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January 17, 2021 by Karen Friedman Leave a Comment

Four Ways to Reinvent your Business During Covid 19

Comedian Joan Rivers was called the Queen of Reinvention. Throughout her tumultuous career that spanned sixty years, she faced multiple personal and professional tragedies. She climbed to the top of popularity during an era where comedy was very much a boy’s club event but also spiraled downward more than once. Yet through it all, the late icon continually reinvented herself and came back stronger than ever launching her own Emmy winning talk show and producing her own line of clothes and jewelry that generated over $1 billion in sales.

As 2021 unfolds, most of us have been forced to reinvent our businesses, products, services and the way they’re delivered. In establishments, customers are still forced to mask up and distance. Coaching and training firms like mine have turned virtual for the foreseeable future. Yet reinvention, real reinvention isn’t about temporary fixes like virtual meetings. It is about how these temporary fixes can help us learn new ways to be better versions of our old selves, so we are more effective for others.

The starting point is understanding that the client mindset today is different than the mindset in a pre-COVID world. While customers may still need your services, they want you to help them adapt and meet their changing needs with care, empathy and compassion.

Helping people become empathetic communicators has always been at the forefront of our business. During any crisis, people want to know their leaders genuinely care about them and not just the bottom line. In a recent survey conducted by a public relations agency, 71% of people said if they perceive a brand is putting profit over people, they will lose trust in that brand forever.

That’s why businesses that probe the hearts and minds of their customers to genuinely understand what they value most in these turbulent times will have an easier time reinventing the customer experience. Below are four steps to help you do just that.

1. Clear the Weeds

The customer doesn’t care about your problems. They’re not interested in your struggles with technology or how you’re longing for things to return to the pre-COVID way. They want to know how you will deliver services differently to help them thrive in a new normal that in some ways is here to stay. Communicating clears the path because it keeps them informed and can change perceptions. What is available to them? How will it be delivered? What will be different? What will be better?

2. Redesign and Redecorate

To do things differently, you have to think differently so you can find new ways to deliver value. For example, in our business for the foreseeable future, we are not traveling. That means time spent on the road frees us up to work with more people which allows clients to receive the same services faster rather than waiting for a calendar opening. We’ve also redesigned workshops and training programs to foster online interaction and keep people engaged in a virtual environment.

3. Ask the Right Questions

If you want to make sure clients keep buying tickets to your venue, then ask them what they want and need. What would be the biggest value to you moving forward? What do you lose sleep over? What weeds are in your path that we can help you clear? The answers will help you redesign ways to help your customers by adding new products and services or delivering them differently. Restaurants are an excellent example of how delivering services has drastically changed. Many have been forced to switch to a takeout model to help survive. For customers, it’s created new convenient and safer options to order and pay online and take advantage of speedier curbside pick-up.

4. Create Twitter Moments

A Twitter Moment is a carefully chosen story that is shared with masses through tweets. How can you create a great story or experience for your customers that they want to share with others? You don’t have to take to Twitter to tell people someone saved you time, money or provided a great service. If you produce valuable outcomes, your customers will do the talking for you.

The ability to move from who are we and who do we want to become is no easy feat. However, like Joan Rivers, high performers are always looking for ways new ways to deliver value and reinvent themselves. Sometimes, just trying to survive can uncover new ways to thrive.

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Filed Under: Philadelphia Business Journal

August 11, 2020 by Karen Friedman Leave a Comment

Why Agreeing to Disagree is OK When Having Difficult Conversations

In early March, I spoke with a friend who said she believed the coronavirus was “nothing more than a glorified cold”. She went on to say the media was going to send this country into a quick recession if they didn’t stop hyping the story.

I strongly disagreed and we argued. Like me, she is a former news reporter. She is also one of the smartest people I know. After our disagreement, we agreed to disagree but didn’t speak for a while.

Two months later she emailed me. Her healthy vibrant Mom had died of COVID. Living in a senior facility, Mom, who had no underlying health issues, contracted the virus. She was gone in six days.

I reached out to my friend who was clearly devastated. Opinions and political differences aside, we have always been there for each other and still are.

Weeks later, when we spoke again, we agreed we were both upset with the escalating COVID numbers. She said she was furious that states were making individual decisions that were hurting the economy. She strongly believed businesses should be allowed to open quickly.

I said if the country had a master plan and stronger leadership at the top, states could follow protocol. She disagreed. We debated some more and said we’d talk soon.

My mother is also in a long- term care facility that has seen COVID deaths, so like my friend, I have a personal connection to this story. However, as a communications coach who has helped companies navigate a myriad of crises for more than two decades, there are seven basic crisis principles that should be applied in every situation including:

  • Have a plan
  • Act quickly
  • Prioritize those who are affected
  • Be proactive and transparent
  • Take responsibility
  • Communicate early and often

As a proud citizen and business owner, I understand the importance of economic recovery, but not at the expense of lives.

New Zealand, South Korea, Vietnam, and other countries including nations in the Caribbean are now moving forward because they either banned incoming visitors in the early stages of the pandemic or quickly initiated quarantines. Some countries like South Korea developed their own testing systems while others simply responded faster to the pandemic.

In many of these successful countries, specifically Asia, they believe the government is responsible for solving the problem and instituted national plans that were quickly communicated to their people.

Putting people first is critical during any crisis and here in America, we failed to do that. In a recent survey by public relations firm Edelman, 71% of respondents said they would lose trust in a brand if they believed that brand was putting profits over people. With the United States leading the world in confirmed cases of coronavirus, the need for empathetic compassionate leadership has never been more important.

My friend and I haven’t talked in a while. We will. When we do, we’ll again agree to disagree. Fortunately, we care about each other too much to let it ruin our friendship. Unfortunately, nothing will change. She’ll stay on her side and I’ll stay on mine. She’ll hear me and I’ll hear her.

Yet, like so many on different sides of the discussion, we will be listening, respond and defend our positions, not understand and fix our collective problems.

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Filed Under: Philadelphia Business Journal Tagged With: business management, Communication, delivery, Education, Karen Friedman, leadership, Media, message, presence

July 13, 2020 by Karen Friedman Leave a Comment

The Importance of Every Customer Interaction

We were shopping for a career coach for our son and reached out to someone who came highly recommended as one of the best in the business. “Robert” immediately sent us an email with a multi-page PDF of the services he could offer us. 

Included was a category called interview preparation. For $250.00, Robert’s one-hour interview preparation service would provide clients with “live simulated interview practice” to help them clearly articulate their brand and answer difficult questions.

My husband, son and I set up a phone interview using the conference line in my office.

As the call began, we heard a lot of background noise making it difficult to hear. We were asking Robert questions, but his connection kept cutting out and he said he was having trouble hearing us. At first, I thought it was a problem with my conference connection until I heard what sounded like “Iced grande six-pump vanilla latte.”

“Excuse me”, I interrupted, “did you say something”?

“No, thank you, just one shot”, he answered. “Oh sorry, he continued, I’m at Starbucks.”

Let me get this straight. Robert is being interviewed to work with our son. He offers services to help people improve their interview skills and articulate their brand. Yet his brand states ordering coffee is more important than paying attention. How can someone possibly offer interview preparation services if they don’t know how to conduct an effective interview?

My father used to say, “actions speak louder than words.” It means people’s actions, not their words show their real attitudes.

Someone can talk about being the best in the business, but nothing says that better than their behavior. Attitude, attention and approach to people from the moment you meet is what sets you apart. Whether pitching new business, delivering a presentation or attending a networking event, you have one chance to make a first impression.

One of our clients calls this a “customer centric” approach. In their case, they’ve spent millions of dollars, put policies in place and re-structured their entire business model to truly become more customer centric. There are thousands of companies who claim to put consumers first. They have catchy taglines that say so, but that doesn’t mean it’s true.

How often have you sat on hold for long periods of time listening to a recording telling you “your call is very important to us”? Then there’s the customer service line that says, “this call may be recorded for quality purposes”. What does that even mean? How about “calls may be recorded to help our employees handle your inquiries more effectively”?

If you have any interest in truly improving customer interactions, begin by becoming your customer. How would you feel if you sat on hold waiting for your call to be recorded for quality purposes? Or what about apologies that ring hollow?

A recent example of a bad hotel experience comes to mind when I took a team of coaches to a  meeting at a high-end resort in Orlando only to experience a tsunami of problems. My air conditioner wasn’t working and when I requested a room change, the front desk manager suggested I didn’t know how to work the air properly. No apology. My colleague had a water leak and had to switch rooms. No apology. That didn’t even compare to another coworker who, to her horror, woke up to cockroaches crawling on her ceiling, bed and floor.  Again, no apology. When they moved her to another room, the toilet wasn’t working and overflowed.

Furious, I located the hotel manager who asked me what I wanted him to do. I demanded he take room and food charges off the bill, but he refused. He told me he gave the girl with the cockroach issue a $100.00 room credit. Considering the client was paying for the room, that was hardly satisfactory.

When I got home, I took the issue to the top and got a call from a representative in the CEO’s office. She said she was sorry and offered me 15,000 hotel points, which can’t even buy a room for the night. I told her I wanted the hotel to apologize to my colleague who was traumatized by the roaches. They never did.

Here is what I find astounding. In today’s world of social media, my colleague, who had photos and videos of the bugs could have sent those images around the world. She didn’t and wouldn’t, but how can any brand take that chance?

The Harris Interactive Customer Experience Impact report says a happy customer whose issues are resolved tells 4-6 people about their experience.  Approximately 13% of dissatisfied customers will tell more than 20 people and those people will tell more people just as I’m telling you. The report says 86% of customers have quit doing business with a company due to bad customer experience.

Every customer interaction is an opportunity to create positive experiences. When we treat others the way we want to be treated, we send positive silent signals that often speak louder than words.

When we send silent negative signals, they can have long lasting damaging effects, sometimes without our knowledge. For example, after our call with Robert the career coach, as a courtesy, I thanked the person who recommended him. I also shared my experience. After referring him to dozens of people over the years, she is not likely to recommend him again.

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Filed Under: Philadelphia Business Journal Tagged With: business, Communication, delivery, Education, leadership, management, Media, message, pace, pause, presence, presentation, speaking, storytelling, vocal variety

April 19, 2020 by Karen Friedman Leave a Comment

7 Steps to Ace Your Next Virtual Video Meeting

It seems like everyone is doing it. Zoom. Skype. Teams. Chime. There is a wealth of video meeting services to choose from. That doesn’t mean people know how to look and sound their best, because they don’t.

In all fairness, most people didn’t need virtual services that often. According to Reuters, before coronavirus, only 7% of American workers had the option to work from home. Now, almost all of us are home and we’re fortunate to be able to have technology that allows face-to-face meetings with people across the world.

However, what works well in person doesn’t always translate to your computer screen. Furthermore,  if you don’t know some basics, you can damage your credibility.

Here are seven steps to up your presence the next time your virtual presence is requested.

1. Look at the camera, not your audience

This is the single biggest mistake people make. In person, it’s important to look your listener in the eye. On video, looking at someone on the left, right or at the bottom of your screen can actually make you look like you’re looking elsewhere and not listening.

You should look directly at the camera and make sure that camera is at eye level. Try putting your device on top of a box until the camera is directly across from your face.  Even though it may feel uncomfortable especially if the person talking is on the other side of the screen, you will appear to be making eye contact and look far more engaged.

2. Do not sit in front of a window

Too many people position themselves in front of windows. Perhaps there is a great view, but cameras don’t respond to light the same way our eyes do. If the light is coming from behind, you will look dark like a silhouette.

Instead, make sure the light is coming from in front of you, so it illuminates your face and people can see you. Also, frame yourself so you fill up the screen and we’re not looking at your ceiling.

3. Speak up

Even though your mom may have told you to use your inside voice, there are exceptions to the rule, and this is one of them. Inside voices work great when you are sitting with someone in person, but across a video screen, you may be perceived as lacking energy and conviction. 

As a former television reporter, I always spoke to the camera as if people on the other side were a little hard of hearing. Picture yourself in a big room and speak to the back of the room. By projecting your voice just a little, you will convey more confidence and authority.

4. Talk to one person

It’s difficult to maintain a calm presence and conversational tone when you’re looking at a bunch of little squares on a screen and glancing back and forth at your notes. You’ve probably seen people who look uncomfortable as their faces tense up and they sound stiff.

When you visualize speaking to one person, perhaps your spouse or best friend, you will come across as more conversational and authentic. It’s okay to have notes and it’s okay to look at them, but talk, don’t read. I post little sticky notes on the side of my computer screen so I can glance at them to recall key points. That’s less distracting than looking down. 

5. Be present to have presence

When all eyes are on us in a meeting room, we are more conscious of paying attention and appearing engaged. Alone at our screen, it’s easy to get side-tracked and start checking e-mails or working on other projects without realizing we are still on the screen and may be coming across as uninterested or not focused.

If you want to project presence, then be fully present. Try not to bite your nails, play with your hair or make it obvious that you’re texting. Like a media interview where you’re conscious of the camera always being on, think of a video meeting the same way. You’re always on!

6. Background blunders can be prevented

You’ve seen these backgrounds. Open cabinets, unmade beds or backgrounds that are so busy, you find yourself looking at everything except the presenter.

The easiest fix is to pick a quiet area in your house that is free from clutter and visual distractions. Perhaps a sitting area or room with a blank wall. Do not wear the same color as the wall behind you and don’t wear green if you’re using a green screen. Bright colors with minimal patterns tend to look best on camera. Video services like Zoom also offer customized virtual backgrounds but choose wisely. If you want to appear professional, you should probably avoid the Tiger King or Simpson’s living room backgrounds.

7. Smile, you’re on camera

Smiling in person is much more natural than trying to force a smile while sitting in front of a screen. For most of us, it feels fake. However, to a viewer, you can actually look like you’re frowning if you’re not smiling. A smile also helps connect you to others.

While we aren’t going plaster smiles on our faces for hours on end, it’s important to make a conscious effort to have a pleasant look on your face when speaking so you come across as friendly and positive. Studies show that people who smile are also perceived as more trustworthy.

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Filed Under: Philadelphia Business Journal Tagged With: business, Communication, delivery, leadership, management, Media, message, pace, pause, presence, presentation, speaking, storytelling, vocal variety

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