Michael Neaylon

Resilience

noreply@blogger.com (MCME) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:57:00 +0000

The same day I published the last edition of Brand Stand, I received an email which read, ‘Sorry to tell you this in an email, but I don’t know how else to say it. Mark has passed away alone in his flat, cause unknown.’

Mark was my brother.

Still in shock when I made late night calls to the St Kilda police and the coroner, I hoped to have insights and answers for my family, who I knew would have as many questions as I did.

The phone calls weren’t all easy and many were long, but they had to be made. That’s often the reality of these situations; many conversations and much to be done, during a time of high emotion.

This also came at a busy business period. There were important client projects to complete, increasing coaching enquiries after the last newsletter, and Phil and I had a major pitch to give for Presentability.

I had also just that week set the wheels in motion to move apartments and office.

Getting Beyond Overwhelm

With increasing waves of feeling overwhelmed I told myself ‘there’s family to support, legalities to take care of, a service for Mark in another city, businesses to keep running, clients I wanted to keep supporting, projects I'd committed to complete, proposals to write, meetings to attend, an association to run, an apartment to get ready for lease, another to move into.’

In a word; overwhelmed. Something had to shift, and it had to start with me. But where to begin?

Reading an inspiring article about W Mitchell CSP CPAE, a speaker who has survived two debilitating accidents over five years, and whose key message is ‘it’s not about what happens to you, it’s how you respond,’ was a vital reminder this was definitely a time to respond... differently.

Give Yourself Options

When I see clients in overwhelm, I often ask them to draw up a page with two columns: one has the heading of what they need to STOP doing and the other is the things they can control; what they could be doing more of, to help themselves out of being stuck.

This exercise is deceptively simple, but well worth doing to help you gain clarity for yourself. Not only does it clear your head, it also allows you to see you have many more options than you often think you do. If you keep looking deep enough at the answers you also get to see where you might be getting in your own way. So often, that’s the hardest thing of all to see clearly.

Taking my own advice I started saying no to things I knew I needed to stop doing to deal with what was most important right now and right in front of me.

Let People Know

Looking at all the options in front of me, I realised I couldn’t do everything on my own. So I did two things I wouldn’t normally do.

I told people; not to dump on them and not to shirk responsibility, but because I thought it was only fair they knew, and so they didn't think anything out of the ordinary wasn’t about them.
I asked people I wouldn’t normally ask to either step up or step in. Not one person said no, and I’ve been both buoyed and deeply appreciative of the support. It's also enabled me to concentrate on what I do best for clients, colleagues, and family, rather than try and take it all on myself. This is something I've done a lot in the past and its the one thing I encourage most small businesses to let go of, fast. Play to your strengths and have others support you with theirs.

In the meantime, if you find overwhelm is getting the better of you, start with a notepad and look at what you can control and what you can’t.

Then take the next step...

Ask Who Can Help You

Once you know what you can control you have much more chance of getting important things done than thinking you have to do it all on your own.

Seek advice, or get support, get coaching, ask others to share the load or gain clarity by simply writing down the pros and cons of your next critical decision. You might even find you need others to make some decisions with you or for you for a while.

Be Open to Inspiration

One of the most life affirming things in the past few weeks was to find out how well Mark was regarded and cared about in the last years of his relatively short life. Mark has estranged himself from the family, and while we didn’t completely understand it, we’d come to accept this was his choice that was his right to make. We did have fears about where and how he might have lived though.

The biggest inspiration in the last weeks has been to discover Mark wasn’t alone.

Through speaking with the people at Uniting Care we’ve discovered he was valued in the community he’d come to call home. I have no doubt he valued them equally as much.

The point is, his world was in fact much better than the one we’d feared.

The same can be said for many fears. As client Paul Mitchell says in this video we shot and produced 'pessimists are often right, but optimists are usually more successful.'

You’re Not Alone

Whether we’re a business owner, entrepreneur, or working in someone else’s business, it’s easy to feel isolated in a silo, thinking no one ‘gets’ us, or think that flying solo means going it alone.

Regardless of what comes our way in business or life there are always factors we can control and we often have more options than we think.

The next steps are to prioritise your options so you can deal with what’s most important and what’s in front of you. Then you can refine and reflect upon those options. But they’re for the next newsletter, or else this one will never get out.

Thank You

Many thanks to all the people who wrote emails after the last article, letting me know it resonated with them. Someone even said they’d bought The Big Issue that same day.

That's part of the purpose of these articles. They're not for sympathy or to purge. Nor are they about charity per se. They’re here to remind us to be human in business; to have courage, pursue clarity, to support our peers and the community, and to keep building resilience.

The more business becomes a virtual reality, the more we work online and with rapidly shifting technology, the more we need to remind ourselves to adapt, learn and work smarter, to have mental, emotional and physical stamina; and most of all, to be human in business. It works.

If you’d like to let me know how this has resonated with you, or have stories of courage or resilience of your own, I invite you to be courageous and share them here on this blog.

I’ll understand if you don’t, however I’ll answer if you do.

Until next time... keep giving your brand experience

P.S. For a limited time I'm offering a personalised coaching program to help you build even more resilience and business results.

Click here to find out more about smb coaching.

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Courage In Our Conversations

noreply@blogger.com (MCME) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 03:14:00 +0000

You’ve no doubt heard the expression, ‘the courage of your convictions.’ How much credence are you giving to the courage in your conversations?

Recently Phil Preston and I were at a coffee shop in the city and a woman asked us for money. Phil seemed impressed by the way I answered ‘no.’ For many reasons, including not supporting habits or destroying people's spirit, I don’t give people on the street money unless they’re selling The Big Issue

I thought twice about telling Phil this story, just as I thought twice about telling you. But if I didn’t, I wouldn't be living up to the title of this post, and I certainly wouldn't be having an authentic or courageous conversation with you.

Stuck at the Crossroads

When I first arrived in Sydney in my late teens I was in the QVB Cafe late New Year’s Day, having just seen the movie, Fatal Attraction. A friend, Dean, and I were dissecting the movie, when a woman scuttled in from the summer rain, wearing a wide straw hat,plonked down her wet plastic shopping bags filled with books and bric-a-brac.

The woman let out a big sigh before she asked the waitress, ‘Just a long black please dear. Thanks dear, thank you so much.’

As soon as I heard the words I knew the voice. By the look on Dean’s face it must have shown on mine. ‘You look like you’ve just seen a ghost,’ he said.

‘See that woman.’

‘The bag lady?’ he said.

‘My mother.’

My eyes stared straight ahead the whole time. It wasn’t out of shame that I didn't want to look at her. There was a multitude of emotions bubbling up, including a fear of rejection or Mum not recognising me (all illogical in hindsight). But not shame.

I was, however, stuck; immobilised.

As extreme as the experience was, we all have moments like this; in our businesses, in our careers, in our lives. Sometimes there’s a reality we need to face, yet it simply seems so overwhelming, we don’t know how to. I often have clients come to us stuck, trying to get a marketing strategy in action, reinvest in their website, create more video content, increase their sales, or start using social media.

I’ve experienced being stuck in my own businesses too. I understand the feeling of inertia, of not knowing what to do or where to go next; afraid, as James C. Collins says in the book, Good to Great,to ‘face the facts and move forward with faith.’

There comes a point where you need to take action.

So, back at that cafe, after what felt like a lifetime of being immobilised I took a deep breath, got up, moved over, and not knowing what else to say, said, ‘Mum?’

Mum looked up, paused, and said, ‘Well, well, well, the people you meet.’

I laughed with relief. Here was this momentous moment in our lives (Mum had been missing for over three years at this stage and despite our best efforts, my brothers and I had not been able to find her, the police saying, ‘You can’t find someone if they don’t want to be found.’)

Mum smiled. I invited her over to sit at our table, and she did. That was also a relief.

Taking Risks To Get Out of Stuck

I’m not one for taking unnecessary or uncalculated risks, especially in your business, but so often we fail to make the leaps we’re looking for because we’re afraid to make decisions or take actions that move us from being immobilised into transforming our businesses, and our circumstances.

Then, when we finally do, we can’t believe how much easier it is than what we thought it would be.

That meeting with Mum taught me it was better to risk rejection than it was to not take any action at all.

It’s the same risk that has helped me get over a fear of cold calling, speaking publicly, and taking the leap of leaving a national sales and marketing role to start a business and support other businesses with their brand, marketing and sales.

The conversation that night moved from awkward introductions to bouts of nervous laughter and moments of disbelief and stories I wouldn’t do justice to here (they’ll be in the new book this will be a part of).

When it was closing time for the cafe I was again at a loss of what to say or do. I gave Mum some money (one of the last times I’ve given money to a homeless person), gave her my number, and let her know she could call me when she wanted to. It didn't feel enough, but there was no way Mum was going to get any closer at the time.

Persistence Pays Off

It took another three and a half years for that phone call to happen. In the end it was me that called Mum after her finding my brother through the army. But with that call came the opportunity to help Mum get her own place and rebuild our relationship.

Those are two things we often need to recognise in our businesses, and indeed, our lives.

1. People buy from you when they’re ready to.

2. Persistence, more often than not, pays off.

To make your brand easier to buy keep making your message heard and make sure it continues to resonate with your market. That way, when they're ready to buy, you're top of mind as their first choice.

Until next time... keep giving your brand experience

P.S. Want to move from immobilised to gaining more momentum in your business?

Click here for the new SMB Advisory programs: Sales, marketing and brand programs dedicated to helping SMB's achieve more income in less time.

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It's Not About the Tights: Book Review

noreply@blogger.com (MCME) — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 21:11:00 +0000

When I first came across Chris Brogan's eBook It's Not About the Tights I liked the cover but the comic cover felt a little lightweight.

Fast forward to a fortnight ago and I'm telling my business partner Phil Preston a story he's then encouraging me to include in a new keynote. Phil being Phil he went straight into questioning me on the story's main theme, and what's in it for the business owner audience the keynote is designed to inspire, entertain and educate.

The theme is courage, and locating it with Phil's help is what led me to reading Chris Brogan's eBook 'It's Not About the Tights.'

To sum up the book up in a sentence I'll give you Chris Brogan's own words, 'You are the superhero you've been waiting for to save you.'

He doesn't just give you empty ra-ra though. He weaves in personal stories with methodologies for bravery and activities for you to work on for owning your own superhero powers and status.

At the heart of this book's big idea is having the courage to truly be your own boss (something even us business owners can be challenged by at times), and keep working on yourself, your skill, relationships and projects with bravery.

There are many well told stories in the book, however Chris Brogan's anagram of a CAPE is what really resonated with me. That is:

Confidence
Acceptance
Permission (Practice)
Execution

After rating yourself between 1 and 5 in your current level in these domains of your own superhero-ness, Chris Brogan gets you down to work in your own Bravery Manual you keep referring and adding to throughout the eBook, and beyond reading it to keep practicing with purpose.

While there's too much to go into in a book review, here are some small, simple takeaways that have stuck with me:

Confidence: We encourage kids to keep getting back when they fall off. That's how they become more confident, and often the same is true for us as adults. Our learning and our confidence is in getting back on the bike, it's in the recovery.

Acceptance: By accepting where we are now and still recognising where we want to be, there's less likelihood of beating ourselves up in the moment, giving us more opportunity to succeed, and achieve those goals we strive for.

Permission: I don't know about you, but I could definitely give myself more permission at times. This has been a helpful reminder in giving myself permission to write the next book, get back to work on a keynote and create more programs for our clients.

Execution: Planning is great, executing is gold. Always better to say you've done it, than to say you're working on the plan.

Practice: All of this means little if it's not put into practice. Might sound obvious, but how many of us say we'll do something vitally important to us and not follow through? Chris Brogan reminds us to keep putting all our actions into practice often, giving ourselves accountability and making it more of a game (including points and scores) than we sometimes allow it to be.

By giving us a book filled with insights and actions to keep finding our own superhero, Chris Brogan proves it's not about the tights, but more about taking control of yourself and the life, career, body, relationships or business you truly want with no excuses, and constant execution.

You can easily buy the eBook here.

Building Your Brand on Linked In

noreply@blogger.com (MCME) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 20:55:00 +0000

Welcome to the latest edition of the Brand Stand.

Giving a presentation for a networking breakfast recently many business owners asked about social media, and in particular, leveraging Linked In.

If you’re a service professional, Linked In is an essential brand builder, for both your business and yourself.

Linked In is not only for services though, as I’ve seen premium business and lifestyle product supplier Corban & Blair use Linked In to great effect too.

Here are just some of the benefits:

1. Linked In is a powerful search engine. That makes it an ideal brand maximiser. The more links you have to your other online properties here, the easier it is for you to be found on other search engines eg. Google.

2. More brand magnetism: Simply going through the process of creating or updating your profile forces you to be clearer on what you do and who you do it for, making you easier to buy, and easier for others to refer you.

3. You multiply your brand: Linked In gives you the opportunity to increase circles and spheres of influence. But you can only make the most of Linked In if your profile is relevant to your market and well positioned to attract the people you want to connect with.

But Remember...Linked In Is Not a CV.

It’s a powerful branding and marketing opportunity to let us know more about you and what you do – and also something most people forget - what’s in that for us.

While this article is more about staying on brand than it is about the mechanics of your profile, here are some simple tips for making the most of Linked In.

1. Position your profile: Don’t just let the headline default to your role. Edit those 120 characters to let your market (or markets) know WHAT you do, WHO you primarily do it for, HOW you do it, and even better, the results you achieve.

Ask yourself:

Who is my primary market?
What do they gain as a result of doing business with me/us?
What does that mean for them? For example, if you were giving your headline for leadership coaching you might write, ‘Helping Leading CEOs Uncover Hidden Profits Through Greater Purpose and Productivity.’

2. Make your profile stand out. Rather than just use the default order of how your profile appears, take control; add videos or slideshows (which you can make in www.slideshare.net) and bring them closer to the top of your profile page.

Post regular updates from your blog, newsletter or other social media that both personifies your brand and adds value to the market you want to be doing more business with.

3. Join Linked In groups. Or even better, create one of your own as Phil Preston initiated with our presentation skills training brand, Presentability.

We keep the Presentability Forum as a closed group for our networks of trusted associates and course attendees. As a reader of the Brand Stand you’re invited to join if you’d like to ramp up your presentation skills for greater influence, impact and organisational outcomes.

The key with any group, whether you create one or simply join in the conversation, is to add value to the conversation rather than just self promote.

By adding value first, you’ll become known and respected for your opinions, results and updates, rather than people feeling constantly sold to, which in turn, earns you the right to sell once there's a relationship.

Want to know more about how to stay On Brand with your social media, website, and face to face marketing opportunities? Read on...

On Brand Complimentary eBook

We've had healthy interest in the eBook 'On Brand: How Smart Business Owners Maximise Their Brand Potential.'

In case you're a new subscriber, this free ebook is packed with more brand building strategies you can put in place instantly for even greater profile, presence and profits.

Download your complimentary eBook here.

On Brand Acceleration Day

Feeling stuck with your online and face to face branding and marketing strategy?

We're giving workshops in our new On Brand Studio in Kent St, Sydney.

The first for the year is On Brand Acceleration Day, Tuesday April 2.

This is specifically designed to help keep you on track and on purpose with the latest brand strategies and techniques we're employing to increase client's results, helping one client gain a speaking engagement in Dubai and another get bookings on their website only 2 hours after going live.

On Band Acceleration Day is also an ideal opportunity to keep yourself accountable to the goals and visions you've set for your brand this year.

You'll gain specific tools and resources with feedback on your own brand strategy, hot seat mentoring, and networking with like minded business owners. There are currently 7 places left.

Find out more about On Brand Acceleration Day here

Until next time... keep giving your brand experience

P.S. If we're not connected already, connect with me on Linked In here.

Seven Secrets of a Standout Brand

noreply@blogger.com (MCME) — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 00:12:00 +0000

In this edition of the Brand Stand, successful brand secrets, a complimentary download of my latest eBook On Brand, upcoming workshops and presentations, and a new speaker for you to meet.

Seven Secrets of a Standout Brand

Some business owners and entrepreneurs I've met or worked with think they’re brand is simply their tagline, image or logo. Vital as those elements are, I hope you know your brand is so much more than those brand touch points are on their own, because they’re results of much deeper work that’s often surprisingly simple...it’s just not always easy.

To help simplify and demystify branding challenges and opportunities in today's market I’ve developed the 4M system to help you:

Magnetise your brand to know and attract more of your ideal clients and opportunities
Maximise your marketing online, in print and face to face
Multiply your networks for multiple circles and spheres of influence
Monetise your brand to create the income and profits you desire

In each of those four areas, here are (just seven of many) secrets of a stand out brand.

Magnetise your brand

1. Create and deliver your own brand story – in the On Brand eBook, there are examples of how building Zizzi Designs profile by sharing the owner Gill’s story to her market made her prospects so much more willing to buy from her. Gill had (and has) great products. What was even more compelling was her personal story though.

The key to that story engaging her target market was that it was instantly identifiable to the store owners Gill was wanting to attract. Gill’s personal brand story resonated with her market, because Gill bravely bounced forward from retrenchment (through no fault of her own) , overcame fears and challenges such as travelling overseas on her own and launching her first business in her mid-fifties to realise her dream.

2. Knowing me, knowing you: It’s more than just an Abba song, it’s about knowing your niche, knowing your market and articulating the results you create for them.

Working with another valued client Paul Mitchell last week I was reminded by him how crucial it is to refine and reframe your message. Hollywood script writing departments have a saying ‘concept is King.’ The same applies to branding and marketing, only the message is her majesty here (especially for services).

3. Pick a lane: Narrow your focus to deepen your impact. Ever seen a specialist store (say a florist) introduce a new category such as clothing? The same can go for a service business who introduces unrelated services? They’d be better to open a new store entirely for the separate category, or sell that new line online. If you’ve done this yourself, you can still make amends. I’ve made the mistake myself. That’s why I chose to partner with Phil Preston and separate presentabilityfrom MCME. It’s also why we’re introducing On Brand Solutions as a way to keep speaking, entertainment separate and distinct from branding and marketing. Watch this space...

Maximise your marketing

4. Catchy is cooler than clichéd. With more and more emphasis on content marketing (mainly due to online migration and social media), you’ll stand out much more with originality than you will re-hashing content that wasn’t cutting through in the first place. If words aren’t your forte, then invest in copywriting to make your messages stick.

5. Give your brand some emotion. I don’t know about you, but I love what I do. I don’t love it every minute of every day, but I do gain immense satisfaction seeing clients make new inroads in new markets, increase profits, or save time they’d rather spend with their family. Just like any relationship (business or personal) we can all let people know how we much we value them: not just in words, but in actions too. In what other ways could you be letting your client know you value them?

Multiply your networks

6. Stop going it alone: Work with brand partners and strategic alliances, create more and deeper connections at networking events, join an industry association, see who you can share a database with perhaps. Keep creating multiple circles and spheres of influence with a clear view of who your target market is and what you deliver for them that no one else does in quite the same way. It makes you so much easier to recommend, refer and partner with.

Monetise your brand

7. Brand is a promise delivered. I credit Kane Minkus from Jeff and Kane fame for this insight, although he's not the first to have coined the phrase. Delivering on our brand promises reinforces our brand in immeasurable ways. Imagine Volvo without delivering on safety or Prada giving us anything less than Italian chic. Are you delivering on your brand promise?

On Brand Complimentary eBook

Find out more about On Brand Solutions and our promise to you in this freeebook with brand building strategies you can put in place instantly for even greater traction in 2013.

Download your complimentary eBook here.

Upcoming Events

On Brand Acceleration Day

I'm happy to announce we're giving workshops in our new On Brand Studio in Kent St, Sydney. The first for the year is On Brand Acceleration Day on Tuesday April 2.

This is specifically designed and delivered to help keep you on track and on purpose with the latest brand strategies and techniques we're employing to increase client's results.

On Band Acceleration Day is also an ideal opportunity to keep yourself accountable to the goals and visions you've set for your brand this year. You'll gain specific tools and resources with feedback on your own brand strategy, hot seat mentoring, and networking with like minded business owners.

For a limited time I'm offering a Half Price Super Earlybird Offer.

Find out more about On Brand Acceleration Day here.

Enterprise Hub 'Seven Secrets' Presentation

On February 26 I'll be giving a new Seven Secrets of a Standout Brand presentation for brand partner Enterprise Hub at their Inner West Networking Breakfast in Burwood.

Click here for more about the breakfast and how to book your place.

Speaker Lisa Rubinstein

Lisa Rubinstein uncovers and releases your potential for true leadership. Skilfully combining neuroscience, NLP, acute business acumen and a black belt in Shotokan Karate - yes, a black belt - Lisa challenges you to step into the ring to fulfill your authentic leadership potential.

Lisa brings the insight and wisdom of almost two decades transforming the lives and careers of leading Australian and international executives. She brings acute business acumen to your mentoring, speaking or training engagement; balancing her studies and practice in neuroscience and NLP with a BA in Economics, executive coaching for New York University, and being the Global Coach Development Manager at Results Coaching Systems (Lisa held the global vision and oversaw ongoing leadership programs for over two thousand coaches locally and internationally).

CEOs are dynamically supported with rigorous, authentic counsel; firmly on their side, Lisa holds them accountable when no one else does. Your people are empowered with leading edge neuroscience backed by practical application to put them in practice for sustained results.On the speaking platform Lisa brings personable authority with tangible take-aways your audience can action instantly.

Find out more about Lisa here

Keep giving your brand experience

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5 Ways to Be On Brand in 2013

noreply@blogger.com (MCME) — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 01:08:00 +0000

Welcome to the first Brand Stand for 2013. In this edition; five simple, effective ways to get a head start with your brand this year, plus some exciting new speakers and performers for you to meet.

Your Brand

1. Magnetise Your Brand

Revisit your core brand values. Over the break I’ve been catching up on reading and listening to some audio books. One audio I’ve been listening to is Simon Sinek’s ‘Start With Why – How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action.’

This is a marketer’s view on leadership integrating brand and innovation perspectives with compelling case studies. The book is also an excellent reminder of having a cause big enough to inspire your brand followers, not just a plan and a to-do list.

That’s why so many brand and marketing plans are so often uninspiring.

Many of us don't want to put the growing list of brand plans, social media profiles and updates, fliers, brochures, website updates, newsletters or other vital brand touch points in action. Why? We’re not inspired to.

Then, if we do put those in action without a big enough ‘WHY’ they fail to inspire our audience.

Keep looking for big ‘WHY’s’ and how you can clearly articulate your brand purpose to your followers. Let them know what’s in this for them to keep your brand magnetic.

2. Maximise your Brand Awareness

People will believe your why if you keep putting it in action. Then they’ll be more inclined to follow you and your brand. One sure fire way to keep building your brand is to keep delivering on your promises. People are talking about your brand right now, giving you good raps or bad.

They’re doing that in many places; online, in forums and social media, and in other more traditional ways too: over the phone, through referrals, at networking events, over coffee, I’m sure you get the idea. So treat your people – and your clients – exceptionally well.

Never underestimate the power of some good old fashioned word of mouth to maximise your brand awareness.

3. Multiply Your Network

Cultivate and expand your circles of influence and your spheres of influence.

Again, there are many ways to multiply your network, however this is the perfect time of to get back to basics and update your online profiles.

Make sure they’re up to date with you and your business's achievements, a new role or win. Scan your online bios for more details you can add, and keep those relevant to your market and how you serve them.

Updating your online profiles doesn't hurt your search engine rankings either.

4. Monetise Your Brand

This year why not look for new ways to bundle, package and promote products and services, so they’re not just ‘stuff.’ They’re outstanding brand experiences.

Conversely, think about separating them out and unbundle packages to make the offerings easier for the consumer to buy. American Airlines did this a few years ago, stripping fares back to basics then having add-on's they could choose to suit them. This was highly effective in a strapped economy, and ironically they found sales increased and many people still bought the add-ons.

The difference was their buyers felt they had more choice and more control; sitting in the pilot’s seat of their own purchasing decision.

Let people know more about you, what you do, why and how you do it. Updating your online profiles doesn't hurt your search engine rankings either.

5. Give Your Brand Awareness

This is the powerful combination of consistently putting all of these actions into motion and reviewing them, often. They needn't take a lot of time, some of them could take some testing, and there are many more than just the brand building activities I’ve mentioned here.

But like many New Year’s resolutions it’s important to keep recommitting to the actions (and the all important ‘WHY’) to keep gathering your marketing momentum, rather than just letting them peter out over time.

These are just some of the elements of our new On Brand system you'll be experiencing with us this year. Watch this space...

Your Event

With what I thought was a busy event season just behind us, this year is looking promising on the events and conference front. As a result of event organisers looking for more unique, fresh and engaging speakers, performers and presenters, we continue to add many new faces to the fold. Please meet...

Reigning Running Champion: Grahak Cunningham

Join leading speaker and performance specialist, four time finisher and current reigning 3100 mile champion, Grahak Cunningham as he inspires and teaches you ways to:

Gain confidence and hurdle difficulties
Improve productivity and fulfillment
Push yourself beyond your limits in your personal, business and fitness environments

Find out more about Grahak for your next event

Authentic Middle Eastern Belly Dancers and Performers: Mirage

Your guests will be mesmerised with an engaging, colourful and dynamic belly dancing floor show.

Performances include sword balancing, isis wings, stick (saiidi), zills (finger cymbals). Jane and her performers can easily include extras such as live diamond python snake, shamadan or El-Zaffa entrance.

Click here to find out more about Mirage and see Jane perform

You'll be meeting more speakers, performers, presenters in new ways in upcoming news.

You'll also discover more about how the On Brand system can help your business get on brand, be on brand and stay on brand in 2013.

Until next time, keep giving your brand experience

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Lessons in Brand Leadership From the North Pole

noreply@blogger.com (MCME) — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 08:24:00 +0000

Welcome to your festive edition of the Brand Stand.

In this issue, we bear gifts. Not just from MCME and Speaker Central, but also from trusted associates. One of the most significant lessons for me this year was the value of Brand Multipliers, in the form of partnerships with like minded business owners, strategic alliance partners, and event professionals.

You'll be hearing more about Brand Multipliers as part of the new On Brand system I'm developing in the New Year. But for now, enjoy...

Lessons in Brand Leadership Direct from the North Pole.
Expect More from 2013: Your free eBook
More new Speakers & Performers on Speaker Central.

Lessons in Brand Leadership Direct from the North Pole.

Until last year client Paul Mitchell played Santa on the Manly Ferry, leading passengers in Christmas Carols and helping them drink as much champagne as possible in one 30 minute journey.

Paul hung up the red suit and white beard for the last time last year.

Playing Santa for 30 years on the Manly ferry made Paul think even more about leadership, albeit from a different perspective to the ones he often takes the other 364 days of the year, helping leaders throughout Australasia on their personal journey of becoming the best they can be.

In this article Paul and I give our insights into branding, marketing and leadership through the eyes of one of Christmas's biggest brand ambassadors...

1. Santa Knows The Power Of Positive Psychology

While all the others in the team were almost writing Rudolph off and knocking him:

“All of the other reindeer, used to laugh and call him names,
They never let poor Rudolph play in any Reindeer games”

Santa looked for the strengths in Rudolph; he looked for what was good, what was right, and what Rudolph could do; how he could contribute, how he could gain the acceptance of his fellow team members.

In fact like all great leaders, Santa focused on developing the leaders around him and giving them their own platforms of greatness, as the circumstances of the business environment changed.

“Then one foggy Christmas Eve, Santa came to say:
Rudolph with your nose so bright, won’t you guide my sleigh tonight (be the leader)”
“Then all the Reindeer loved him and they shouted out with glee,
Rudolph the red-nosed Reindeer,
You’ll go down in history!

2. He Knows The Power Of An External Deadline

No excuses. No rationalisation, no competitor forces, interest rate rises, bad weather, or whatever.

The presents must be made and ready to be loaded on the sleigh and delivered by 25 December. Every time, every year, without fail.

How much more powerful is an external deadline than an internal one that can simply be changed?

3. Santa Stays on Brand

Santa knows the cornerstone of being on brand: consistency. Yes, he wears the same red suit, white beard, and black belt, but it goes deeper than that.

His brand values are consistent too.

Santa knows the space he dominates; the ‘merry’ space. He doesn’t cross over into religion or politics. He’s clearly, simply and cheerily on purpose and on brand.

His mission is to give people mirth, connection, and the joy of giving.

How about your brand? Do we know what you stand for in a sentence?

4. He Knows The Power Of Consistent Short Messages To Drive Business Success

It’s the same every year:

Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas
Not Heh! Heh! Heh! Merry Christmas
Not Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! Merry Christmas
But Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas

He doesn’t just know what he stands for – he consistently delivers the same message, linked to those values, again and again every year, without fail.

Do your clients know what you stand for?

And are you consistently delivering on that brand stand?

5. He Knows The Power Of Symbols And Rituals To Build Cultures

Talk about rituals and symbols. We’ve mentioned the white beard and red outfit, but there’s also the sack, the Christmas Tree, the Angel on the top of the tree, the Christmas lights, leaving something for Santa to eat and drink, the carrots for the reindeer, the writing of a list, the stockings, pillow slips at the end of the bed, sitting on Santa’s knee, the carols. The list goes on and on and the rituals are performed each and every year.

What about your business?

Does your clientele know what to expect from your brand? Do they know they can rely on you for the ritual of standout service, attention to detail or joyful customer experiences?

Do your leaders have consistent rituals (meetings, events, celebrations) and symbols to which people attribute meaning (the type of sleigh you drive, whether you dress up in a red outfit or a suit, whether you give the Rudolphs of this world a chance to shine or not).

Reindeer sleigh, come our way
HO HO HO, cherry nose
Cap on head, suit that's red
Special night, beard that's white
Must be Santa
Must be Santa
Must be Santa, Santa Claus

6. He Knows It’s More Than Just The Presents

Imagine if all that happened on Christmas morning, was that you woke up and there were presents at the foot of your bed.

No Santa, no fanfare, no build up, no drama, no delicious anticipation.

“Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.”

On no! You see Santa really gets it. He understands that great leadership is about moving hearts and minds (transformational) not just about moving presents around the world (transactional).

The same goes for a brilliant brand. Outstanding organisations exist to create connections, not just commoditised transactions.

It’s about making an emotional connection with the little and big kids of the world (your team) not just giving them presents (pay, benefits, the job itself).

It’s also about building lasting connections with your clients, suppliers and strategic partners; giving them experiences and opportunities they’ll value, not just what works for you.

7. He Knows The Power Of Team

Behind every great leader is a great team. There is no way Santa could get all those presents delivered by himself. He knows he’s just the front man for something so much bigger.

Without those elves beavering away all year making the presents, Santa just couldn’t exist. He gets diversity. Without his little helpers and all the reindeers, he could not accomplish his mission.

Like all great leaders he knows no one makes it on their own.

8. He Knows Every Brand Is Built One Present At a Time

Like all smart brand builders Santa also knows every great brand is made one present, one meaningful transaction, one meeting, one touch point at a time.

Every smile, every ‘Ho,Ho, Ho’ and sound of bells, every gift made by a team of dedicated elves carried by flying reindeer to help Santa squeeze through a chimney and fly away unseen add up to making his contribution to Christmas a significant brand experience we never forget.

9. He Knows That Every Great Leader Has To Be A Great Marketer

The guy's unbelievable! Just look at how he applied some vital marketing techniques to build his brand, including:

Customers for life, that’s right he knows that from your first Christmas onwards, he will have you for life.
He’s number one in his category. Yeah, the Easter Bunny is great, and cartoon characters will come and go, but nothing beats Santa.
It’s a scalable, repeatable, consistent franchise business model. God only knows how manySantas there are all over the world.
His pre-sales strategy is to die for; the hype, the build up, the parties, the anticipation. How could you not have him come to your place?

“You'd better watch out! You'd better not cry! You'd better not pout!
I'm telling you why, Santa Claus is comin' to town.
He's making a list, and checking it twice.
He's going to find out who's been naughty or nice.
Santa Claus is comin' to town”.

10. Santa Lives His Brand: Without Taking Himself Too Seriously

No one could ever accuse Santa of not taking his work seriously. His work ethic is unbelievable. You think you’ve got a lot of people depending on you, wanting something from you. You think you’ve got demands. Well there’s absolutely nothing compared to Santa’s international demands.

And yet look at him. He’s always smiling, he’s always happy, always jolly; the man lives his brand!

Yes, he takes his mission of mirth very seriously but himself lightly.

“Dashing through the snow, in a one horse open sleigh
O'er the fields we go, laughing all the way
Bells on bob tails ring, making spirits bright
Oh what fun it is to laugh and sing, a sleighing song tonight

Oh, jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride, in a one horse open sleigh!”

Great leaders and leading brands alike share Santa’s incredible lightness of being.

What about you? Are you “laughing all the way”?

11. He Understands The Importance of Meritocracy

Not only does he realise the importance of rewarding on performance. He personally monitors your behaviour throughout the whole year. Right up to the last minute. He’s always watching you!

“He knows if you’ve been sleeping

He knows when you're awake
He knows if you’ve been bad or good

So be good for goodness sake”

He knows the importance of taking personal accountability for quality, especially when it comes to people and performance.

The buck really stops with Santa! No way would he expect anyone else but him to get the presents right. He takes personal accountability that you will get the presents you asked for.

How does he do this? He has a system of course. A very simple system. And he reviews this system not once but twice, always linking back to performance.

No bureaucratic politics or excuses. For Santa it’s pretty black and white, you’ve either performed or you haven’t.

“He’s making a list and checking it twice
He’s going to find out who’s naughty or nice
Santa Claus is coming to town”

Thank you Santa, for being such a consistent beacon of hope, irrespective of what’s going on in our crazy world. You remind us Santa that all great leaders are dealers in hope, and the best brands are sleighs flying high, brimming with extraordinary gifts to deliver for people waiting to be delighted.

We love our work as much as Santa loves his.

Paul loves that every year he can look back and know he's helped leaders truly transform the way they live their lives, lead their businesses, and leave a legacy.

And I love supporting brands like yours to shine, get your messages clearly, consistently and compellingly to their target market.

Expect More From 2013

At the end of each year, Gihan Perera invites a group of leading professionals to contribute a short article to an e-book full of tips and strategies for success in your personal and professional life. This year is no exception with excellent articles ot inspire, support and challenge you to help make 2013 your best year yet.

Download your copy with our compliments here

More New Speakers & Entertainers at Speaker Central

With a busy corporate Christmas party period almost coming to a close, we've been busy bringing on board new speakers and performers for events as far and wide as the new Bar100 in George St for Broadcast Australia, Luna Park for Divine Events and the newly refurbished Campbelltown Catholic Club.

Here are Jonas the Magician, Katie Shearer (Marilyn below with Charles Anthony & Paparazzi Richard) and Ron Lee CSP otherwise known as The Corporate Ninja.

They're just some of the new acts coming on board every week at Speaker Central.

Looking for speakers or entertainment to kick off 2013?

Contact Us to Find The Perfect People For Your Event

All the best for 2013.

Keep giving your brand experience

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P: +61 2 9331 8135

Brand Stand Radio: Getting Personal on Brand

noreply@blogger.com (MCME) — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 22:00:00 +0000

In this interview, internet coach and eguru Gihan Perera quizzes me on personal branding, positioning and profiling for his Expert Gold Radio show.

We talk about the power and purpose of creating a stand out personal brand for greater marketing impact, sustained online presence and increased profit.

Click on play to listen

Give Your Brand Consistency

noreply@blogger.com (MCME) — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 01:10:00 +0000

Welcome to the latest edition of the Brand Stand. In this issue, the key word is consistency.

Your Brand

Consistency is one of the vital cornerstones of branding.

Just think if McDonald's golden arches were purple.

What would that do for their brand?

Imagine if Nike decided to get creative and invert its swoosh, turning it upside down? That gives a very different message to the positive action based message that symbol stands for.

'That's ridiculous,' you might say. 'They'd never do that!' You're right, they wouldn't.

But time and again I see people do this with their own personal and business brands. Often the intentions are good as they are aiming to reinvigorate their brand. What sometimes happens though is that they lose sight of the consistency that made their brand stand out in the first place. Or, sometimes they never took the time to define that; they haven't fully explored their brand values, what it promises, who it serves, their brand identity, and the priorities they commit to being the most consistent about.

How can you keep your brand consistent?

Look at your website, your logo, your images, bio, and of your marketing material. Is it consistent? Not just in look and feel, but also in the message you want to convey?

If you're holding an event does it have your signature style?

If I was to see a presentation of yours would it be uniquely you, even if the content was new?

Attending client Paul Mitchell's team development day yesterday reminded me of this. Everything he and his team does in consistently conveyed the human enterprise way. There's always a sense of soul, attention to detail and commitment to shared prosperity in their work, and they way they partner with clients, consultants, colleagues, and suppliers.

Giving us a video testimonial at the end of the day, it was also satisfying to hear Paul's appreciation for the consistency we've achieved with the human enterprise branding and marketing strategy and support too, making sure the messages continue to get out there.

You might have heard the expression,'we must always be marketing.' It's true, we do. And it's one of the ways in which a brand (big, small, or personal) is built; one marketing message at a time, one sale at a time, one client, colleague, employee or supplier interaction at a time.

Whether you're a business owner, working for an organisation or building your own personal brand, give your brand consistency.It makes it so much easier for us to buy you.

Your Event

If you're looking to bring more festivity to this year's festive season, visit the MC, Speaker and Performer gallery. With a growing amount of performers, acts and entertainers, we've been supplying interactive entertainment for many events this season.

Many of the requests have been last minute.

So, don't be concerned if the act, speaker or MC isn't in the gallery. With extensive contacts in the speaking and entertainment industries, we've been able to consistently find people at short notice for events; a uni-cycling, juggling clown within a day for one client, Marilyn Monroe, James Bond, and Audrey Hepburn impersonators in under twenty four hours for another, a voice-over artist for gala awards announcements within an hour, and an after dinner speaker within three hours.

Client delight has been on target too, as all the performers, speakers and presenters are not only consistent with theme, but also on brand to make the event a memorable experience... for all the right reasons.

Visit the speaker, emcee and performer gallery here.

Or call us on 02 9331 8135 to tailor performance for you.

Until next time, keep giving your brand experience.

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Take the Brand Stand: The Art of Getting Good Press

noreply@blogger.com (MCME) — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 02:18:00 +0000

Welcome to the latest edition of Brand Stand, helping personal and business brands increase their potential and profits through standout speaking, authorship, mentoring and events.

Your Brand

'A good PR story is infinitely more effective than a full page ad and a damn site cheaper.'

Sir Richard Branson

One of the best ways to get free publicity for your personal or business brand is to write articles for other websites, magazines or press.

Whether your working yourself or an organisation, you receive notice and credibility you wouldn’t necessarily gain by keeping your information hidden.

I’ve gained healthy exposure for our clients and the business by writing articles for association journals, guest blogging for Dynamic Business Magazine, being a regular contributor for Flying Solo and writing specifically for Havamag, Daily Telegraph, Spicemag, and NSW Business Chamber’s Connect Magazine.

Returns are not always easy to measure, however the benefits can be substantial... if you make the most of the opportunity.

Benefits of a Well Written Story

1. Increased exposure to a market who wouldn’t normally have access to you or your brand.This is as relevant for an employee building their personal brand as it is a business owner, especially if you’re transitioning to a new role or career.

2. Greater recognition from your peers, colleagues, clients or employer. Sometimes being seen in the right journal can help an existing client or colleague see you in a new light, seeing talents or skills they’d not been aware of until now.

3. It’s free. Apart from your time. And if writing is a challenge for you, invest in a strategic and skilled writer.

What To Look Out For

1. Always ask for a by-line. That is, a positioning statement at the end of the article that highlights not just who you are, but also what you specialise in, and a link to your website.

2. Have an editor proof read your article. Choose someone who understands your market and the audience you’re writing for, as much as a second eye on spelling and grammar. Often the publication or portal you’re supplying the article for will have their own. Work with them and trust them.

3. Publish the article to your own channels. Add the article to your website (as long as you're not contravening an agreement with the publisher), post it to your blog, send it out through all your social media. If in doubt about the republishing conditions check with your publishing contact, however many are happy for you to link back to their website; it’s increased traffic for them.

4. Let the publisher know you’ve linked to them. This is one step which is ideal for letting people know you’re building their fan base, especially on Twitter. Let’s say you’re tweeting an article out to your followers. Simply add the twitter handle of the publisher and they’ll be notified you’vepublicised them to your followers. They’ll also love you for it.

5. Facilitate the forum. If the article has a forum that allows people to comment, authentically respond to the comments.

Final Words

Be (positively) realistic about the returns. An article will not open the floodgates to increased sales overnight, nor will it mean instant promotion, however, a well targeted, well written message with clear outcomes and real benefits for your readers, is a solid, strategic brand builder.

Given that most articles needn’t be longer than 500 or 800 words, they needn’t take too much of your time or resources. Now the only questions that remain are 'what are you going to write about?' and 'who for?'

Your Event

SpeakerCentral continues to grow with more speakers, performers, MCs and authors. Here is a futurist who you could very well remember from your past, if, like me, you were a fan of Channel Nine's Curiosity Show...

Dr Deane Hutton: Futurist

Deane Hutton is a futurist who has worked professionally as a teacher, lecturer, writer, television presenter, film producer and entertainer in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.

He gives keynote presentations at more than 80 venues each year (business conferences, seminars and schools) speaking about science, technology and the future. Deane uses graphics, video, models, demonstrations and audience interaction.

Audience members find out how to recognize future trends, overcome the insecurity of change, and create the future they want.

Find out more about Dr Deane here.

Please feel free to pass this onto a colleague or client you believe will receive value from the Brand Stand. And feel free to give us your feedback or comments. They're always appreciated.

Until next time keep giving your brand experience.

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Going Green with Dr Deane

noreply@blogger.com (MCME) — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 07:50:00 +0000

How to Save the Earth . . . and live a Sustainable Lifestyle!

Dr Deane Hutton, from television’s Curiosity Show, Hey Hey It’s Saturday, Channel Seven News, and The New Inventors is one of Australia’s best-known science communicators and futurists. He presents action-packed keynotes about science, technology and the future in business conferences, schools and universities in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.

Curious? Find out more about Dr Deane on Speaker Central.

Deane has developed a new keynote called “Going Green with Dr Deane” which shows corporate clients how to understand Planet Earth, environmental problems and sustainability. Sustainability means “to keep it going”.

In this 50-minute interactive program, dramatic demonstrations and experiments enable audience members to appreciate the structure of the Earth, the fragile nature of our air and water resources, and the importance of energy. It stresses how we can all be involved in living a sustainable lifestyle without damaging or depleting valuable resources.

OUTLINE

The Earth

How did the Earth form? Why do we have earthquakes and volcanoes?

Can we do anything about them? What are “greenhouse gases”? How many are we dealing with?

What is Climate Change? Why is Global Warming a serious problem?

Air

How far does the atmosphere extend above us?

How important are air pressure and air quality to life on Earth? We share the air with

every living thing. What are the major causes of air pollution? Forests and air quality.

Water

How much water is on the Earth’s surface? How much water do living things contain?

Why is water vital to life? What can we do to improve the quality and supply of water?

The Sun

How much energy does the Sun give out every day?

How can we use solar energy more effectively? New developments in solar technology.

Other forms of energy – wind, waves, geothermal and nuclear – advantages & disadvantages.

At Home

Practical tips for saving water in the bathroom, kitchen and office.

Practical tips for saving energy in lighting, cooking, heating and cooling.

What do ”carbon neutral” and “carbon trading” mean? How can corporations become involved?

In the Outdoors

Practical tips for saving water in the outdoors – backyards, gardens, public parks.

How to use green plants, ground cover and garbage to improve the outdoor environment.

Book Dr Deane Hutton at Speaker Central

What's Your Why?

noreply@blogger.com (MCME) — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 21:30:00 +0000

This week I went to see Chris Gray speak on property investment on a rainy Monday night.

Chris is our only property speaker on Speaker Central for very good reason. With over $10 million in property assets, Chris knows - and practices - what he's talking about.

What does this have to do with your why?

Everything. Before clicking through to one of his first slides, Chris said, 'this is the most important slide you'll see tonight.'

The slide? Hand drawn stick figure families, a boat, a sports car, some house icons that looked like they were straight out of monopoly..

Chris then pointed out why this slide was so important. Without having a clear 'why' that truly matters to you, you'll never have the motivation, drive and determination you need to overcome the challenges and obstacles that happen on the road to success. Whatever success looks like for you. Obviously, the point isn't about how well the picture is drawn for a slide. What matters is that it means something to you, it matters, it motivates you, makes you want to stretch your mindset and actions to make that picture happen.

Chris backs up the mindset with an impressive understanding of numbers, property, and smart outsourcing.

He's also in good company. One of the most resonant and popular TED videos of recent years is undoubtedly Simon Sinek's 'How Great Leaders Inspire Action. That video is as much about getting clear on your own why as it is about inspiring others.

At Speaker Central our why is to deliver outstanding event experiences before, during and after the event, giving audiences memorable information they can implement in their business. Why? To echo more of Chris's words on Monday night, 'Good business is about creating an environment where all parties win.' In our case, that's the conference organiser, their brand or client, and the speaker themselves.

That's our why. What's yours?

Brand Stand: Seven Deadly Sales Sins

noreply@blogger.com (MCME) — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 05:50:00 +0000

Hi,

Welcome to this edition of the Brand Stand, giving news and views on brand building ideas for you and your business. In this edition, I reveal seven deadly sales sins and introduce two new sales speakers and facilitators new to SpeakerCentral.

Seven Deadly Sales Sins

Whether the brand we’re building is our personal or an organisation alone, people buy us as much as they do the organisation we represent.

Sometimes, though, we can inadvertently be underselling ourselves - and our business - by making some common sales mistakes. Before I give you these I confess I’ve committed some of them myself and some more than once.

The key is to learn from the mistake, gain feedback and move on to gain sales momentum. So, here they are; the sins...

Not having sales targets. Rather than give you a multitude of platitudes, the simplest targets in sales are the numbers (we’ll get to the motivation part, I promise). Perhaps you choose to increase sales in a particular area of your business by 30% or double the amount of meetings you have with prospects in your target market. Maybe you need to triple the amount of sales calls you make each week. Have sales targets that motivate you and your people and go all out to achieve them. Never reduce the targets if you’re not hitting them. Instead, realise you didn’t make them, avoid beating yourself up, adjust your activity, and keep striving to reach them.
Not putting sales first. I go into more depth on this in a recent article for Flying Solo, however, suffice to say, making it a practice to make sales the first activity, stops you from putting them off and has you attracting more business, however it is that you happen to sell.
Not making the first sale to yourself. This is as much about mindset as it is motivation. Quoting speaker and author Julien Smith, ‘mindset is everything’. Since reading the 10X Rule by Grant Cardone I’ve taken to writing goals day and night. Not action plans - they’re still important to make the goals happen - but big, motivating goals, backed by further developing my mindset. Results driven sales speaker Bernadette McClelland has titled her book, ‘The First Sale is Always to Yourself.’ Bernadette’s right. It is.
Making your pitch too long. Most people simply don’t have the time. I was on two long sales calls in the last week. One for a client and one for us. Both times the salesperson spent more than an hour pitching their services before listening to what our needs were (agreed, I let them). The pitch is a well defined the starting point, not the end result; a technique Phil Preston and I work on in presentability
Not listening to your prospect. In one of those calls just mentioned, the business owner pitching to us was so adamant to make their points they didn’t listen to the copious amount of cues we gave them. I believe their intentions were good, but they lost us halfway through the call by talking over us, not listening, and not responding to a pre-call brief we’d sent through, which in fact gave them every opportunity to address the client’s needs – and listen.
No sales systems. This is something this person had down beautifully in their process though. A clear sales system with an integrated CRM they used extremely well for following up and keeping their team accountable. They even went so far as to demonstrate it to us. Thanks to Phil Preston's advice we now use Solve 360 in our business, and I highly recommend it to other service providers who also want to give exemplary after sales service. There are many affordable CRMs out there to choose from if you're not using one already. However, sales are never solely reliant on the CRM, sales success always come back to using them with discipline. The same goes for sales reports and cashflow reports (especially useful for business owners to do at the end of each week to track figures).
Lack of follow up. Reading Jenny Cartwright’s book, ‘Don’t Get Hung Up,’ this was one of the big reminders for me. Most sales are confirmed on the follow up, not the initial call, pitch, presentation or meeting. People buy in their time, not yours. Finding ways to keep touching base with people – without annoying them – is a practice to keep honing if you want to win more business; whether that's through a newsletter an email or a call directly related to the sale itself.

The final words? Make your sales a conversation, not a one-sided affair. Have systems - and use them - and make sure you follow up.

Two New Sales Speakers on SpeakerCentral

Bernadette McClelland

Peak Performance and Sales Expert

Bernadette McClelland is a sales expert with a peak performance twist. She has the innate ability to both entertain and inspire at the same time.

Specialising in helping sales people become competitively bold, she is also renowned for weaving strong messages of belief, resilience and resourcefulness into her thought provoking leadership presentations leaving her audiences totally empowered and ready to drive outcomes.

Find out more about Bernadette McClelland and see her speak

Jenny Cartwright: Australia's Leading Telephone Sales Trainer

What happens when you hire Jenny Cartwright to speak at your Sales Conference or Sales Meeting?

Your sales team will be educated, inspired and motivated.

They will leave with the confidence to put their new skills into practice and the result will be that you will get more sales immediately – guaranteed.

Find out more about Jenny Cartwright and see her speak

Please feel free to give us your feedback or pass this on to a colleague or friend you know will receive value from The Brand Stand.

Until next time, keep giving your brand experience.

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Jenny Cartwright: How to Do The Follow Up Call

noreply@blogger.com (MCME) — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 01:02:00 +0000

In this guest post from Jenny Cartwrig ht (resident telesales trainer, author and keynote speaker at SpeakerC entra l), Jenny reminds us about the importance of follow up for confirming - and increasing - sales.

How meticulous are you about following up every person to whom you mail information or send a quote? Making a commitment to do this will increase your sales dramatically if done professionally. There is really no point in sending information out unless you plan to follow it up.

It is usually in the follow- up that success is achieved and the sale is closed. It is important to ask the customer how long he/she thinks they need to review the information and then schedule a time to call back to discuss it further one to three days later.

That way the customer knows you are going to ring back and that they have committed to have read the material by then. Here are some tips:-

1. It is not good to call back starting with a closed question like “Did you get the information I sent you?” Remember here, you are back in rapport building mode and need to be asking open-ended questions that cannot get “yes” and no answers. These will give you more information about what the customer wants and they start with “What”, “Why”, “How”, “Which”, “Why”, “When”, “Who”. I recommend you say:-

“Good morning Mr —— I am calling to discuss /review the information on ———– What specifically was of interest to you? How specifically did you feel this could benefit you?” or “What could happen to your organisation if you incorporated some of these ideas?” (put them into a picture of the future as if they are already using you.)

2. When the customer answers, don’t jump in with a close immediately or launch into what you can do for them. Be a good listener, pause for a moment in silence and ask them to tell you more about that e.g. “That’s interesting, say more about that” or ask an open-ended question like ”Why’s that?” The skill to be silent for a moment after the customer responds is powerful.

3. If the customer appears to have cooled his enthusiasm on this next call, ask him ”Last time we spoke, you thought this could really be of benefit to you. What happened since?” or “What will happen if you do nothing?” or “Are you not interested because you don’t think you will get a return on your investment”? Find out the real reason.

4. Often the reason is that they cannot be bothered to change suppliers. You can ask one of the following questions:-
“When you changed from your first supplier to the one you have now, what made you change?”
“Under what circumstances would you consider using another source?”

5. You can fish for a problem with “What” and “How” questions.
“What happens when your supplier is out of stock and you need something in a hurry?”
“How would you handle ——- when ———?”
“How about changing to us for items you might be paying too much for with your existing supplier?”

Only after asking the questions can you start to present how your product or service can match their needs.

Find out more about Jenny Cartwr ight and how her telesales techniques can transform your business.

Phil Preston: 3 Minutes of Shared Value

noreply@blogger.com (MCME) — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 22:22:00 +0000

How does Shared Value drive bottom line results for business?

How can this practice be beneficial for community and societal interests at the same time?

You can read through the 2011 paper Creating Shared Value by Porter & Kramer and find out, but Phil has found that many people want the short and sharp version...so here it is.

Here is a 4 minute video (just a little over the three in the title) from Phil Preston, our resident Innovation Catalyst at SpeakerCentral

Find out more about Phil Preston here

Nils Vesk: RASCI Model

noreply@blogger.com (MCME) — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 09:44:00 +0000

Looking to simplify the process for greater results on a complex project?

Here is the RASCI model from SpeakerCentral's resident creative innovator, Nils Vesk.

Process improvement leads to innovation
Innovation doesn't always have to be about creating a huge ground breaking revolutionary idea. Innovation can happen with just a small improvement.

I have a number of clients that I work with on process improvement. Process improvement to me is a form of innovation. One of the key elements to any innovation around a process is to know what you do so that you can do it better.

Part of knowing what you do is knowing what other people are doing as well. One of the tools I use with many clients who are working on complex projects is to help them create a RASCI table.

While a tool such as a table may not sound that exciting or innovative, for me if a tool can make things simpler, faster and more effective then it's a valuable tool. As an owner of a graphic facilitation business I'm biased when it comes to the use of pictures to help communicate ideas. Graphic communication starts with the most basic of tools - elements such as bullet points and tables are graphic ways of organising content in a way so that we can understand it faster and more easily. And the RASCI table is a good example of how a table or a chart can help you in your world.

So lets unpack the RASCI model.

You have a complex project with a number of tasks that need to be done. That's where the RASCI comes in.

1. Identify what the key tasks will be.

2. Identify who the key people are going to be:

who's going to be responsible for getting the work done?
who's going to be the person to approve the work that is done?
who's going to support the key responsibility in completing the work?
who will you need to consult with and get advice from?
who will you need to inform about the work that is done during the tasks?

Why not create a RASCI table today to see how it can help you on your complex projects.

Find out more about Nils Vesk and how he can help transform your business here.

Book Review: Become a Key Person of Influence

noreply@blogger.com (MCME) — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 20:32:00 +0000

Daniel Priestley's book is a call to arms for entrepreneurs to distinguish their space and claim their micro-niche by becoming a KPI - a key person of influence.

Daniel gives encouraging and enlightening case studies. One standout result is from a personal trainer who transformed their business and now charges $15,000 pound for a 12 week transformation compared to the hourly rate he was charging himself out - and undervaluing himself for.

KPI is about marketing your products, services and yourself as a total package rather than just another provider in your market. The book feels like an entry level product to his programs and partners, however the introduction seems to stem from integrity and comes with smart insights, experience with many businesses, and a distinct understanding of the power of building a personal brand.

The 5 step sequence Daniel gives for becoming a KPI is elegant and logical (with instructions on how to follow them in this order):

1. Pitch
2. Publish
3. Productise
4. Profile
5. Partner

The key messages of mining and refining your intellectual property, defining your micro-niche, developing your pitch, and the steps to finding higher entrepreneurial ground and a greater income with a global focus are compelling.

The action steps at the end of chapter are especially helpful to clarify your gaps and start tackling challenges to gain your own momentum (a technique I've used in my own book that gets great feedback from people committed to creating their own road map).

My only concern is that the typos and grammatical mistakes detract from what is otherwise strong content. The ideas, key messages and five step sequence are all delivered by someone who has much to offer entrepreneurs, and has clearly succeeded in carving his own unique entrepreneurial space.

You can buy the book here or here.

Building a Brand vs. Call to Action Marketing

noreply@blogger.com (MCME) — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 19:56:00 +0000

Supporting a client on her pitch for new business I received an email from her asking, 'Can we get some stats on brand building vs. call to action marketing to strengthen our case?'

Both have their benefits, and need to be acknowledged for those differences.

What I see time and again for business owners is:

1. Branding is a long term strategy whereas 'call to action' is ideal for specific marketing campaigns (such as 'truly' limited offers, seminars for service professionals, or say Valentine's day offers for florists).

2. Bigger brands often have the mindset and money to think long term.

3. Smaller businesses on the other hand undertake sporadic campaigns and often don't underpin that with solid brand building.

However, if we're a smaller businesses looking to grow we can change our mindset, our positioning, offerings, and our marketing to reflect the brand we're building.

By continuing to build our personal and business brands (backed by delivering on our promises) we earn trust and an elevated position in the marketplace. As long as we continue to delight our best clients and attract new ones, we can maintain healthy fees and return business from people who truly value what we do.

What we also need to remember that too many 'call to action' campaigns can weaken our brand positioning, especially if they involve discounting.'Call to action' marketing still has its place. Building a brand is irreplaceable.

Value Your Contribution

noreply@blogger.com (MCME) — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 01:17:00 +0000

Brand Stand

In our last issue I wrote about Building a Personal Brand of Distinction.

One of the steps I mentioned was the value of reaching up; that is, cultivating networks of people who give us new personal and professional heights to reach to.

I’ve seen – and experienced firsthand – how effective this strategy can be in helping you lift both your personal brand and your game.

Soon after publishing the newsletter though I received an email from one of our clients, Paul Mitchell, speaker, author and managing director of the human enterprise, a leadership training company working with leaders at every level in shaping the most meaningful and productive workplaces on the planet.

In his email Paul said, ‘Thanks Michael. Love the bit on reaching up. I also think it's important to get clear on the difference you wish to make in the world. Building a great brand but feeling hollow inside may result from too much focus on attribution and not enough on contribution.’

I asked Paul for his permission to publish his words as they’ve resonated and stayed with me for a few reasons. I believe Paul has an important point here. Many of us want to make a contribution. We also want to value our contribution and we want it to be valued; whether that’s displayed through money, career, family, community, associations or a combination of all of these areas of our lives. Too much focus on validation and it becomes hollow. Too much attention on self promotion and it’s in danger of being false.

Focusing on making a difference with your personal brand, however, is a more complex, and as Paul suggests, more rewarding goal in a follow-up email.

‘Hi Michael,

The seduction of competence is very alluring. It will make you feel better for a while, but never great and never happy. It’s a drug that easily leads to addiction. Lately I’ve started to rethink, what gives me joy? What gives me meaning? What makes my DNA dance? I’m still not exactly sure, but I’m going to keep looking. I know I’ll find it.

So my new search is not the pursuit of excellence, differentiation or brand essence, it’s the pursuit of meaning. Dollars, competence, excellence are all very important to me. But they won’t give me what I’m looking for. Sure I’ll still work on being a better speaker, trainer, facilitator, consultant, author, but that’s just a means to an end. I think we “brand” to be different, to stand out, to be identified.

And wouldn’t it be better to stand out as someone who makes a difference, rather than someone who is just different. Food for thought on our last conversation. Be true to you!’

Paul Mitchell'

I agree with Paul... for the most part. It’s important to stand out making a difference. However, I also believe that reaching up is more than just about social climbing or career progression. Much of our career satisfaction comes from a job well done that’s appreciated by others through money, recognition, status or advancement.

What I’ve found is that partnering with others more skilled in certain areas than I am has forced me to increase my game (and skill set) rather than only play to strengths. I also believe we need to be crystal clear on what our values are – and put those values in action - to make a significant difference. If wealth is an important value to you, honour that. If values of integrity, clarity, authenticity or vitality are important to you, be true to those.

Personal brand values are your navigational GPS.

The biggest mistakes I’ve made in business, and in my personal life, have always come down to not being true to my values through intention or action. The biggest successes, however, have often been guided by them.

Recently someone asked me in a personal branding workshop, ‘how do I move in circles that are more political without becoming more politically savage or false myself?’ My answer was, and is, ‘have clear values and stay true to those.’

That might sound simple, but the truth often is: know the game and choose to play it your way. You might not always know the difference you make, you can’t always control the situation or other people. But your values and yourself are yours to control and command.

The only questions are what are yours and what are you going to do with them?

SpeakerCentral

People have been asking more about SpeakerCentral, our points of difference, and the value we're contributing to the business community.

I value speaking as a craft that gives greater connections, awareness and engagement for organisations.

I also value education and professional development, and choose people whose values align with that.

Being boutique means you're given swift, nimble, responsive service with valuable learning experiences before, during and after the event.

To give you more about the ethos of the brand and community we're building, we've created a video for you to get to know more about SpeakerCentral. Simply click here.

My Contribution

With deep respect for skilled fellow speakers, presenters and performers, I have decided to take on the role of National President of the National Speakers Association of Australia next year.

It's a privilege to serve the association, to further represent the practices around speaking, and build on the valued contributions of others, especially Margot Halbert CSP, the National current president.

Please pass this onto colleagues or clients you believe will receive value.

Until next time, give your brand experience.

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Thank You

noreply@blogger.com (MCME) — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 22:58:00 +0000

One of the best pieces of personal marketing you can create is a simple handwritten thank you note or card.

Digital's fine email's easy, but a thank you card often has so much more cut through. The fact that I'm sharing these two thank you cards right now is testament to that.

One is from speaker Nils Vesk who impressed me at a speaking showcase, and impressed me even more with this follow up note. He'd taken the time to look at our site, say some well chosen words and send a branded letter. He stood out straight away.

While the letter might not have taken more than say 10 or 20 minutes to write, it was time well spent on his personal brand, because a letter, note or card is personal by nature.

I spoke to Nils within a couple of days and he was on the site as soon as possible, as this is the type of speaker - and person - we like to represent at Speaker Central.

The second is from Gihan Perera, our trusted eguru.

Gihan sent a card that spoke volumes about his pro-active approach to keeping in touch with his clients.

The gesture was more also a genuine congratulations message for my incoming post next year as National President of National Speakers.

Seth Godin recently posted the power of one marketing action a day. Handwritten notes to colleagues, clients and prospects should never be underestimated for building your personal brand in that mix of smart marketing actions.

Brand You: The Reality Test

noreply@blogger.com (MCME) — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 20:32:00 +0000

Giving a series of personal brand workshops for an organisation committed to helping their team transition to new roles, we've been working hard on reinforcing the fact that the biggest challenge they face is in matching their passions, skills, talents and attributes to market needs.

Brand You is not all about You.

Brand You is more about what you have to offer them.

Try this exercise for discovering your ideal client, partnership, or company to work for.

1. Get a notepad and split a page into three columns.
2. In one column, make a list of all the things you bring to the role, and the business.
3. In the second column make a list of how you think that serves them.
4. Call people in your target market and find out what they really want (not just what you think they want).
5. Write their comments in the third column.

It's surprising how few of us actually do this.

Now that you have this, how can you bridge the gap between who you are and what you bring, with what they're (really) looking for?

Build a Personal Brand of Distinction

noreply@blogger.com (MCME) — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 06:44:00 +0000

Welcome to the latest edition of Brand Stand, helping personal and business brands increase their potential and profits through stand out speaking, authorship and events.

Your Brand

Recently I saw a Facebook ad that said ’Become an expert overnight.’ If, like me, you find this a little ludicrous, read on.

We’re in an age with more access to more media at less cost than ever before. We can put our message out into the marketplace instantly, easily building identities online on many platforms. We can create powerful personal brands. These are the opportunities that social media, shifting workplace cultures and technology brings.

But if you want to create a stand out brand working for yourself or others there is a bigger opportunity here. That is, to build a reputable, credible and authentic personal brand.

I recently gave a presentation for ISES at the RSVP Event on just this topic. When giving 5 points for building a personal brand of distinction for a follow up article I thought they’d also be helpful for you (with a little more detail):

Clearly define your 3 brand values and put them into practice.As a business owner you are your personal brand. Working in an organisation your brand is equally important, as it will determine your career options and how much influence you wield in the workplace. Having at least three values you put into practice helps keep you clear and consistent with your market and colleagues.
Get regular feedback on how you’re coming across in the way you present and communicate. Make sure this is from people you trust and respect. Also make sure these people understand who you are, who you serve and the message that connects the two. There’s rarely little point getting feedback from a person who doesn’t understand or appreciate social media or real estate if you’re marketing social media training for real estate agents.
Reach up: make it your mission to surround yourself with bigger players in your industry and market. This has been one of the biggest revelations in driving personal success for me. However, quoting one of our speakers, Julien Smith and his co-author Chris Brogan in their book Trust Agents, ‘reach up, don’t suck up.’ Position yourself as a peer with valuable expertise, and deliver on that promise.
Be omnipresent: Leverage your activities and networks with social media, face to face networking, and taking visible leadership positions in associations are just some of the ways you can exponentially build your brand.
Don’t diss the competition: the only person who gets publicity is them and the only one that looks bad is you.

What else can you do to build your personal brand?

Brainstorm.

What do you want people to think about you? How do you want to be perceived? Who do you want to be employed or contracted by? What words do you want pouring out of people’s mouths as they rave about you to their colleagues and clients? How can you be consistent with the perceptions? And finally, what are you doing that’s at odds with who you say you are?

These are all excellent places to build - and build upon - your personal brand of distinction.

Your Event

SpeakerCentral continues to grow with more speakers, performers, MCs and authors.
Now, meet Nils Vesk, who is a highly talented and savvy professional designer turned 'Innovation Architect'.

For over 15 years Nils has been applying design thinking to the business of innovating. Obsessed with creating ideas that can change the world of business, Nils helps organisations create game changing ideas that become commercial innovations.

Nils is the author of the innovation books and has mentored some of Australia’s most successful entrepreneurs. His clients include some of the world's fastest growing companies.

Find out more about Nils Vesk here.

Until next time keep giving your brand experience

Standing Out In Style

noreply@blogger.com (MCME) — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 21:07:00 +0000

Location: George St, Sydney, Australia

Time: 12:50pm Thursday afternoon

View: a sea of executives, office workers and shoppers rushing to and from lunch and meetings, work and shopping.

Attire: a sea of dark suits, grey and blue tones, white shirts, pinstripes, some tailored, some not, mostly uniform.

The Stand Out: A man in his mid to late fifties in a highly tailored and textured suit with a slightly heavier weight than those around him. The suit's grey, but it looks a little more expensive than others. It's set off with a smooth duck egg blue and dark brown Italian silk tie. He has an understated, slim gold tie pin.

He wears brown and white brogues in mint condition. They're not fashionable, nor are they overly ostentatious. They are, however, highly distinctive. So is his chocolate leather portfolio.

I saw this man for no more than ten seconds.

I remembered him.

In detail.

What could you be doing to intrigue and attract more of the people you want to be doing business with from that very first moment you meet?

michael@mcme.com.au

If Your Personal Brand Were an Event

noreply@blogger.com (MCME) — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 00:33:00 +0000

Yesterday I gave a presentation to event professionals on building and leveraging your personal brand at RSVP Event (for the events industry) in Sydney.

Seeing your personal brand as an event is a simple, effective way to look at how you create a profile that helps you stand out, whether you're the face of your own business or looking for greater opportunities in your career.

The presentation begins with the creation of a brand within a brand we created for the Just For Laughs Festival (which came to us because the event team thought Sony would like my own online presence).

You're then given tips and tools to expand your own personal brand online and face to face, from the brand values you stand by to the invitations you send to your market, through to the company you keep to help accelerate your career.

Your true brand it's personal from MCME Pty Ltd

See more about the conversation with the twitter hashtag we created for the event #brandstand

Hope this helps with elevating your personal brand. Your thoughts?

give your brand experience

How Personal Is Your Brand?

noreply@blogger.com (MCME) — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 11:06:00 +0000

Brand Stand

Welcome to the fortnightly newsletter dedicated to making you, your brand and your event a success. In this edition we ask 'is your brand all about you?', invite you to a free webinar and a branding breakfast, and introduce you to two exciting and established speakers.

Your Brand

Personal brands have been a growing trend that will continue to become even more popular as we have greater work flexibility, career options, and business opportunities. In the midst of all these rapid, increasing changes, brand you is one thing you can control...if you manage yourself well.

As with many aspects of branding and marketing, your brand is not all about you. This is a mistake many people make, and yes, I confess, I’ve made it too. Coming from an acting background, where for many years I went for umpteen auditions each week, stood in front of a camera, and was asked by casting agents, ‘Tell us what about yourself. What have you been up to?’ I became a little too good at talking myself up. Great for a casting director wanting to know if they like you, but when it came to promoting the business, it’s the last thing people wanted to know, even if they asked the very same question, ‘Tell us about yourself.’ Ten minutes later their eyes were glazed over as they searched for a networking exit strategy.

We don’t want to just know about you. We want to know what you can do for us. That’s simply human nature. And for many reasons it’s amplified in business environments. Most of us know this. But many of us still spend a lot of business time focused on us, not on the service we provide or value we bring to our peers or clients. Value is in the eye of the beholder.

To help your brand become even more personal (and valuable to the people you want to influence):

1. Get to know what you can do to truly add value to your peers or clients personal and business lives?

2. Over deliver. But find out what they want. Not what you think they do.

3. What do they want right now?

4. If you don’t know the answer to that question, ask them. Call them up, survey them, ask them in meetings, over coffee, use social media as a research tool and ask questions there too.

5. Get to know your market by getting to know them as people. What drives them? Equally importantly, what drives them to do business with you? Then authentically amplify that experience of

doing business with you.

People might be impressed with what you know and who you are. But they’ll pay you well for what you can do for them, and how you make them feel in the process.

Your People

For more tips (and great networking opportunities in the events industry) I’m giving a talk at the ISES Breakfast at RSVP Event next Thursday August 16
.

(No, this RSVP is not the singles site, this is serious event business).

For the presentation, Make Your Mark, I’m joined by vintage brand expert Pia Anderson, who’s built a substantial personal brand of her own.

Find out about Make Your Mark on the blog.

presentability is another way to build your personal brand with stand out presentation and communication skills.

Over the next two weeks Phil Preston and I are giving two free webinars on ‘Creating Content to Captivate Your Audience.’ They’re both on at midday this Thursday, August 9, and next Wednesday, August 15.

To find out more about the free webinar click here.

Your Event

We’re undergoing some rebranding and have more speakers, performers, and MCs coming on board each week. Part of this evolution is new brand SpeakerCentral, which will be the speaking community arm of MCME.

Today, it’s my pleasure to introduce:

Margot Halbert CSP

Margot works with business leaders to ignite their courage and confidence to step up and step out in the way they engage people and communicate their leadership style. She is in high demand with directors, corporate executives and senior managers for her expert counsel and guidance to create face-to-face communications that are engaging and delivered with confidence and

passion to key stakeholders.

Margot has achieved the qualification CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) the highest international accreditation from the National Speakers Association, and is the winner of the 2009 WA Speaker of the Year.

Margot is the current president of the National Speakers Association of Australia and holds two board positions. Margot is also an Accredited Executive Coach, holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from UWA and was a CPA before becoming a MUM, a CSP and a fan of NLP!

Find out more about Margot Halbert here

Timothy Hyde Mentalist and MC

Timothy Hyde is Australia's Magician of the Mind. He’s a Corporate MC, Entertainer & Creative Thinking Expert.

As a Corporate MC / Master of Ceremony, he injects Serious Fun and Total Focus into Corporate Events worldwide.

As a Corporate Entertainer he will delight and intrigue you with his astounding interactive Mind Magic / Mentalist Show.

As a Creative Thinking Speaker and Workshop Facilitator he teaches tools and techniques that will allow you to unleash a torrent of ideas in your business and will motivate you to put them into practice.

Find out more about Timothy Hyde here

Next newsletter you’ll be meeting one of our music industry’s finest performers and get up close and personal with our own singing PM.

Until next time keep giving your brand experience

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A: Suite 47, 50 Roslyn Gardens, Elizabeth Bay NSW 2011
E: info@mcme.com.au
P: +61 2 9331 8135