How do you feel when professionals don’t model what they are selling? For example, the image consultant who looks like she just tumbled out of bed, or the wedding planner who shows up late for your meeting, or the dentist who starts to fill the wrong tooth in your mouth? A bit outraged? Incredulous? This happened to me this week and was a good reminder how important it is to model what you sell.
Call You? – Don’t Hold Your Breath!
If your LinkedIn experience is anything like mine, you get requests to connect all the time from people you don’t know. Depending on their profile, or their message or just on a whim, I either accept or reject the request. About three weeks ago, I received such a request from a LinkedIn consultant I did not know. Given my sales and presentation training and speaking profession, it never hurts to be known by people active in social media, so I accepted. Yesterday, I received a message from her dripping in apology saying how “sorry” she was that she hadn’t been in touch in “such a long time” and how “honored” (her word) she was to be connected to me, followed by a lengthy invitation to reach out to her for any LinkedIn consulting needs I might have.
- “Long time?” Years, months perhaps, is a long time. Three weeks is not a long time.
- “Honored” to be connected? Hey, I help many people and my ego appreciates stroking as much as the next person’s, but “honored?” It’s not like I found the cure for cancer or brought peace to the Middle East!
When a non-LinkedIn consultant reaches out in such a transparently dishonest way just to plug their services, it is annoying, but when a supposed LinkedIn pro (!) makes the same egregious error, it is outrageous and so stupid. I deleted my connection to her.
Don’t Get Deleted!
We all want to be (pick one) partners, trusted advisors, or genuine problem-solvers with our clients. In my view, that role is earned by
- Going on a call having done our homework and with an open mind
- Really listening to needs
- Demonstrating empathy and understanding of the pressures on clients
- Presenting carefully thought out ideas genuinely tailored to their situation
- Following up and following through as promised
- Staying in touch and being helpful even when there is no immediate business
- Knowing when we cannot, in fact, help them and suggesting alternatives to them
Someone said, “If you want to have a friend, you need to be a friend.” Similarly, if you want to have a strong professional relationship with clients, you need to behave in a professional manner. Every once in a while, something like my LinkedIn lady’s actions reminds me again how important that is.
Anne Miller
Words Matter – Make What You Say Pay!
Random Recommendation
Interesting TedTalk by Tommy McCall, Information Designer The Simple Genius of a Good Graphic.
Command the Room When You Present!
- Do you have a unique positioning story?
- Do you sound like everyone else?
- Do you lose people with your content?
- Do you get rattled by tough questions?
- Do you want to come across with more authority, credibility, & gravitas?”
If you answered “YES” to any of these questions, give me a call and let’s turn you from a ho-hum presenter into a Wow communicator who gets results!
212-876-1875 amiller@annemiller.com