“I’m terrified to pitch my services.”

One of my clients recently said this – and this fear of “the pitch” is common in all sizes and types of organizations. On a board and asked to raise funds? Ouch, I’ve got to – like – ask my friends for money?? Looking for funding for your start-up? Yes, you’ve got to “pitch” to investors or banks. Trying to generate revenue from your business? Yep, somebody (and more than one body) needs to buy from you.

But, here’s the thing. The less you focus on “selling” the more you’re likely to close the deal. The old hard sell (and cold calls) just don’t work. So, relax. You don’t have to be a “killer” sales person. Focus on connecting with the person, having an interesting conversation. Personally, I find the less I worry about the so-called pitch, the more business I close. So, by all means fine-tune your value statements, learn how to listen, learn how to write a presentation or plan that fits the audience…but forget the canned high-pressure sales jabber.

Related Post: The Non-Profit Elevator Pitch

Tags: sales strategy, selling, fundraising

Work backwards

One of my pet peeves with the standard strategic planning process is the focus on the organization – crafting a mission statement and then determining how to achieve that mission.

Here’s a thought – use a specific audience as your starting point instead of your organization. What do they want/need? What compells them to become (stay) your customer/client/supporter? It’s a sure bet they don’t care about your strategic plan measurements.

Tags: strategic planning

The Power of Humor

Friday’s thought: “If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they’ll kill you.”- Oscar Wilde

Well, I don’t know if they’d actually kill you – but I do know that a little humor makes virtually any interaction easier. After all, most of what we do in business (and life) isn’t really “life and death.” When you’re getting all riled up, stop and think, “Will anybody care about this in five years? Or even five months?” As Wilde also said, “Life is too important to be taken seriously.”

Back in the day, when I was managing large groups of people, I found I got my best results when I used a light touch and encouraged laughter. (It’s also good to be able to laugh at yourself; we all need that perspective.)

Tags: human resources, leadership

Immigration & You

Recently, I had the greatest experience with INS—while conducting a routine Criminal Background check, I discovered the social security card provided by newly hired employee actually belonged to someone else. The new employee also …provideed an immigrations card as proof of employment rights.

So, I called INS and found out that….the social security card and the immigration's card were frauds.  The INS investigator came out, not with any intend in hurting the company but in the role of an educator and learn I did…

 I-9 documents must be provided within 3 days of hire…

If you hire immigrants, that's great – but keep in mind that the I-9 requires you see two forms of approved ID and the ID must be original, not photocopies…

The person validating the documents, must sign and date the I-9 form…

Certain forms of ID have expiration dates, immigration cards (green cards) for one, you must keep track of the renewal dates and re-verify…

I-9's are not filed in the personnel file, they must be kept in a separate file or notebook…

If you keep copies of the documents, keep those separate as well…

To the degree you can, watch addresses, in the incident described above, the new employee that presented us with fraudulent documents, lived at an address where several other immigrants lived, the INS gentleman verified that every piece of documentation we had on 5 employees were fraudulent—I wiped out a full labor pool in one feel swoop!! 

The good news, INS helped us and commented on our process and record-keeping and that the documents were excellent copies and that few of us would known they were frauds.

The Non-Profit Elevator Pitch

I freely (and often) admit I’m an old bleeding heart do-gooder and yet, many non-profits pitches leave me – well – both unmoved and un-bleeding (if that’s a word). So, when I ran across this post, The Nonprofit Elevator Speech, it really resonated with me.

Here are her key points:

1. Don’t just repeat your mission statement. Mission statements are often “pie in the sky” or full of buzzwords that don’t actually say what you do.

2. Tell us what you do and who you do it for. Donors want to know how their support makes a difference on the ground.

3. Share a quantitative result. How many people did you help last year? How many acres did you save? Whatever it is you measure, throw in a stat about your accomplishments.

(Personally, I like the small card Habitat for Humanity sends out that shows what my contribution will buy – $10 for a box of nails and so on.)

4. Provide some perspective. Put your work in context, in one sentence. Why is what you do so important? What’s the scale of the problem?

5. Spell out the opportunity. Complete this sentence: “With some additional resources, we could . . .”

I’d add: Don’t get too obsessive about making your pitch short. (The ol’ “seven words or less” and “bumper sticker” ideas that float around.) No, you don’t want to read ‘em a book, but you do want to tell them enough to get their interest. Maybe they’ll even ride along another floor to find out more (then, you’ve got ‘em!)

Tag: non-profit marketing

Why aren’t there more women bloggers?

Trevor Gay over at Synergy recently interviewed me about this topic, since I think blogging is a great tool for both business and life.

There are more of us out there than first appears. Unfortunately, some of the most popular femme bloggers, such as Michelle Malkin, set a terrible example. Bad writing, irresponsible posts and a complete lack of common courtesy. Popular isn’t always a good thing.

For more about women bloggers, here’s the interview.

Tags: blogging, blogher, women bloggers

Rediscovering Excellence

Tom Peters has rediscovered “excellence” and in Siberia of all places. Seems the Excellence guru got just as sick of the word as we did over the years. Now, he’s gotten back to the core of the meaning. And, his post about Siberia reminds me that, despite all the doom and gloom in the headlines, there are good people doing good work all over the globe.

One of the best trips of my life was to the old USSR, back in the days of the so-called Evil Empire. Turns out that empire was full of people with hopes, fears, and joys. And, most were very friendly and eager to learn. Too bad more of us can’t travel overseas; it’s a real eye-opener, in both business and life.

Tag: excellence

Small Biz Scams

This week’s issue of Business Week is full of good information for entrepreneurs.

One article that caught my eye is “Would I Lie to You? Five Cons Still Kicking.”

Among others is the age-old “stuff envelopes at home.” (I’d bet they had some version of this back before they even had envelopes! “Make papyrus at home!”) Of course, there are now web variations “work in your pajamas” and such. But, just about all of them are – sadly – scams, often with some variation of pyramid schemes.

And, even if it’s not an outright con, it’s so easy to get taken when you’re in start-up mode. You’re optimistic, fired up and ready to roll! So, when a marketing agency, PR firm, business consultant or web site promises you great things quickly – you write the check.

It’s not exaggerating (much) to say I could retire if I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard something like, “I paid the PR firm $150 an hour and got nothing.” or “He charged $2,000 for the business plan and I can’t get an investor to look at it.” I always feel badly because by the time I’m talking to the person, it’s almost always too late for me to help.

So, as with anything else, if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

Tags: entrepreneur, business development

Are you making it difficult?

So much of what we call management consists in making it difficult for people to work.
- Peter Drucker

Sure, sometimes we think we’re helping but we’re really preventing the other person from learning, growing and – um – doing their job. I know how hard it is to step back and give people room to work (and possibly fail) – been there, done that.

But, ultimately your team has to fly on its own, if they’re ever really going to be a team. This means they have to work out conflicts, solve problems without coming to you first. And, you’ve gotta get out of their way and let them do it.

Anyway, that’s my food for thought for this Monday.

Tags: human resources, leadership

Duh! Loyalty to Employees

Last night I attended a fun gathering of the AIBA (Albuquerque Independent Business Alliance) where I won, as is my habit of late, the door prize. This month it was a for a two-hour consultation with local brand maven, Mary Ellen Merrigan. Mary Ellen is well known around these parts for her great work, including entrepreneurial education at WESTT Corp.

Great timing, as she said I was on her call list. And, as we were laughing at the meeting, this “marketing stuff” is so much easier for our clients than for ourselves. (I think I have a “brand” but do I really have a blind spot? Am I being brilliant or just bloviating? This stuff is like sweating blood sometimes.)

One of the things she included with my prize certificate was a “Loyalty Audit” which is two pages of common sense (which is all too uncommon.)

My “duh!” realization as I was reading it: Loyalty to Employees. I talk a lot about customer loyalty as well as valuing employees. But, I never (duh) put the two together in one thought or process. So, here you go, direct from Mary Ellen to you:

1. My direct reports have regularly scheduled reporting meetings with me during which time I give them my undivided attention.

2. I am accessible to employees on a regular basis; from time to time I walk around the facility with no specific agenda.

3. My company has an internal update system that is not required to go through me. (i.e. newsletter brief for employees, etc.)

4. I have a public reward/performance-recognition program for my employees.

I’d add that good ol’ fashioned things like a sincere thank you or a quick handwritten “attaboy” here and there works wonders for employee loyalty. That, and don’t think of them as “heads” to be counted or cut – they’re human beings.

Related Posts: Bad Boss = Bad Worker, America’s Pink Slip Addiction

Tags: employee loyalty, human resources,leadership