Speak like a John Lewis shop assistant to get on in life.

With shame I realise that I haven't posted this blog and had a discussion about speaking and accents. Here is the link

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5445473/Teenage-shop-assistant-told-to-go-to-John-Lewis-to-learn-how-to-speak.html

The gist of the article is that a young female shop assistant of an aspirational gentleman's clothing store complained that one of their assistant's didn't present herself effectively. This was particularly with her speech. They suggested she observed how shop assistants at John Lewis spoke to customers.

Now, I have no idea how this shop assistant speaks and I have no idea how she interacted with customers. However, I do know that there are shop assistants and shop assistants, and those that I buy from interact with me as a human being; they have eye contact with me; they are pleasant and are interested in providing me with what I want. I am courteous to them and the whole experience of buying is a positive one.

If I receive customer care from someone who is disinterested; grunts at me; does the bare minimum; expects the maximum returns for minimum effort; is stroppy; tuts (or worse); aggressive; body language is disinterested or confrontational - I don't buy from them.

My decision is not based on the person's accent, but on their friendliness and willingness to interact with me.

I just wonder what this young woman's personality and attitude was towards customers?

Live and learn.

Losing the human voice through texting

Yesterday I heard a news item on BBC news related to a company that specialises in converting voice mail messages to text messages. Apparently, there are privacy laws that could be violated through this process. I wasn't desperately interested in this, but I was interested in why anyone would like to lose the sound of a human voice over a text message and also the implications of this.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8163511.stm

The human voice is a powerful method of communication; it is a personal connection between the caller and the receiver. Think of when you receive recorded (cold call) messages and how monotonous they are - because the voice is reading something automatically. Many people complain when they call a business and receive a bombardment of automated responses with a recorded message.
Also, when you convert a normal conversation into text, you lose some of the subtle messages from pauses, inflections and energy. Unless the text message is carefully punctuated, there are likely to be misunderstandings. It becomes the equivalent of an automised voice - in text.
So why should we wish to lose the human voice and read a text message instead? Could it be that a manufacturer has created another toy and it is just a fad, or do we really wish to lose human contact with each other?

From a personal perspective, I prefer to send and receive voice mail messages and my market research confirms this. As a business we wish to demonstrate that we are human beings and customers want this too. I do send text messages - but only to people I already have some contact with and have established a relationship with.

From a business perspective, I would avoid using this method until - as I have done - I have established a relationship, thus making a quick method of communication permissible. I don't want to hear automated voices or text messages when I am contacting a company, unless I know them well. And remember that large companies that we complained about (except BT) now have a human voice at the other end of a phone within a couple of clicks. What does that tell you about using the voice?

Maintaining communications whilst on vacation

A number of people will be going on holiday soon; certainly in Hertfordshire there is a mass exodus when the school term finishes this week. As I have mentioned before on this blog, it is important to maintain contact with clients - or at least to give them information WHY you have not responded to their email or call.

I recently had a meeting with a website design company and despite reassurances from them that a full report and suggestions would be sent to me within a week, I still haven't heard from them 5 weeks later. My thoughts are that they are not interested in my business; perhaps they are too busy or that they dismissed my approach. Whatever the reason, they have been crossed off my list of prospective website developers....

When we are on vacation, we aren't going to tell everyone where we are, BUT we need to ensure there is a response to an enquiry or communication from an existing or prospective client - and colleagues. Otherwise they will think as I did, that 'you don't care about my business'.

Here are my tips for maintaining communications whilst you are away.

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  Update your email automated response; stating the dates you are out of the office and an alternative person to speak to (with their contact details) if the email is urgent.








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  Update your voice mail messages (particularly for a business mobile number) stating when you are out of the office and an alternative number and person to call.








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  Arrange for someone in your business to be responsible for all of your mail/telephone and email correspondence whilst you are away. If necessary pass on projects to them, but make sure you hand over properly with detailed information.








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  For existing clients, warn them when you are going to be away and who to speak to in your absence.








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  If you have had enquiries or there are outstanding proposals before you go away, let the clients and potential clients know beforehand and give them a date they should expect to receive this work.

And to finish: I have recently experienced a rather sobering situation where a musician 'disappeared' without trace for 10 days, just before a wedding. She hadn't contacted myself (the music management company); the other musicians she was performing with, or the client. The client was understandably very worried that she would not show up on the day and despite leaving emails, voice messages and text messages daily for a week, I had no response. Eventually it was decided to cancel her contract by email, text, voicemail and letter, and replace her with another musician.

At 7.45pm the evening before the lunch time wedding, she called asking why she'd received this letter. I explained that we had been trying to contact her unsuccessfully and that the client was extremely concerned she wasn't going to show up. She had not switched on her automated email; altered her voice mail; let people know she was away - or responded to her text messages. She was very surprised she had been sacked..... She had lost the confidence and trust of the clients. Just don't talk to me about Harpists....

The meek will not be rewarded with salaries: Alpha Females earn more: FACT!

I read an interesting article in the Daily Mail about Alpha Females earning considerably more in a lifetime than meeker, kinder, nicer females.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1199367/Women-act-like-men-earn-40-000-feminine-colleagues-Essex-University-study-shows.html

Now the Daily Mail is not known for its feminist stance in the news and no doubt this is a double edged attack on women working; women bosses and well, women. However there is some interesting about this. The article, and the research focuses on different personalities in women and how 'effective' and 'successful' they are in the workplace - the measure being the size of salary. The best rewarded women were those who were very assertive and confident enough to negotiate and manage conflict. Those that were neurotic earned less as did those who were too 'nice': the argument that the latter were less effective at negotiating salary rises and coping with conflict.
I am not going to get bogged down by the results - and also the Daily Mail's interpretations, but from Executive Voice's point of view there are skills that benefit any person in business - whether they are male or female:

• Hard work; being focused; getting your work completed.
• Having the confidence to negotiate for a salary increase
• Being pleasant - but not a pushover. This is a challenge for some ladies because we are brought up to be 'nice' and this can be interpreted as being a pushover.
• Developing from the previous bullet point - developing assertiveness. Learning to say no and recognising your (or you job's) boundaries.
• Not being moody or whingy.
• Being able to ASK
• Being able to be noticed through some self PR.
  

The challenge for some women is that as I mentioned before; we are sometimes brought up to be 'nice'; not to ask for things and not to be assertive. Also there is the opinion (no doubt by your average Daily Mail reader) that assertiveness in women creates the 'businesswoman from hell'. But the alternative is to be meek - and miss out on salary and career development rewards.

Or, in fact we are attracted types of jobs that are suitable for our personality and are paid accordingly...

For more information about Executive Voice go to http://www.executivevoice.co.uk

Contacting your clients and potential customers - how frequently should you do this?

Today I was at an excellent online marketing course led by Derrick Cameron. One of the points we discussed as a group was how frequently we should contact clients and potential customers by email; direct mail etc.
Recently I have signed up for a couple of emails and newsletters. Some of these ezines are fantastic and I am really pleased to be receiving them. BUT there are a couple of nameless organisations that are bombarding me with emails; tweets; messages via Facebook, Ecademy etc twice even three times daily. I'm afraid I've had to unsubscribe because I'm SO fed up of being contacted.
One person that was cited today was a "Marketing Guru" who was contacting people daily by email, letter, phone calls etc to sell his marketing training day. It became TOO MUCH! and I had to ask his organisation to stop contacting me. Had I not been pestered so often, I might well have gone. I thought this was ironic given that the chap in question was a marketing expert - yet he'd got the style of communication SO wrong!

So how frequently should you contact clients. Now remember I am English - as my Canadian and South African colleagues frequently remind me: so I err on the side of caution with 'pestering people'. I tend to be more conservative than most, and could increase my communication.
I try to blog twice a week - and refer to these blogs on Twitter.
I try to audioboo at least twice a week and these are referred to on Twitter with a link to Ecademy.
I normally send out ezines once every 2 - 3 weeks. The exception to this is when I am marketing a new course; product or service.
If I am leading a teleseminar, I will email everyone twice and then a reminder the day before. In addition I will contact people that have registered on the course with reminders the day before and just before the call - and an email afterwards summarising the call and links to the recording.

Am I getting it right or am I being 'Too English' and not pestering enough. Do let me know!

Watch your videos before you post them on your websites/Facebook etc

Recently I have been bombarded by an ambitious business woman who is selling her business club/services/training. There are regular emails; Tweets and messages on my Facebook account. Some of these messages are interesting but I was drawn to her website link that was advertising a series of teleseminars. It is always interesting to see what others are doing and how they are marketing them.
However, I was astonished that the marketing included a number of videos that had been posted on Youtube. My surprise was not that they were posted on Youtube but the quality of the videos. These: like a photograph, first personal appearance or voice podcast give the audience a strong first impression and ... well .... the first impression was NOT good. Not only would I personally not want to participate in training with her but wouldn't want to listen to her teleclasses. I don't want to be unkind; I am sure she is very good at what she does, but my opinion is based on seeing her video.
So... here are some tips if you are going to add a video to your website or post it onto a site like Youtube.

1. Plan what you are going to say beforehand.
2. Practice what you are going to say.
3. Do a runthrough recording, so that you are used to the 'pressure' of being recorded.
4. Check what you are wearing: that it doesn't look awful on the screen. (Geometric patterns are particularly unflattering).
5. Check where you are standing; what is behind? Does this class with your clothes? Is it distracting? If necessary, change where you record the video.
6. After recording, watch your video.
7. Be critical but not neurotic about the video.
8. Ask your self the following:

• Do I come across in the way I wish to portray myself?
• Are my facial expressions and posture positive and professional?
• Is my voice clear; audible and understandable?
• Am I speaking too fast making it difficult to comprehend?
• Are there lots of 'ums, ahs,' and other verbal garbage?
• Am I looking at the camera as if I am having a conversation with the audience or moving my head around (which is distracting and cuts you off from the audience)?

If necessary re-take the video and then ask the same questions.

Podcasts and vidcasts are a brilliant way of communicating with potential customers and clients. This is on my list to do, and in fact I have purchased a Flipcamera for this purpose. However, it is important to be aware of how you portray yourself and if necessary have training for this purpose.

For more details of Executive Voice's training and other services go to http://www.executivevoice.co.uk