Telephone Tips

[by Charles Gupton]

With the rise of on-line social media and texting as means of communication, there seems to be a breakdown in the awareness of proper and effective use of telephone skills in the business environment. After witnessing and experiencing a number of breaches, I thought I’d offer some observations that may offer some insight in this area.

• Smile into your conversation. You’ve probably heard that you should smile when you answer the phone. I’d suggest starting pleasant then smiling with great enthusiasm after you find out who it is or how you can be of service to them. A gushing “hello” followed by continued gushing can sound insincere. But who do you know who doesn’t want to believe that their call brings delight to the listener.

• Translate your excitement into sound. Studies have revealed that people lose 30 percent of their energy level when talking on the phone because they don’t have the face-to-face interaction. So exaggerate your enthusiasm so that your listener knows you’re interested in serving him or her.

• Speak your listener’s name. Although it may be quite contrived to repeat a person’s name a number of times when you’re together, it’s different over the phone. Saying a person’s name by phone is like verbal eye contact when you can’t look them in the eye. Just as good eye contact can help maintain attention in person, speaking the caller’s name keeps his/her attention when numerous interruptions can draw the caller away on the other end of the line.

• Always make friends with anyone who may be the gatekeeper for the person you may be trying to reach. Anyone who has the power to watch your VIP’s back probably has the influence to allow you through. Or not.

• Every time you call someone, always, always, always ask if it’s an acceptable time to talk. People are inclined to answer their phone in all kinds of circumstances. They may have chosen to answer, but they may not choose to give you their attention. If you need their focus, ask for the best time to follow up. It’s your responsibility to set the best environment to communicate your message. Respecting someone’s time is one of the best means of getting more of it.

• Make your voice-mail message professional. It can be creative and fun. Just make sure it represents what you want your clients to visualize about you. A client told me about an artist she found through the Web whose work rather impressed her. When she called, she slammed into a wall of heavy rock and a message laced with “hey dude’s.” Great work. Bad impression. No assignment.

In a business environment in which the smallest of details can have an impact on whether a project gets assigned to you — or not — make sure all of your telephone skills are as sharply focused as your photographs are.

Charles Gupton photographs real people, really well, by understanding and telling the stories of his subjects and clients. Find his photographs at www.charlesguptonphoto.com and his writing at www.charlesgupton.com.

Efficient Freedom

[by Charles Gupton]

I once had a strong disdain for franchises as a means of business ownership. It seemed to me to be a sell-out to a system that limited the freedom of an owner too much for my liking. Especially after I watched a photography buddy of mine give up his heart and passion for photography to explore, and eventually buy, a franchise business so that he could earn a stable income for his family.

Although I’ve not hit a point that I’m ready to buy a franchise, I’ve come to appreciate the value of having systems in place which allow me to have other people do repetitive tasks that distract from my creative idea generation and production. We all have basic duties such as billing, accounting, client follow-up, photo file backup, etc., which needs to be taken care of on a consistent basis but don’t require any creative brains cells to get completed.

Because I worked in the “solo-prenuer” mindset for most of my career, I found that I did most of the work myself. When I did delegate tasks to assistants, my directions were not very clear because there was no effective system in place to get consistent results until my assistants established them.

As it dawned on me that I needed more effective means of getting rote tasks completed, three different people – within a one-week period, no less – recommended the book “E-myth Revisited” by Michael Gerber to me. Having read it, I realized that great systems are less about limiting one’s freedom to work than they are about creating opportunities to be creative. Also, creative people need to see that systems require an ingenuity of their own and systems-oriented people often use creative process to manage and tweak their systems to make them more efficient.

I doubt that I will ever be a systems person by nature. But I’ve come to appreciate that a lot of my creative energy gets drained by a lack of reliable, repeatable systems to get the seemingly mundane tasks off my mind so that I’ve got the brain space to devote to the heart-centered projects that do fuel my life.

Charles Gupton photographs real people, really well, by understanding and telling the stories of his subjects and clients. Find his photographs at www.charlesguptonphoto.com and his writing at www.charlesgupton.com.

Start to CUS

[by Charles Gupton]

Are you feeling the financial heat build along with the summer heat? Do you need to build some cool business and generate some cold cash?

Well, before you get frustrated and start to cuss, why not CUS instead! CUS is an acronym for Courage, Urgency and Shamelessness.

Courage does not indicate a lack of fear, but a willingness to move forward in the face of it. It also doesn’t mean that one should act foolishly or without a thoughtful strategy. Too often we can over think and “what if” ourselves out of taking the steps we need to make our ideas successful.

Urgency means that a task requires immediate action or attention. There are often tasks that we need to give attention to that are critical for our success, but we just don’t want to face them. By designating one or two of those items every week as “urgent,” we can trim down that endless “to-do” list into actionable items. Every item that gets done builds the confidence to get the next one completed too.

Being shameless indicates a boldness or audacity in one’s work. How often do we allow what others might think about us to stand in the way of doing great and significant work? Is there an area where you need help to break your inertia and move your business forward, but are afraid to ask for help? Don’t let embarrassment stand in the way of your success. As a creator, you have great gifts to contribute. By holding back and being reticent, whom are you serving or helping?

So, while others are waiting for the heat to break or vacations to end or school to begin or whatever the excuse-of-the-week is, take a deep breath and start to CUS your way to a profitable summer.

Charles Gupton photographs real people, really well, by understanding and telling the stories of his subjects and clients. Find his photographs at www.charlesguptonphoto.com and his writing at www.charlesgupton.com.

Deep or Wide?

[by Charles Gupton]

The primary business of every business – be it banking, plumbing, restaurant or photography – is the work of acquiring and retaining customers. No buyers, no sales, no business.

To that end, most business owners use the strategy of casting their nets in more directions in an attempt to draw in practically anyone who can fog a mirror as a potential customer. The idea is that the broader the foundation on which one builds, the more likely the business will withstand destructive economic winds.

Diversity of client base can be healthy. If you’ve ever had all your business eggs in one or two industry baskets and experienced the fallout from their decline, you’re wise to broaden your customer base to some degree. But there’s a difference in having a variety of clients to serve and chasing after too many people. The difference comes in driving the significant relationships deeper rather than adding more names onto your contact list.

As you have probably heard numerous times, all things being relatively equal, people do business with those they know, like and trust. When business owners cast out in too many directions for too many people, they not only don’t get to know their potential clients, those people have no reason to get to know what is distinctive about the business approaching them. It requires time to get to know someone, much less develop a like and trust of that person.

Although it may not seem intuitive, driving fewer relationships deeper rather than having a multitude that live on the surface is a far better long term strategy for business growth.

Action Trumps Inaction

[by Charles Gupton]

Although it’s against my perfectionist nature, I am finding that with today’s fast changing market conditions, I’m needing to make a huge number of decisions without first having all the information I’d like to have in hand.

However, as I look around, I’m seeing way too many people living in fear of making wrong decisions — a fear that even a small failure will be catastrophic. But I’m also seeing that time and again, the riskiest decision one can make is to do nothing. So, just make a decision and act on it.

Action trumps inaction.

How I Learned to use Twitter without being Consumed

[by Charles Gupton]

At first blush, I found Twitter to be nothing but noise. Thousands of people (and companies) screaming “look at me, me, me!” A large number of them, when they run out of anything meaningful to say (which is fairly quickly) simply get a book of quotes and tweet their way through them.

I’ve started using it differently. As the first part of conversation, I’m mostly listening. By using particular tools (I use Hootsuite and Tweetdeck), you can group the people you’re following into different categories. I view it as pulling up a chair to join one table or another in a crowded bar rather than walking through and hearing nothing but meaningless snippets of dialogue. As a result, I’m learning what’s important to the people I want to know better. When I do speak, it can be to their needs, which are, after all, more important to them than mine.

One strategy I’ve found useful is to shine the spotlight on others using their “@twittername” and mention something good they’re doing to the Tweetterverse, as well as, taking the time to RT (re-tweet) the good posts I see. I see this as relational and not manipulative – who doesn’t enjoy getting a public pat on the back? I’m also using the direct message (DM) function to connect other people when I see that they can produce value for each other without my involvement. I see this act as a no-cost gift.

Using the advanced search feature at www.search.twitter.com, one can find people in a number of ways – including by certain words, names, places and even attitudes – that allow you to follow their thoughts on the things they value.

These are a couple of ways I am able to add meaning to the conversation without overtly drawing attention to myself or lurking in the shadows.

Social Media – Conversation or Bullhorn?

[by Charles Gupton]

For more than a year now, I’ve been wading into and through the murky waters of social media (SM). I have found the process challenging at best with a lot of frustrations in the process. All though I’ve learned a tremendous amount along the way, I still have a long way to go.

However, as I’ve slogged through, I’ve had more than a few “Aha” moments I’d like to share. Because all of the SM platforms are simply tools, each person using them is going to shape something different that fits his/her particular needs. I would love to have your feedback as to how you’re using these tools to shape your business and add value to the community.

First, I’ve come to see that all social media is either about conversation or the process of laying the groundwork for relationships so that one can have a conversation. Although many folks use SM as a bullhorn to shout their message, I believe we’ve reached such a level of noise that most people are just tuning most of it out. When I started exploring, I signed on to more than a dozen sites trying to figure out what the “buzz” was about. All I got was overwhelmed.

My second “Aha” came when I decided to pick one area at a time and explore it before moving to the next. Trying to get a better understanding of what other people used, how they used them and why, I forced myself to stop, reassess and develop a plan. I chose to begin with my blog.

Many people don’t see blogging as social media, per se. But I see it as a public commitment to have a voice and to contribute value to my community as it develops. Because I started with no readers, it was a means of developing my voice to prepare me for deeper involvement in public conversation. A successful blog requires consistency and if I was going to show a conversational partner that I was committed to being at the table, it seemed a good place to start with my own contribution. Now it’s up to my readers to decided if I’m giving enough return on their attention to come back and talk.

Although there are countless resources for what and how to blog to gain a large number of readers, the first question I asked is “What do I hope to accomplish? ” I doubt that my thoughts will ever attract a large following. However, I decided early on that my desire is to be more relational with people I already have a connection with while also allowing for potential clients to get a feel for who they might be investing their time with.

Because most of us serve different roles in various social and business circles, I saw my blog as a means of presenting my thoughts as I connected with people in the ones I’m involved with. I don’t receive many comments on my blog but get a surprising amount of feedback when I see folks at community activities or meetings. That’s where the conversation occurs.

Navigating the Gift-giving Minefield

[by Charles Gupton]

This time of the year between Thanksgiving and Christmas draws our attention to not only giving thanks for the rich blessings in our lives, but saying “thank you” to people who’ve helped us make progress in our lives during the year. But it can be a very awkward time because of the potential implications that can accompany the gift-giving process. Where company guidelines don’t set clear boundaries, what seems like a simple act of saying “I appreciate you!” can become a minefield.

While reading “The Five Love Languages” by Gary Chapman many years ago, I quickly realized that understanding how to show someone that they are appreciated had implications far beyond trying to improve my own marriage. The premise of the book is that everybody has a primary means of “hearing” that they are loved or appreciated, and that they tend to use their primary language as they communicate their feelings to others, as well.  The five languages are:
•    Words of affirmation
•    Receiving gifts
•    Acts of service
•    Quality time
•    Physical touch

Although it takes some observation, learning how to communicate to the people around us that they are appreciated can help build a deeper, trusting relationship with them. For example, if a client you want to say “thanks” to values quality time with her spouse, she may appreciate a gift card to a quiet restaurant more than a beautiful vase of flowers or a signed print. For someone who values acts of service, a gift of ten hours from an errand service would probably mean more than a case of wine.

This may seem to be a no-brainer, but in our rush to get something done, we often look at the solution based on what we value rather than what the receiver might deem most significant. What do you think?