This past summer as I sat in a meeting, sweltering in the July heat wave that covered the entire country, a thought hit me like a blast of hot humid air. That thought was the awareness of how it is that some people can produce an impact simply by their very presence.

Throughout my almost 40 years in business I’ve crossed paths with some powerful and influential people – major college and professional coaches, mayors, senators, governors, and successful business owners.  As a career seller and a confirmed empath, I notice humans and I’m fully aware of how they make me feel.  It’s not due to how they dress, or cut their hair, or even how the present themselves. These exceptional people can often influence how another person feels, how a meeting goes, or in some cases how a group of people interact just by walking in the room.

It's hard to define, but so impactful when it’s evident.

After that meeting, I questioned myself how anyone has the capability to create that kind of shift. Is that a natural talent like some people say it is, or is it a learned skill? It’s probably a little bit of both. While some people are definitely unique, I’m of the opinion there is work that goes into being a room shifter.  

Opportunity4Growth or Change

First you take a welcoming soul who is deeply interested in people and desires to help, build, or make a connection with them and you have the start of a room shifter.  From there, it’s their energy. Usually it’s someone who focuses on others. They ask good questions. They listen to the answers and that compels them to ask more good questions. They actually care not only about the answers, but about the person with whom they are talking.

The room shifter knows how to apply what they heard. They remember things – even obscure things – and they are frequently extra quick on their feet.  Sometimes people with these attributes can be deceivers, or even crooks.  But find one who is able to positively change the trajectory of a meeting or the feel of a group and you’ve spotted something rare. They are no thermometer – they are a thermostat that impacts the temperature of the room.

Generally speaking, these are the kind of people we want to be around. These are also the innovators, creators, and builders you might want on your staff. Yes, it takes effort to attract, hire, grow, and retain talent. Yet, this may be just the kind of high potential employee you need to identify for your organization.

Remember, recognizing the right kind of talent is an ongoing process.

Last month we looked at the reasons people contribute. We also made the point of how nonprofits increase their ability to raise money by meeting people where they are. While that’s a phrase widely used in social work, the tactic works whether you are a nonprofit, a business working to generate revenue, or even a medical practice caring for patients. When you partner with people where they are, the desired results will follow.

Clearly, most nonprofits approach their communications with messages focusing on their mission, as well as the services they provide. While that’s a worthwhile scenario, there’s more to it than that. Trust me, after decades in business, 15 running my own with numerous clients, and forming two 501c3 organizations, I know how nonprofits work and what they do.

A key lesson I learned, early in my business development career, is that stories sell. That’s the same as saying stories help your nonprofit raise the funds needed to create and maintain programs that benefit your various audiences. Certainly, a successful approach needs to incorporate your mission, your numbers, and the ways you make a positive impact on your target communities. At the same time, if that’s the exclusive focus of your communications, you’re missing the mark.

The Application4Your Nonprofit

Last month we encouraged you to avoid the cookie-cutter approach to fundraising. Please be reminded, the following strategy works for all kinds of businesses. To achieve the greatest success, customize your messaging to fit the situation and integrate storytelling in all aspects of fundraising and sales.

Those stories will sell and, in the case of your nonprofit, that means you’ll increase your capacity to carry out the work of your organization. A compelling story impacts the decision process in a variety of ways. The listener can better connect their passion with your cause, it builds empathy, and it softens the ground for the ultimate ask. Too many fundraisers simply present the facts, ask for the money, and even when checks are written, wonder why a lot of money is left on the table.
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Embrace that story and tailor it for use in your messaging, in your formal ask, grant requests, on your website, and obviously throughout your social media. So you aren’t in the development world? As I’ve stated above, this same technique fits with whatever you’re doing in your professional life, as well.  

Stories motivate action.  Tell them.  Get better at telling them.  Then tell them again.

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We have a traditional Giving Day in November and many other giving days taking place throughout the year in different communities. “It's more blessed to give than to receive” as the verse states. Every one of our clients gives of their time, treasures, and talents to a nonprofit, and I believe all of them support more than one. 

The process of a business making a donation is often different than for an individual. Businesses invest in the communities in which they operate for a variety of reasons. Over the past few decades, I’ve observed companies making contributions—both to the nonprofits I lead or serve (The Spot on Kirk, Help Save The Next Girl Foundation, Healing Strides of Virginia)—and to other worthy organizations.

During a recent presentation I made to the partners of the Community Foundation of the New River Valley, I shared four reasons businesses usually give:

                                                                                                                                            To feel good

                                                                                                                                          To get attention

                                                                                                                                                 To help

                                                                                                                                   To exercise their passion

Naturally, some gifts are given in honor, in memoriam, or in recognition of someone or something, but bundle all the other business donations and you’ll find they fit neatly in one or all of these buckets.

How2Shift Your Approach

One-size-fits-all—except when it doesn’t.
 
If you’re a nonprofit or serve on the board of one, take a moment to look at the above list and help your executive director or director of advancement understand the impact of this information. Most nonprofits have their prepared selling presentation (aka, “canned approach”) and it’s usually focused on the good they do and the needs they have. So, continue to share those stories that lay out your organization’s mission and the projects that need funding.
 
At the same time, be sure to align the mission and needs of your nonprofit with your donor’s interests and reasons for supporting you. Doing that will make everything come together for the nonprofit and for the donor. It’s a win for everyone.
 
Taking this extra step also strengthens the meaningful connections and relationships you have with your donors. Additionally, the donor gains insight on how their support can provide a greater return on their investment. Help your donors make an even bigger difference by making a difference for them too. Grow together!

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Sometimes it can be easy to tell when out-of-towners are doing the marketing and advertising. There’s nothing wrong with hiring an out-of-town firm—in fact, we help clients all over the Southeast and have worked with businesses as far away as Michigan, Kansas, and California.

However, when you are missing familiarity with a region, it’s important you ask a lot of questions. Gather even more information than you might normally. Quite frankly, you need to learn to speak their language. I spent a few decades in Ohio and Michigan, and if you’re going to sell a cold carbonated beverage there, you’d better call it a “pop” and not a “soda.” Say “pop” in Virginia and you may just get a strange look, like you’ve just said “youz guys” instead of “y’all.”

It’s important when conducting business to ensure you are choosing your words and examples carefully. Everyone in Northwest Ohio knows how to pronounce Maumee just like Michiganders can locate The Thumb. Around Greater Roanoke, there is a specific way to pronounce Buena Vista and Staunton (Bew-na Vista and Stan-ton). And there’s no “s” in the Roanoke suburb called Cave Spring.

These are basic things you have to get right as a marketer, but it goes beyond the way cities and suburbs are pronounced or how to order a Coke.

"Ya Got2Know the Territory"

That statement comes from "The Music Man," one of the first musicals I ever saw. My parents loved plays—and that means I followed suit and learned my way around a show tune. In the movie version, Robert Preston starred as the traveling salesman, Professor Harold Hill. There are many famous songs from the Broadway show, but in "Rock Island" he sang energetically that "ya gotta know the territory." Ain't that the truth.

Choose your words carefully. It’s not just for a car wash. You must learn early that not every business has a customer. Some refer to them as clients, users, followers, or in the case of a medical practice, patients. Those words matter, so it’s best to talk that through with your prospect before you start a relationship. Beyond that, it’s wise to be completely confident that the targeted area is spelled correctly.

If this were the first time a billboard in our market depicted Cave Springs, then you could note it and move along. On the other hand, when you see it a few times, it’s suddenly fodder for a local writer to use as an example of focusing on the value of familiarity with language, pronunciation, and locations. And if you’re traveling through Roanoke, remember there’s only one spring, so it’s actually Crystal Spring and Cave Spring.

Time for a confession. There are times when I’m not the upbeat, energetic guy many of you may think I am.  

While I often draw energy from people, there are plenty of times when people can drag me down. There’s a certain type of person who can zap my strength. Those who either swear they’re the smartest person in the room or who work hard to convince you they’re the smartest person in the room. They really put me in a bad place.

You know what I’m talking about. They’ll tell you all the things they know. Then they’ll share the best way to do this or that. Committed to proving their point, they are sure of their facts and their opinions. (Sometimes it can be hard to tell the two apart.) They’ve been to the best places, impressed the most important people, and they know exactly how everything works. There’s absolutely nothing they can learn from you. 

I think it’s that last thought process I find most objectionable. When I consider how a person can truly believe that, it gets me thinking. So, to pick at that concept a little more, I looked up some statistics I had heard tossed around and confirmed something I had surmised.

Apply This Approach4Improvement                                                                                                                                            

Pay attention to who is asking questions and who wants to learn more.
When you do that, you start to determine who is actually the smartest person in the room. According to Forbes, only 15 to 25% of adults spend time asking questions. The same survey determined that roughly 75% of all children ask questions. Apparently, when we become adults, we know everything (or think we do).
Where did the curiosity of our youth go?

 Start by figuring out what you’d like to learn. Be determined to ask more questions.Listen to the answers and then ask more questions. That’s the best way to grow as a person, a marketer, a leader, and a business owner. Once you stop asking questions, you become the person who thinks they’re the smartest person in the room. The know-it-all.

 However, don’t stop there. Start paying attention to other people and the times when they ask questions. You’ll come to the same conclusion I did; in fact, very few people ask questions. It’s a sad commentary on our world when there is so much we can learn from others and so many places to access information. We go to Google instead of going to each other. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve left a function or a dinner and commented to my wife that not a single person asked me a question.

 The most interesting people ask the best questions.

 Think about that and then work on your inquisitory skills.  

Tools4The Job

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It’s difficult to recall those cold January nights of a few months ago when we’re enjoying the temperatures and the flowers that the month of May has sent our way. Yet, I can easily recall a very cold January night when the heat pump, at a house we own, broke. There were cute little babies in our midst and we needed heat. It was not a “Sweet Virginia Breeze,” but a cold, cold night.
Fortunately, I have a client (Thanks Bower Heating & Air Conditioning!) that was available to make an evening service call. They found our heat pump in the crawl space and quickly identified the problem. The motor was broken. Unfortunately, 18-year-old heat pump motors don’t loosen easily. Aaron visited his truck and returned with just the right tool. I know I should have asked him the name of it, just in case I ever needed to own one.

When he returned, he said, “this tool is the only way I’m able to loosen those screws.” The message was clear – you have to have the right tools to get the job done.  Aaron went on to say, “this tool was one of the first ones I got when I started in the heating and cooling repair business.” He made it clear there was no way to get at that motor without this exact tool. Which got me to thinking.

Know What You Need2Get The Job Done  

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Now, I am not particularly handy when it comes to fixing things. That work always baffles and intimidates me.

Yet, when it comes to marketing and advertising, I know the tools are different, but the approach is actually the same. There are plenty of tools at our disposal at any given time, and we have to know when and how to use them to fix our clients’ problems. We utilize them in five key areas: marketing, advertising, digital, branding, and communications. Sometimes we use the tools to create a strong internet presence. Other times for a powerful TV campaign, an impactful PR strategy, or an internal branding approach.

No one solution fixes all problems any more than you’d take just one tool to a cold nighttime call in January.  Furthermore, that 5-star Bower guy knew exactly which tool to pull from his toolbox that would get the heat back into the house with those two sweet babies. I knew to call them. They knew what to do. And I didn’t need to own that mystical “motor-taker-offer tool” myself, after all.

You’re running your business and it’s not necessary for you to understand how to apply those five critical tools we use in our business. It’s the same as when I reached out to Bower . . . you just have to know who to call.

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