The Chief Storyteller

Make Networking Pay Off: How to Find the Right Events for You

Ira Koretsky (The Chief Storyteller®) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 06:28:00 -0500

Article Summary: The penultimate goal of networking is to meet or be introduced to “Key Decision Makers” (KDMs). They are your influencers, opinion leaders, check-writers, and contract signers at your prospect’s organization. In today’s sluggish economy, they frequently weigh price heavily before making purchases. Strong relationships will likely tip the decision-making process to you. The three “must do” activities to ensure that networking pays off include 1) Research your prospective key decision makers; 2) Develop your ideal event profile; and 3) Develop your target networking plan. The glue that brings all three of these together is be deliberate. <<< Read complete article below >>>

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Make Networking Pay Off: How to Find the Right Events for You

© 2009. ThinkBusiness Magazine and The Chief Storyteller®, LLC. Used by permission.
Ira J. Koretsky
November 2009

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of them all? A little play on words as I think about the sheer number of networking opportunities there are in any given month. To give you an idea, type the phrase “networking organizations” into any Internet search engine. Bing shows 2,360,000 results for San Francisco, CA. Google lists 87,900,000 for Washington, DC. Yahoo displays 2,620,000 pages for Austin, TX. Obviously, not all of the pages relate to professional networking. The point is that networking is everywhere. So how are you to choose which events to attend?

A common complaint of networking is that it is a waste of time. After talking to thousands of people about networking over the past years, two major reasons for this perception begin to emerge. The first is that many networkers do not have a compelling business story—an elevator speech that prompts further conversation. The other is that people are not attending the right events. Let’s focus on the second challenge.

The penultimate goal of networking is to meet or be introduced to “Key Decision Makers” (KDMs). They are your influencers, opinion leaders, check-writers, and contract signers at your prospect’s organization. In today’s sluggish economy, they frequently weigh price heavily before making purchases. Strong relationships will likely tip the decision-making process to you. Here are three “must do” activities to ensure that networking pays off.

Research Your Prospective Key Decision Makers
As part of each new client engagement, I ask a wide variety of questions related to how the sales team communicates, networks, and attracts clients. One telling answer is that they read only what interests them. It is, of course, natural for us to read what is interesting to us.

In sales, it’s all about them. Them refers to your Key Decision Makers. When you customize your various sales and marketing pieces, you have to know what they are thinking, talking about, losing sleep over, etc.

To be successful at networking, research 1) what are the KDMs thinking about and 2) where are they going to find answers to learn more. During your sales process, ask them direct questions about what they are reading and thinking. Ask where they network to learn new insights, to meet colleagues, and to find new business opportunities. Start your own mini database listing the associations and groups your typical KDMs attend.

Supplement your knowledge and add to your event database with competitive intelligence found on the Internet. Perform searches related to your KDMs and the types of events they are attending. LinkedIn is a good resource to start your research. Find some Key Decision Makers in LinkedIn and look at the categories and kinds of groups he or she has joined. Use these insights to help refine your networking strategy.

Develop Your Ideal Event Profile
There are events for breakfast, lunch, dinner, after dinner, coffee, weekend socials, children’s activities or school-related, religious social gatherings, fundraisers, fancy galas, association meetings, conferences, educational events, private parties, and the list goes on! How do you choose? Follow Rod Tidwell’s (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) advice in Jerry Maguire, “Show me the money.”

Only attend events that provide benefits to you. Benefits can be new clients, partners, ideas, referrals, and suggestions. The key is having an Ideal Event Profile (IEP). An IEP spells out the events that will yield benefits time and time again. The IEP is completely focused on finding Key Decision Makers or people that can introduce you to KDMs.

Remember that the IEP reflects the KDM’s choices, not yours. In your IEP form, include the basics such as industries represented; best time of day to attend; purpose of event (e.g., conference, education, meeting, networking, social, and training); and cost (cost is highly correlated with job titles—generally, the higher the cost, the more senior the attendees). Now add other fields to customize the IEP to your sales process and ideal clients such as favorite associations, charitable events, social clubs, and preferred special events.

Develop Your Target Networking Plan
Put your KDM hat on. Armed with research and an ideal event profile, develop a rolling three-month plan listing the events to attend. Prioritize your list based on how the KDM thinks and acts. Also try mixing the time of day and geography (some people stay close to their office or home when it comes to attending events) to maximize the number of people for you to meet.

Attend events from your list. Measure success. Are you meeting KDMs from prospects that are a good fit for your organization? If not, then evaluate if your story is working, is your IEP is on target, or if you are attending the right events.

Be patient. It generally takes four to six months of consistent networking to build rapport and begin to establish trust. If your deal size is six figures or more, prepare for a longer relationship cycle.

Successful Networkers are Deliberate
Will Durant, in The Story of Philosophy, referred to Aristotle’s approach to happiness. Durant wrote, “we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” As part of prospecting, you develop call plans and call visits based on targeted research. Successful networkers follow the same approach. Successful networkers are deliberate in researching events to attend, choosing wisely who to spend time with, and selecting target clients with follow up activities.

For the majority of my clients, I can track the source of the introduction or meeting back to a specific person, keynote, workshop, or event attended. Can you?

Ira Koretsky is the president of The Chief Storyteller®, a firm that turns your business stories and messages into results, with keynotes, workshops, training, and consulting. He can be reached at tbmag@thechiefstoryteller.com or www.TheChiefStoryteller.com.

"Billboards War: BMW vs. Audi"

Ira Koretsky (The Chief Storyteller®) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 06:38:00 -0500

During a period of research on the Internet, I happened upon this site showing a billboard advertising "war" between Audio and BMW in Santa Monica, California. The text from the website is below followed by a picture of the two billboards. Very clever of BMW. What will Audi do next?

BMW and Audi are dueling again, but this time, onto the “marketing battle field”. And what would be the best place to do so other than the one of the top states when it comes to car luxury sales: California.

On the corner of Santa Monica Blvd. and Beverly Glen Blvd (corrected the location), Audi has put up some billboards showing the all new Audi A4 along with the headline: “Your move, BMW”. Santa Monica BMW, a local dealership, took on the challenge and entered a virtual chess game ….of course, with cars rather than pawns, kings or queens.

How Humor, Coupons, and Loyalty Go Together

Ira Koretsky (The Chief Storyteller®) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:08:00 -0400

Over the weekend my wife and I went to the mall to do some shopping. We went to one of the large retailers. When it came time for us to put all of our items on the counter, I made some small talk and an in-the-moment joke. The associate, Harold, laughed.

I then handed Harold a coupon. The coupon had some restrictions that he had to read. As Harold was reading it, he remarked that there are so many coupons in the store that employees are sent to a five-day couponing course. Harold shared that he went earlier in the year. I responded incredulously, "come on. no way." He beamed a huge smile and said "oh yes." He continued, "in fact, the course is so exhausting that they give the students a 40 page manual. In fact sometimes the instructor has to read the manual himself." He had us both for a good two-minutes as he shared more information about the course.

I interrupted him after a few minutes and asked, "are you pulling my leg?" With a straight face, Harold said "yes." My wife and I laughed. On the way home, we talked about how nice he was and what a pleasure it was shopping at the store.

In just a few minutes, Hank increased my potential for increased customer loyalty, repeat shopping, and referrals.

What are your customer service teams doing to make visitors and telephone callers feel good about doing business with you?

Life Lessons: Everything I Learned about Sales I Learned from My Parents

Ira Koretsky (The Chief Storyteller®) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 06:08:00 -0400

Article Summary: Life is all about relationships. Online social communities thrive because they enable people to quickly and easily connect. Initially, these are superficial connections. As with personal relationships, true bonding requires time and effort. Lessons from our parents, teachers, colleagues, children, mentors, and heroes are plentiful. This article relates lessons learned from my parents and how I apply them to business and sales. <<< Read complete article below >>>

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Life Lessons: Everything I Learned about Sales I Learned from My Parents

© 2009. ThinkBusiness Magazine and The Chief Storyteller®, LLC. Used by permission.
Ira J. Koretsky
October 2009

During a recent speaking engagement, the topic of first jobs came up. I shared with the audience the story about my paper route. When I was 13, I surprised my parents by taking on a newspaper route for a little-known newspaper company. The route initially had 11 customers. The route traversed some four miles and ended with massive huffing and puffing as I battled a bear of a hill—Mt. Hope Road—which I named Mt. Doom Road. None of my family remembers why the entrepreneurial bug bit me back then. Mom and Dad do remember my tenacity in growing the route, refusal to quit when the odds were stacked against me (paper boys typically did not last long), and positive attitude bicycling up Mt. Doom Road on my three-speed bike.

Talking with my folks prompted me to recall some of their parental lessons. Here are several learned and how I apply them to business and sales.

Ask
He was a born sales man. Always top in his field, Dad had lots of wisdom to share. Of all his lessons, “Ask” was the one Dad emphasized the most. He would say, “If you don’t ask, nothing is going to happen.” A great example is when our family went on holiday vacations. Smiling and making relevant small talk, he would register the family with the hotel front desk. Every single time he would ask if breakfast was included for the family. Even if told no, he always turned it into a yes. Similar stories abound with him asking for a little “yes” or a big “yes.” To this day, I follow his advice.

Application: Ask. Ask for referrals, frank feedback, and request clients to test out your new product or service. How about asking a happy client to write a testimonial? Later in life, I learned another application of Ask from a senior boss named Paul. He called it K.I.S.S. Paul suggested asking our clients what should we Keep doing, Improve upon, Stop doing, and Start doing.

We’re All Different
When we are young, especially in our pre-teen and teenage years, it is difficult to imagine what the real world is like. Therefore, Mom and Dad shared with my sister and me different perspectives and exposed us to many experiences. We visited museums, went on weekend driving getaways, and generally explored our environment. During these outings, they showed us how to appreciate differences among people, such as those related to gender, religion, age, nationality, and so forth.

Application: Know your audience. Every time you meet someone for the first time, you are “inheriting” his or her entire lifetime in a split second, as he or she is of yours. What are you doing from that first handshake, that first smile to engender goodwill so that he or she one day becomes your client, partner, employee, or champion? Are your key messages and business stories targeted to your prospective clients? Are they resonating with them?

Go Play Outside. It’s a Beautiful Day
As a child, there were days I preferred time alone. I built plastic model ships and planes, played with little green army men, and imagined I was in battles with my G.I. Joes. Mom would encourage me to go outside and play with my crew. If we had time, I would share story after story of how our crew of four—Andy, Gerald, Kevin, and me—got in and out of trouble!

Application: Vary your experiences. Mom’s goal was to experience life. Use creativity and innovation to improve your competitiveness, increase prospecting success, and spark new ideas. Get out of your office and observe the world. Read books, articles, and blogs you would not normally consider. Seek out different opinions. Attend new networking events. Check out your competitor’s messages and stories. Observe people. Based on your new experiences, see if you can you spot any trends or come up with an idea to improve your product/service.

I Love You!
According to workplace studies, employees rate recognition higher than monetary rewards. Why? Because humans thrive on accomplishments, praise, community, and friendship. To me, business is always personal—it is always based on the power of relationships. That is why my folks frequently complimented, praised, and said I love you to my sister and me.

Application: Say I love you in business terms. It is easy to substitute an email, a text, or a “form letter” for a personal phone call or hand-written note. Since we live in a 24x7 Internet world, my undergraduate students consistently challenge me on my advice to send a hand-written note instead of emailing a thank-you message. And every semester I say the same thing. The hand-written note wins every time. A colleague Jeremy calls everyone in his contact database on his/her birthday. It is a nice touch and memorable. Treat a client to lunch, buy him a gift card, or give her a fresh-baked pastry. Whatever it is, show them (e.g., client, prospect, staff, and partner) that they matter. Email me and I will send you a tip guide with over 30 suggestions on ways of building and growing relationships.

At the End of the Day…
Life is all about relationships. Online social communities thrive because they enable people to quickly and easily connect. Initially, these are superficial connections. As with personal relationships, true bonding requires time and effort. Lessons from our parents, teachers, colleagues, children, mentors, and heroes are plentiful. Most focus on the human condition and attributes such as kindness, appreciation, and open communication. One key element is to vocalize your thoughts and feelings. Do not assume that your client, prospect, staff, or partner knows what you are thinking, what you appreciate, or how you impacted his or her life. Tell them.

Ira Koretsky is the president of The Chief Storyteller®, a firm that turns your business stories and messages into results, with keynotes, workshops, training, and consulting. He can be reached at tbmag@thechiefstoryteller.com or www.TheChiefStoryteller.com.

When You Tweet, Think About What You Want Your Followers To Do

Ira Koretsky (The Chief Storyteller®) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:55:42 -0400

One of my clients is starting to use Twitter. We are identifying topics and ideas.

During our brainstorming, I shared with him that people "follow" you for a variety of reasons. Here are some of the main ones:

- learn something that they can't learn otherwise.
- be challenged with unconventional or different thought
- to laugh, be entertained
- to bond, network, grow their own personal community

Before you send your Tweet, think about what you want your followers to do, to think about, to react to, to ponder, to initiate dialogue, and so on. The more you orient your Tweets to an action, the more your followers will appreciate what you share.

Business is Personal: Build Rapport with Small Talk

Ira Koretsky (The Chief Storyteller®) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 05:58:00 -0400

Article Summary: Deliberate small talk differentiates you.We all recognize that relationships take time. Each opportunity that you have to touch your prospect is an opportunity to accelerate success. Small talk is an effective way of making a positive impact. Your challenge is balancing small talk and business talk with the stated or unstated preferences of your KDMs.Effective small talk demonstrates attentiveness, positive listening, and genuine interest. It enables the conversation to go beyond the nuts and bolts of pure business. It enables you to connect on a personal level as well. If you win on price, you will also lose on price. You have to differentiate yourself. Forming personal bonds is crucial to winning most contracts. Why? Because business is personal. <<< Read complete article below >>>

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Business is Personal: Build Rapport with Small Talk

Relationships are not built in a vacuum. They are collaborative efforts, established one moment at a time. Deliberate, well-crafted small talk conversations accelerate bonding and rapport. Imagine this: you made a great first impression on the telephone with William, CEO of a Fortune 2000 firm. A few days later, you are on your way to the follow-up meeting at his office. Are you prepared for your “second” impression?

Early in my career, I thought I prepared well for the second meeting. In reality, I only prepared for part of the meeting—the conversation related to the offering. I did not prepare well for the human side—the bonding and rapport.

Many people complain that small talk is a waste of time, that is feels forced and fake. On the contrary, small talk is essential to building rapport and establishing a relationship. By following the suggestions below, small talk becomes a powerful part of any sales meeting. The difference between effective and ineffective small talk is being deliberate. Deliberate small talk done well accelerates connection. Small talk contributes to sales and customer service success every time you meet with prospects and clients.

There are several types of small talk. Edmondson and House (1981) describe the most common type as the words exchanged before transitioning to “business talk” (see end of article for references). Business talk is talking about the agenda items. Drew and Chilton (2000) define another type as simply “keep in touch.” Saftoiu (2006) presents a third type as “transitional” small talk. Transitional “consists of short conversations inserted within business talk…to check on the state of the relationship and to release some of the tension that heavy topics might have brought up.”

The best sales professionals are well prepared for various types of conversations. Here are several suggestions to make small talk an important part of your sales toolbox.

Develop a List of Questions
Always perform competitive and business intelligence research. This is the most important part of small talk success. Research both the organization and all of the attendees, especially the “Key Decision Makers” (KDMs). Develop a master list of statements and questions relevant to your attendees, sorted by priority. Regarding personal questions, your interest must be genuine (insincerity is quite easy to discern).

For the organization, know its competitors, products and services, history, recent successes, future challenges, and the like. For the attendees, look for genuine common interests. Examples include where someone grew up, attended school, and their hobbies, charities, and professional associations.

There are many valuable resources out there to help you in your research. Internal resources include the organization’s website, press releases, annual reports, interviews with executives, conference presentations, biographies, and investor presentations. External resources include Hoovers, Gartner, Forrester Research, Yankee Group, LinkedIn, Twitter, Digg, Slideshare.net, Internet search engines, blogs, newspapers, magazines, and journals. Now your conversations are targeted and deliberate.

Gauge Receptivity
Understand and tune into the KDM’s personality. Does William prefer small talk or business talk? Unsure? Dip your toe into the pool. Follow William’s lead. Whatever his preference, you are prepared.

Start-of-meeting small talk should last only a few minutes. If William does not provide timing cues, then you should transition to business talk within five to seven minutes. Since you did your pre-meeting preparation and research on the organization, your deliberate small talk complements the agenda. Your small talk continues to be relevant and important to the meeting. It establishes your efforts to understand and gain familiarity with William and his organization.

Share and Ask
Let us assume that there are several people attending your meeting. As soon as you walk into the conference room, you discover that William is running late. Begin your bonding and rapport with the folks in the room with your prepared list of statements and questions. As you initiate conversation, remember the key to successful small talk is “share and ask.”

Based on your research, share something important about yourself relevant to your KDM. Then ask a related question. By sharing something about yourself first, you exhibit positive signs of trust.

One example is “Margaret, I am also active in XYZ association. How are your experiences with XYZ?” Another example is “Damodar, I graduated from EFG University with an MBA in 19XX. I noticed that you went to LMN for your MBA. What did you like the most?” A third example, “Sofia, I read in the Wall Street Journal about your new [blank] initiative. We did something similar a few years ago. I’m curious, how is this initiative progressing?”

The answers will likely offer insights into how the KDM thinks. The right small talk can uncover information about potential cross-selling opportunities for their future product launch, new customer service strategies, and more.

Deliberate Small Talk Differentiates
We all recognize that relationships take time. Each opportunity that you have to touch your prospect is an opportunity to accelerate success. Small talk is an effective way of making a positive impact. Your challenge is balancing small talk and business talk with the stated or unstated preferences of your KDMs.

Effective small talk demonstrates attentiveness, positive listening, and genuine interest. It enables the conversation to go beyond the nuts and bolts of pure business. It enables you to connect on a personal level as well. If you win on price, you will also lose on price. You have to differentiate yourself. Forming personal bonds is crucial to winning most contracts. Why? Because business is personal.

References:
- Willis Edmondson and Juliane House, Let’s Talk and Talk About It. A Pedagogic Interactional Grammar of English, 1981.
- Paul Drew and Kathy Chilton, Calling Just to Keep in Touch: Regular and Habitualised Telephone Calls as an Environment for Small Talk, 2000.
- Razvan Saftoiu, Laughter in Small Talk: Aspects from Romanian Interactions, 2006.

Ira Koretsky is the president of The Chief Storyteller®, a firm that turns your business stories and messages into results, with keynotes, workshops, training, and consulting. He can be reached at tbmag@thechiefstoryteller.com or www.TheChiefStoryteller.com.

"What Your Car Says About You"

Ira Koretsky (The Chief Storyteller®) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 05:58:00 -0400

The other day Forbes published an interesting article titled, "What Your Car Says About You." The first paragraph starts with...

Porsches smack of success. Hondas preach practicality. And, according to a recent report, Chevys proudly proclaim of their owners, "I don't use the Internet."

The article is based off of Strategic Vision's New Vehicle Experience Study. Read the article to glean some insights into owners of Hondas, Bentleys, Rolls-Royces, and Mini Coopers.

For quick reviews of several manufacturer's, read the companion article on Bentley, Buick, Chevrolet, Ford, Honda, Lexus, Mini Cooper, Scion, Toyota, Rolls-Royce.

Treat Everyone Like a Key Decision Maker: How Improvisational Humor Training Helps You Sell

Ira Koretsky (The Chief Storyteller®) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 06:08:00 -0400

Article Summary: The best sales professionals distinguish themselves by their ability to build rapport with everyone they work with regardless of their initial perceived value. Whether we can see it or feel it, most people treat others based on perceived “value” or “importance” to their goals. Whether you are on a call, networking at an event, presenting to key decision makers, or sharing a meal with a prospect, how we respond with our non-verbal communication, tone of voice, and words can make the difference between “Yes, let’s move forward” and “No thank you.” In this article I address three major points of Improv is Just Like Sales, Do You Have Status? Do I? What is Status?, and We All Desire Appreciation. Also, two exercises are suggested to offer insights into the words you use in writing and verbally. Maya Angelou said, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, people will never forget how you made them feel.” Every interaction, whether in person, by telephone, in writing, or email, affects your relationships. <<< Read complete article below >>>

If you have any preferences or requests for topics, contact us by telephone, email, or leave a comment on this blog entry.

To read other ThinkBusiness Magazine articles in The Chief Storyteller Blog, select the category, Articles.

Treat Everyone Like a Key Decision Maker: How Improvisational Humor Training Helps You Sell

Whether we can see it or feel it, most people treat others based on perceived “value” or “importance” to their goals. Whether you are on a call, networking at an event, presenting to key decision makers, or sharing a meal with a prospect, how we respond with our non-verbal communication, tone of voice, and words can make the difference between “Yes, let’s move forward” and “No thank you” in your sales process.

The best sales professionals distinguish themselves by their ability to build rapport with everyone they work with regardless of their initial perceived value. Someone seemingly uninvolved in the process may have unseen pull or be a quiet champion.

The best sales professionals are like improvisational theatre (improv) performers making the most of every moment with clients, partners, and prospects. I know this from first-hand experience! Over a ten-year period, I performed more than 1,000 shows live on stage with a national improvisational comedy franchise called ComedySportz.

Improv is Just Like Sales
Improv performances are live shows where the performers play unscripted games based on audience suggestions. As performers, we had absolutely no idea what an audience member would say next. Improv mirrors life. Most life experiences arise from random interactions with people.

In improv, you do not know who will be in the scene at any given time and you do not know with certainty what someone will do or say next. Sales is like improv. To help ensure your success in selling, let us explore status, one of improv’s foundation concepts. Used well, it can become a critical communication technique to help you deal with changing business environments with ease.

Do You Have Status? Do I? What is Status?
Whether your sales cycle is short, long, or complex, it is imperative for you to know who is involved in the decision-making process and the role each person plays. We all strive to spend time with Key Decision Makers (KDMs) and their key staff.

Some sales professionals, consciously or not, exhibit obvious differences in how they treat key staff perceived as having lower “importance” or “value.” In improv, this treatment is called “status.” Examples of treating someone with low status include long response times to emails and telephone calls; discounting ideas, comments, or questions raised in meetings; and even more blatantly disrespectful actions that, sooner rather than later, everyone notices. We all have heard stories where disrespect of key staff, subtle or overt, led the sales professional to be shown the exit. If I were a betting person, the poor behavior was rooted in perceived status.

Some of the greatest comedians use status. Rodney Dangerfield was famous for using self-effacing humor. He told jokes giving him lower status compared to everyone else. A classic joke is “I get no respect. Even as a kid. We would play hide-and-seek, and nobody would look for me.” Here is another example of human behavior in action. Imagine a movie with a pompous couple. We watch them treat everyone poorly. As they exit their limousine, a passing car splashes a large puddle and they get soaked. We laugh aloud because their status changes instantaneously, as we say to ourselves, “Justice served.”

Rather than choosing a status level, treat everyone like a Key Decision Maker. In this way, you will avoid many pitfalls and show yourself to be an attentive communicator.

We All Desire Appreciation
Year after year, employee compensation surveys report, among the top responses for desired reward was appreciation for one’s contribution and recognition from superiors. It is one of the qualities of being human—our desire for acknowledgement and appreciation of our efforts and accomplishments. Given the impact showing appreciation has, use body language, tone of voice, and words to place each person in a high status position.

Here are two exercises to help you improve your understanding and use of status as you face your selling situations.

Exercise 1, Language Scan: Examine your choice of words in emails, calls, presentations, proposals, networking—everywhere you are telling your business story. Look for words and phrases you use often and the tone of voice used in your vocabulary, spoken and written. Are there patterns that emerge? How about responses from your listeners and readers? Are they positive and inquisitive or unresponsive and aloof? Learn what works for your audiences and then accentuate the language generating the results you want.

Exercise 2, Yes And: Focus completely on what is being said and not on what might be said. When on stage, performers respond to every communication nuance of their fellow performers. Yes And forces you to listen and respond to everything someone says or does. This affords them high status. To achieve complete focus, mentally precede each of your responses with “Yes, and.” Avoid negative words like “but,” “although,” “however,” and “on the other hand.” Mastery of this technique dramatically improves written and verbal communication. Review a recent email where you used one of the negative words, most likely “but.” Delete “but” and either replace it with “and” or a period. Can you see the positive difference this small change makes?

Maya Angelou said, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, people will never forget how you made them feel.” Every interaction, whether in person, by telephone, in writing, or email, affects your relationships. By treating everyone like a key decision maker, you will be on the path to building stronger and more profitable business relationships. In addition, sometime in the future, a key staff person will likely be your next key decision maker.

You Are What Your Client's Read

Ira Koretsky (The Chief Storyteller®) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 05:58:00 -0400

Today I held a kickoff meeting with a new client. As part of each engagement, I ask the participants a wide variety of questions related to how they communicate, build relationships/network, attract clients/members, and the like.

One telling insight is when they read only that which interests them. It's natural--it's human behavior for us to read what is interesting to us. When you are meeting with your stakeholders, you have to know what they are thinking, talking about, losing sleep over, etc.

Read the books, magazines, blogs, tweets, newspapers, newsletters, etc. that they are reading. Watch how the conversations you have with them change for the better.

Thanks to Video Games We are No Longer Passive Observers in the Stories We Encounter.

Ira Koretsky (The Chief Storyteller®) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 12:36:00 -0400

A few months ago GameSpot posted a nice article on video games and storytelling. The author writes, "when we talk about video games we often talk about the same things: gameplay, length, graphics, difficulty, multiplayer and online capabilities, how well it will sell, and who will buy it. But how often do we talk about the game’s story? How often do we discuss the effectiveness and purpose of its narrative?

In this GameSpot AU feature we look at game narratives, and ask the question: are video games an effective storytelling medium? To find out we talk to game theorists, scriptwriters, and developers from studios including Remedy, Quantic Dream and 2K Games, as well as the leading man of adventure games, Tim Schafer."

The article interviews several well known experts in the field of communications, storytelling, and gaming. Different perspectives are shared about interactivity, storytelling, game experience.

One telling comment was "the only way for video games to overcome the challenges of interactivity and become an effective storytelling medium is to successfully marry both story and gameplay in their development."

To read the entire article, visit Gamespot.