Speak Up and Promote Yourself!
As women, we need to speak up more and create visibility for ourselves whether it’s in a meeting, an interview with media, or a conversation with colleagues at work. This topic comes up over and over again in my discussions with clients as well as guests on my radio show. In my recent interview with Toddi Gutner, the hesitancy of women to speak up and stand out surfaced again.
In the interview, Toddi talks about how important it is for women as a group to become more visible in the media. Visibility in the media supports and contributes to women’s leadership initiatives across all industries and government. The White House Project’s Benchmarking Women’s Leadership Report confirms the fact that women get less bylines in eleven of the top political and intellectual magazines and that this lack of visibility needs to be addressed in order for women to advance to leadership positions. Women need to be visible and credible.
Toddi also says from her experience as a reporter she finds that women are not only hesitant to promote themselves, but are also not always organized, can often ramble, and don’t come across with the same confidence as men. Men are much more declarative. They frequently respond quickly to her questions in precise, short and often quotable statements.
Both the White House Project and Toddi strongly advocate media training for women. I agree, of course, but also feel strongly that women need to learn how to promote themselves more effectively and feel comfortable delivering their message. We must get over our belief that we are bragging when we talk about ourselves in a positive manner. Certainly, bragging turns people off and, as women, we need to be especially mindful of this in the workplace. Outright bragging can sabotage our efforts to advance our careers, but done diplomatically and appropriately, it is possible to get our message across to become more visible in the organization. It is possible to learn this and do it well.
We have valuable experiences, information and stories to share. We need to speak up and promote ourselves!
Help Others to Help You
I was in Rhode Island last Friday giving a workshop on Promoting Your Brand to Rhode Island Networking to Open Doors to Jobs. I arrived early and was, therefore, able to sit in on the facilitated networking exercise at one table. All of the people at the table were highly qualified and competent individuals who held director or executive level positions before being laid off.
The facilitator at the table asked each person to give a little information about their background, their strengths and expertise, and what kind of position they were seeking. I was impressed how well each person articulated their strengths and what types of companies and jobs they were targeting for employment. Everyone around the table responded enthusiastically with potential contacts and leads for their colleagues.
We worked our way around the table to one woman who told the group that she was an architect and was now in limbo and trying to decide what she wanted to do going forward. She told the group that at this time she was looking for any type of job. Interestingly enough, the group who had previously been so helpful to others, now remained quiet. They simply did not know how to respond.
The lesson from this is: People really want to help. In fact, most people are eager to assist you in getting a new job or getting clients, but YOU need to give them enough information so that they CAN help. When we are vague and unclear about what we want ourselves, we cannot expect others to come up with the answers for us.
If you are a business owner or entrepreneur, the more specific you can be about who is your target audience, the easier it is for people to refer business.
If you are looking for new employment, be clear about what type of company you want to work for and what kind of position you are seeking.
People sincerely want to help. Give them the opportunity to be helpful.
What Is Your Attention Grabber?
I was in Orlando this past week with some colleagues training a medical device sales force on “purposeful communication”. “Purposeful Communication” is communication that has a goal or desired outcome and when applied to sales presentations, the objective is to create a sales presentation that is well organized around a desired outcome with your target audience.
Selling to a large or small group of potential decision makers has many similarities to promoting yourself and your business to prospective clients. One similarity is in the way you open a presentation. The opening of a sales presentation or “attention grabber” is much like the way you start your elevator pitch or promotional message.
Attention grabbers are just that. They are designed to get the attention of the audience from the start so that they will engage and listen to your message.
How effective is your attention grabber?
Here are some different suggestions on how to open your pitch to grab attention from the listeners.
- Open your pitch with a statement or question that creates some kind of an emotional bond. A good way to create an emotional bond might be to say, “Imagine yourself….. or how would it feel if….”. You can move your listener to a state of mind or emotion where they will connect with their need for your product or services.
- Ask a poignant question that demonstrates that you get their problem or challenges. “Have you ever experienced….? What do you do when….? etc.
- Share a story about yourself and your journey that connects with your business in some way. Maybe you experienced similar issues, overcame those issues and now are passionate about helping other people.
- Make a statement that has an unexpected ending or is surprising in some way.
- Use a quote or song title or lyric that people can easily identify with and fits well into your message.
Starting your promotional pitch with your name and company name is NOT a great attention grabber. You need to give people a reason to remember you before you give them this information.
Draw them in first with something that gets their attention and then talk about your business and the benefit your product or service will provide to them. NOW, they will remember your name and company!
Create a Great Elevator Pitch
Have you ever been to a networking event where everyone needs to stand up and introduce themselves? I don’t know about you, but after about 3-4 people stand up and recite their elevator pitches, I can’t remember who does what. Very few of them capture my attention. Even less of them are memorable. They all sound alike because everyone is using the same approach, the same boring approach.
How then can you distinguish yourself? How can you stand out in the crowd?
We all want to sound professional, but in our quest to be professional, our pitches often fall flat. The goal of a good pitch is to attract clients and be memorable. So how do you create a great message; one that is effective and “sticky”?
I find that most of the pitches I hear do not have the “sticky” factor. And many of the pitches are very difficult to deliver. They are too technical or too wordy and, therefore, lose the audience. Some of the pitches are too vague. Sometimes we use jargon that no one understands in an effort to sound professional. The end result is that people may think we’re smart, but they have no idea what are business is.
Here are some tips on how to create a great elevator pitch:
- Your message should be authentic. Don’t use a lot of jargon or professional language that is off putting. You won’t connect with people this way.
- Your message should be personal. Tell your story. People love stories and they remember them.
- Put energy and passion into your message. Let people know that you love what you do. Don’t you want to work with people who love what they do?
- Make an emotional connection with you message. Identify the need and pain of your target audience so that people can easily identify with what you provide and they will remember you.
- Make your message easy to deliver, conversational. Don’t write a speech that you need to memorize and recite. It doesn’t sound authentic. It’s boring.
- Stimulate curiosity. Give a teaser or enough information so that they want to learn more about you.
- It might be appropriate to make it light and fun. Try using cliches, song titles or quotes to begin your pitch and get people’s attention.
Promotional messages take time to create. Start big, not small. Brainstorm and write down all your ideas about how to present yourself and THEN review your notes and pull out sound bytes to craft a great message.
For more tips on how to create a great elevator pitch, listen to my Women Mean Business show, Tune Up Your Pitch. On the show, I coach 3 women entrepreneurs through a process to tune up their pitch!
www.voiceamerica.com/voiceamerica/vepisode.aspx?aid=43836
You’ll Never Know Until You Ask
Is No really NO or is it an opportunity?
Women are much more likely than men to take a “no” as a personal rejection and final answer. In fact, the fear of rejection will often keep us from asking for things we rightly deserve.
Let’s look at the situation of a salary negotiation or performance review. Perhaps we were expecting a large raise and only received a small one. How often will we say “thank you” when we receive the small raise even though we thought we deserved more? It is possible that this presents a missed opportunity. It could be that “no” means ” not right now” or even a possible “maybe”.
Does the possibility of rejection keep you from asking for more and continuing the discussion about how and when a larger raise is possible?
How often in your career have you held back from asking for something (a promotion, flex time, a raise, a new office, etc) because you feared rejection?
If you are interested in a promotion for example, don’t assume that your boss knows what you want. You may be very disappointed when you are passed over for that job. Make your intentions well known. State your case. What is the worst thing that could happen? If he/she says “no” to the promotion at least you know that you stated what you want and now there is an opportunity to find out more about why this position is not right for you at this point in time and what you can do to get the necessary skills for a future position. Perhaps it will open up a door for mentoring or coaching or other resources for you.
You never know until you ask.
In 2010, make this a resolution. Ask for what you want and need. “No” is not always a definitive “no”. It can often be an opportunity to gain more information.
You will never know until you ask!
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Also, check out my new January teleclasses:
Promote Yourself to Success (3 one hour sessions). $99. Class limited to 6
90 Day Action Marketing Group (6 one hour sessions). $99. Class limited to 6.
for more information and registration:
http://womenssuccesscoaching.com/services/group-coaching/
The Importance of Defining Your Personal Brand
I recently did a radio interview with Lois Frankel, PhD, author of Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office and Nice Girls Don’t Get Rich and our discussion included some valuable tips from Lois on the importance of developing a personal brand for career success.
Here is an excerpt from my interview with Lois on personal branding.
“This is probably one of the most important things I think right now. As the economy has gotten tighter, as jobs have gotten harder to land, you need to see yourself as a personal brand. And when you think about brands, we buy brands because we trust them. We know them. If you’re a brand, then you need to be communicating why should people trust you. Why should they buy you? One of the ways you do this, and I actually have an acronym I use for this. It’s called WALLET to build your brand: W‑A‑L‑L‑E‑T.”
“What I say to women is “Write down” what you want people to say about you when you walk out of a room. There’s a word on the street about all of us. It’s what people say about us when we leave a meeting, but you can craft that. You can decide what you want that to be, so write it down.”
“The A stands for “act on it.” It’s not enough for me to write down what I want you to say. Now I have to identify the behaviors that I have to engage in for you to see those things about me. So if I want you to see me as self confident, what do I have to do? I may have to speak more loudly. I may have to speak more often. I may have to use numbers more often, which means I need to do the research. So write down the actions that you have to accompany the brand statement.”
“The first L stands for “Look to the edge.” That means look to the edge of your playing field. What are the women doing in your organization who are successful? because they’re playing their game at the edge of the playing field. Games aren’t won in the middle of the playing field. They’re won at the edge. So look at what the other women are doing, and most of the time, emulate those behaviors. There are always exceptions, as I said.”
“The second L stands for “Let other people know about it.” You could have the best brand in the world. But if you don’t talk about your achievements and your accomplishments, don’t expect other people to kind of dig them up. So there are subtle ways you can do that. There’s a wonderful book that’s called “Brag: The Art of Tooting Your Own Horn Without Blowing It” by Peggy Klaus that I recommend women read. Learn how to brag a little bit.”
“The E stands for “Elicit feedback.” All brands do brand research, or do focus groups. Well, your focus group is 360‑degree feedback. It’s getting feedback from the people who work with you, who work for you, who you work for, clients, customers all around you. Find out what they’re saying about you. What are they saying about your brand? That’s the only way that you can hone your brand and make it a better brand.”
“And then last, the T stands for “Treat others with abundance.” I’m just a firm believer in the more you give away the more you get. So make abundance part of your brand.”
To hear more from Lois Frankel, you can listen to the archived interview:
http://www.voiceamerica.com/voiceamerica/vepisode.aspx?aid=42576
Also, check out my new January teleclasses:
Promote Yourself to Success (3 one hour sessions). $99. Class limited to 6
90 Day Action Marketing Group (6 one hour sessions). $99. Class limited to 6.
for more information and registration:
http://womenssuccesscoaching.com/services/group-coaching/
What’s Your Story?
We all have unique stories to tell about our careers and our businesses. I did a presentation last week on self-promotion in Boston to the Downtown Women’s Club and heard many great stories from the attendees and I was reminded again how truly wonderful all our stories are. Each story reveals something personal about us.
What is the story behind starting our business? Where did the idea come from? Why did we choose to start this particular business?
What’s been our personal journey thus far? How have we taken our passion and turned it into a business?
What attracted us to a particular company and career?
When we incorporate stories into our promotional message, it creates a message that attracts listeners. People love stories so why don’t we tell them? Why do we hesitate tobe personal in our approach to self-promotion? Often we get so hung up on presenting a “professional” persona that we end up with a promotional pitch that falls flat.
If, in fact, the goal of a promotional pitch is to attract interest and be memorable, it only makes sense that we should infuse more of our personality and passion into the message.
What is your unique story and how might you include some of that story in your conversations about your business and career?
Telling your story can make a huge difference in a job interview. It’s certainly an improvement over just reciting your resume. Think of an appropriate story about your accomplishments that will set you apart from the other applicants.
At a networking event, how do you answer the question, “What do you do”? Keep the conversation lively by revealing something personal (o.k. maybe not too personal) about how and why you chose to start your business, about your passion for what you do. People will remember you as they also tune out everyone else’s boring elevator pitches.
In our quest to be professional, we create messages that are dull and forgettable.
Step out of the box and say something that will set you apart.
Isn’t that the goal after all? To have a message that people remember?
I’m offering a teleclass in November on “Promote Yourself to Success”. This class will be 3 consecutive Wednesday evenings 7-8 pm EDT starting November 4th. Three one hour sessions $99. Class limited to six.
Participants will:
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create a new promotional message
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develop an action plan for self-promotion
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practice delivering their message
http://womenssuccesscoaching.com/november-teleclass-workshop-registration/
The “Yes, But” Mentality
As women, we have a lifetime of mixed messages around becoming strong leaders and connecting with our innate talent and personal power. This often results in what I call the “yes, but” mentality. You instinctively know what to do BUT you don’t do it. For example, you know you should do more to get out and promote your business, but you spend more of your time in the office hoping that eventually word of mouth will bring you clients.
Why don’t we do what we instinctively know we should do? Are our reasons valid or just excuses?
Often our fears and limiting beliefs make up most of our “buts” and we sabotage ourselves by listening to these messages. They hold us back and keep us in our comfort zone.
Mixed messages relative to our professional success as women continually create this internal tug of war. We want to be successful, yet we worry about what the tolerance for our message is with our friends, colleagues, peers, prospects, and clients.
After all, we are women and as women we should be humble and polite and take the back seat. We have experienced the criticism of the Hillary Clintons of the world have received for being too pushy and aggressive. Yet all the business advice and media push calls for us to assert and promote ourselves as equals in the workplace. It’s this push and pull that creates the “yes, but” mentality.
We feel compelled to please everyone, yet we want to succeed. At some level, we are concerned that leadership positions and business success will make us seem pushy.
Can you relate to any of these “yes, buts”?
- Yes, I am accomplished, BUT it’s not right brag about it.
- Yes, I am ambitious, BUT I can’t appear to be too assertive.
- Yes, I deserve a higher salary, BUT I don’t feel comfortable asking for a raise.
What “yes, buts” do you recite to yourself all the time?
It’s time to connect with your confidence and do what you know is best for you to be successful.
No, “yes, buts”. Just a firm YES, I WILL!
What Does Your Body Language Say About You?
Did you know that it takes only four minutes to make a first impression and that body language accounts for 55% of that impression; 38% from tone of voice; the remaining 7% from our actual words? In other words, competence is only one factor in career mobility. Those women who are competent AND look and sound like a professional are the ones most likely to be successful.
Many of us are unaware that our body language sends important non-verbal messages and that other people process these messages on some level even if they are processing them subconsciously.
The lessons we learn from our childhood about how girls should behave (be polite, be humble etc) often translate into the way we present ourselves professionally.
Here are some common mistakes women make:
- Crossing your legs. Did you know this is a sign of resistance?
- Folding your arms in front of you. Are you aware that this sends a message of insecurity and defensiveness?
- Smiling inappropriately. This can send a message that you are not serious.
- Sitting in meetings with your arms under the table. Observe men at meetings. Confident men rest their elbows and hands on the table and lean forward.
- Tilting your head in conversation can soften your message and can also be interpreted as a lack of commitment in what you’re saying.
- No eye contact. This is a sign you are uncomfortable or unsure of yourself.
The overall lesson here is that we need to be aware how we present ourselves as professionals. We may be unconsciously sending cues that are sabotaging our career efforts. While we may be extremely competent and excel at our job, our body language may be protraying us as someone entirely different.
Promote Yourself With Passion
My first corporate job interview was for a health care management company that was looking for someone to manage their 30 physician cardiac rehab center. At the time, I was recently divorced with two young children and I was looking for a 9 to 5 job. In my interview, I didn’t talk about my business experience because I had none. I didn’t talk about my resume or skills because my background in education was not relevant. I spoke about my passion for cardiac fitness. (I was an aerobics instructor). I talked about how their mission to help patients transition back to a normal life post cardiac events resonated with me. I shared my personal story about my Dad who had a heart attack in his mid-fifties and how we dramatically changed our lifestyle to accommodate his new exercise and diet regimen. I believed wholeheartedly in what they were doing.
Long story short: I got the job! and a year and a half later I was managing eleven rehab centers for this company up and down the east coast. This was the beginning of a very successful corporate career for me. Though I was not conscious of what I was doing during that interview, I was promoting myself with passion and purpose.
This is a lesson that I share with all my clients and speaking audiences. If you are in a job interview, talking with a potential clients or making a sales presentation, it is important to connect with the passion and purpose for what you do. When you are authentic and enthusiastic about your job, your potential job, your product or services, people respond in a positive manner. People want to work with someone who is not only competent but has energy and passion for what they do. Wouldn’t you?
