveting details of your long list of magnificent, truly enviable, accomplishments. Most of us know that outright bragging is not cool, but we have also heard more than enough hyper-ambitious people pretending to be modest as they trot out a humble brag act at every opportunity.

Witnessing either spectacle usually induces an eye roll, if not a headache. But how can you show finesse and talk yourself up in a way that doesn’t turn off friends and colleagues?

A good Karma method is to be generous and share credit for your successes with those who helped you achieve them. There is a huge benefit associated with this generous act—- you gain allies. Your allies, because you’ve made it clear that you value them and their work, will be inclined to do you the enormous favor of promoting your magnificent achievements for you, which gives you much more credibility and influence than if you say it all yourself. So as you climb the ladder, not only will your allies help you, they’ll recruit more allies for the cause.

When to self-promote

Choose the politically correct time to self-promote. There are situations when one is expected to do so, but be aware that there are only so many opportunities available. Employees are invited to discuss their accomplishments at their annual performance review, when campaigning for a raise, or when seeking to interview for a promotion. Freelance consultants, when speaking with prospective clients or writing proposals with the aim of winning projects, are expected to spell out and sell their competencies, relevant experience and achievements.

What to promote

Make it known that you’ve earned a new educational degree or professional certification, the date, time and place of an important presentation you’ll deliver, or should you be invited to join a prestigious board.

Other self-promoting without penalty opps include announcing your appearance on a podcast, webinar, or panel. Announcing that you’ve written and published, or edited, a book is also a self-promoting bow you’re expected to take. Launching a workshop (that you must sell!) is another self-promotion gateway.

Where to self-promote

Especially since face2face events remain limited, savvy people know that social media is an acceptable self-promotion tool. Update your profiles as you upgrade your skills and announce your showcase events as appropriate.

Again, bring in some good Karma and acknowledge the achievements of your connections and contacts as they appear in your feed, so that your communication is not all outbound. Self-promotion, no matter how skillfully delivered, still requires good relationships in order to capitalize on your good work.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: Steve Martin in The Jerk (1979) directed by Carl Reiner and written by Steve Martin

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Pandemic Sales Tactics

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The New World Order ushered in by the coronavirus has forced all Freelancers and business owners and leaders to learn to be resilient and to steward our organizations in ways that are forward-thinking and flexible. Selling the company’s products and services to generate revenue has taken on an even more central role. There is heightened recognition that the roles of marketing, branding, public relations, advertising, networking and social media are to encourage sales, to attract qualified prospects and convert them to customers.

Now that the COVID era is here, whatever your company previously did to promote sales must be adjusted to get in step with the new reality. As of this writing it appears that we won’t return to “business as usual” anytime soon, if ever. Consider this the wake-up call to update the selling protocols at your organization and prepare to compete more effectively in today’s marketplace.

Selling is the purpose

As noted, it is no longer possible to put the components of a company’s sales process on automatic pilot. Nurturing the brand, revving up the social media presence, strategic networking, targeting of content marketing posts and the like are all relevant but bear in mind that those activities are the “way to the way.” The way a company survives is by making sales. The purpose of a company’s sales process is winning business and that function is the real-time measure of all your imaginatively conceived business strategies.

It’s vital that the sales team (that means you, Freelancer Friend and small business owner) the information and other resources needed to sell effectively, because there’s less business available now.

Start by learning what your clients fear and what they’re prioritizing, in response to how COVID has impacted their organizations. You have likely been in touch with your current clients at least once or twice since the shutdown and subsequent (partial) reopening but if you haven’t done so, send a New Year’s card and follow it up with an outreach themed phone call or email—you’re just checking in to see how the client is doing. How’s business? How are they managing? Listen well and empathize.

Deliver what customers value now

Dive into the social media accounts of past, current and prospective clients to get intel on how they’re communicating with their customers and discover what is being promoted now. The goal is to obtain insights into as many specific reasons as possible that might incline clients and prospects to do business with your company rather than the competition.

You want to understand the issues that may drive customer decisions. This is also your method to discover any obstacles that could potentially impact the use of your products and services, for better or worse. Remember that COVID has collapsed some industries and revitalized others.

Based on what your investigation shows, forecast the perhaps now revised client needs that your organization can address, what new (or ongoing) problems you can help clients resolve. Then, build a strategy to capitalize on what you’ve learned and repackage your offerings.

Map the new sales process

Get used to it, your sale will most likely take place by videoconference. You’ll be at an advantage when sales calls are with clients you already know. When meeting with new prospects you’ll have to work a little harder, but that is always the case. Regardless, do yourself a favor and hire a videoconference tech for three hours to set up your call and monitor it in progress, and allow yourself to focus on how to use your platform’s technology to communicate and connect with your prospect and sell.

Consider presenting a (video) show and tell for a product sale or a pre-taped video testimonial featuring a happy client who’s had a good experience with the product or service you’ll discuss (client success story/ verbal case study). Call in a guest speaker on your team who is an expert on using the product (engineer or the product manager) to provide additional information, take questions and reassure the prospect. If selling a B2B service, a few slides that show the ROI would also help the sale.

Perfect the sales experience

If the prospect is working at the office, or if you happen to know his/ home address, why not add a flourish and have lunch or coffee and pastry simultaneously delivered to the prospect and yourself? You and your prospect can still enjoy a meal together, relax and begin to bond, even if remotely. Morning meetings could benefit when coffee + is delivered at the start, but lunchtime and other afternoon meetings will probably be best served when food is delivered at around the half way point.

Thoughtful planning that keeps the client at the center of the sales process will guide your organization to refocus its sales process in ways that benefit client expectations and the experience. Relationships and referrals that will set your venture on an upward trajectory begin here, with how you manage the sale.

Thanks to all of you for reading my posts! YourHappy New Year,

Kim

Image: Actress Myrna Loy (R) sells cigarettes to actor William Powell (L) and his wife Diana Lewis at a 1940 Franco-British War Relief charity event held at the Cocoanut Grove supper club in Hollywood.

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Upgrading Leadership Skills

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As we approach the close of a difficult year, the first thing I’ll ask you to do is give yourself a pat on the back for making it through. Sure, you may have dropped a stitch or two as you struggled to find your footing as clients canceled jobs and the ground gave way beneath your feet.

This is a scary time for Freelance consultants and business owners, including those who steward multi-million dollar corporate enterprises. Those who’ve managed to hang on and find a way to either pivot or turn a corner and rebuild are to be congratulated.

Regardless of your circumstances, periodically assessing your leadership capabilities will always bring you to a better place, professionally and personally. One’s leadership ability is the foundation of not only decision-making that helps to successfully guide your business through the storm but also to rally the team to shore up confidence and productivity.

How you say what you say

Good communication is a hallmark of an effective leader. Knowing how to connect with, empathize and inspire the team are essential competencies. A leader depends on the team, because they are the folks needed to achieve the goals and support the leader’s, and the company’s, success.

Team members are highly attuned to their leader’s style of communication. It really is not so much what you say, as how you say it. We all have an inborn communication style and when we are mindful, we can refine that style and make it more effective. One method of communicating company goals is to use storytelling.

Express the goal and key elements involved in its achievement as a story, if not an adventure. Share with the team why the goal is important, what it means to the company’s survival and stature and how the company (and by extension its employees) will benefit. Communicate your excitement about being chosen to participate in achieving the goal. Emphasize your confidence in the ability of team members to take the ball and run with it.

As well, allow team members to add their viewpoints and give voice to their questions, doubts and/or what some may feel as innovative ways to get the job done. In other words, demonstrate your respect and reinforce mutual trust. Barking orders and demanding performance damages morale and is rarely effective in the long run.

Listen to the team

Team members should feel comfortable speaking with you, their leader, both on the record and off the record. What you hear may occasionally make you wince, but at the end of the day you’ll feel empowered because you are trusted and that means you are held in high esteem. There is no better compliment.

Share credit and be a cheerleader

If you want to get the most out of team members, be generous with your compliments and praise. Do that and they’ll go to the ends of the earth to make you proud of them. Remember that you stand on their shoulders. Be generous with your sincere appreciation and respect for their skills and dedication.

Be willing to learn

Learning how to learn will improve any aspect of life, professional or personal. Adapting to change and understanding whether it would be the best gamble to tweak, pivot, or batten down the hatches and stay the course requires an understanding of current and anticipated marketplace forces and that understanding is acquired through updated knowledge.

Successful leaders use their industry intel to anticipate strategies that may be needed to maintain market share and profitability. Read regularly about what products are on the horizon in your industry and their potential impact as a whole and your organization in particular. Do new products, or new policies or new companies, represent an opportunity or a challenge?

Coach and mentor

While on a path to increase your own learning, encourage team members to do the same and enable the process. At least twice a year, schedule a skills building workshop, preferably facilitated by an outside expert.

If you notice that there are areas of struggle, have a private nonjudgmental and encouraging talk to investigate the root of the problem and set up a confidential remedial plan. For those at the top of their game, privately discuss career goals and paths to promotions. Remember that those you promote will become your best allies at the organization.

Own your mistakes

When you drop the ball, acknowledge and apologize. Nothing quite undermines the reputation of a leader like dodging culpability and responsibility. It’s humbling and it doesn’t feel good, but owning up never fails to enhance a leader’s credibility—-and credibility is what leadership is all about.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Photograph: Elizabeth II leaves Westminster Abbey after her coronation as queen of Great Britain and the British Empire on June 2, 1953.

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Optimize Your Virtual Events

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Videoconference technology has emerged as the savior of the pandemic era. In the midst of the disruption, if not near destruction, of numerous formerly multi-billion dollar industries, notably restaurant, hotel, wedding, airline and fitness, virtual communication has helped all of us to function and survive. I suspect we’ll all agree that face2face interaction is preferable, but videoconferencing has done an admirable job of helping us weather the storm.

Videoconferencing has greatly expanded online distance learning and allowed schools to continue educating students. Wedding planners are helping couples stage small ceremonies that allow potentially hundreds of guests to witness and virtually join the festivities. Fitness instructors and trainers are coaching their devotees via laptop webcams in living rooms and kitchens and ballet instructors are doing the same for their students.

Managers are holding video meetings for their teams. B2B sales professionals are introducing new products and services to prospects by way of video sales calls. Conference planners are scheduling and producing everything from panel discussions to district meetings. It’s all good, but it’s time to pay attention to videoconference production values and the viewer / participant experience. Things can go wrong and the program can go down in flames. As with face2face events, an action plan is needed to optimize your virtual event so that objectives will be realized.

Let’s start with the basic technical set-up. Virtual events are nearly always viewed on a small screen—tablet or laptop–and for that reason virtual event content planners, producers and speakers would be wise to think of television. Whatever the purpose of your program, be it a classroom lecture, B2B sales call, music lesson, or company meeting, content planners and producers should visualize a small screen perspective as their guide.

If the budget allows, hiring an event technology manager will be money well spent. Event tech managers will ensure that the sound, lights and background set are appropriate for the occasion. Placement of the laptop is integral to locating the most flattering camera angle for the speaker. Two or possibly three microphones may be used to adequately capture the speaker voices. Lighting is everything in show business and the event tech will position the lighting so that the set is neither too dim or too bright and speakers are not in shadows. The set background must also be considered. Having a bookcase in view is always a plus, as are a couple of healthy plants or modest floral arrangements. The company name and logo should also be visible, but its presence need not overwhelm.

Regarding the presenters, panel discussion participants are typically seated, whether all are in a room together and socially distanced or reporting in from remote locations. It is usually preferable for featured speakers to stand while delivering their presentation, since standing telegraphs energy and allows the speaker to use body language that is more communicative and engaging.

Next, think of shaping and delivering program content in a way that will connect with and hold the attention of its virtual audience. Psychologists have documented that virtual events tax our attention span because they’re literally difficult to watch for extended periods of time. Experienced producers of virtual events recommend building in some sort of a diversion about every 20 minutes, to keep everyone’s brain comfortable during the proceedings. Explore the options and learn to use the special features available on your videoconferencing platform. Polls, yes/no questions and small group chatrooms (breakouts) make the viewing experience more enjoyable for audience members. An event tech manager can be helpful with this process as well.

Pace the event content flow by breaking it down into 20 or so minute chunks and interspersing the text with interactive activities that draw in audience members and make them part of the show. Speakers and other performers have always used certain tactics to engage live audiences and now in the 21st century, speakers, event content planners and producers are discovering new, tech-based tactics to win over virtual audiences. It’s show business history in the making, folks.

Finally, there is the increasingly common hybrid classroom or special event to master, where part of the audience is live and the rest are viewing the proceedings virtually. Hybrid events pose a challenge, but they are not insurmountable. If it’s in the budget, renting or buying one or more big screens will create a more immersive and rewarding experience for both virtual viewers and the on-site audience. Interaction between face2face and virtual participants could create exciting possibilities. Q & A, simultaneous polls, contests and games can get them talking to each other as they watch the action happen live. Confer with your event tech manager and find out how to optimize the experience.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Photograph: Kim Clark