July 9, 2003
May 2003 Meeting Report
By Henry English
Panelists John Follis, Ginny Pulos, and George Cauttero take a few last-minutes notes prior to making their marketing presentations.
Linda Lopez, president of Tellmedia Communications, Inc., produced MCA-I’s May meeting, Marketing Your Business: Plant the Seeds to Succeed!, a superb seminar on presenting oneself, one’s services and one’s ideas. It consisted of three panelists’ presentations, followed by Q & A. These are a few highlights from the program.
Presenter: JOHN FOLLIS
Award-winning ad man, John Follis, president and creative director of Follis Advertising, Inc., led off with the concept that the key to a successful pitch is getting your client excited.
For starters, he says, it is essential that you be excited about the idea you are presenting, which means you must have an idea worth getting excited about, and that you believe in.
To resonate with the client, the idea must address the client’s issues, needs, and desires, which you have to ascertain in advance. The client’s disposition to your idea will depend on his comfort level, which you can heighten by playing back what he’s asked you to do, his ideas, his insights. He will be more deeply engaged if you share the process by which you arrived at the idea by walking him through it.
Presenter: GINNY PULOS
Communicating well and with confidence inspires confidence. Linda passed the mike to personal communications consultant, Ginny Pulos, president of Ginny Pulos Communications, Inc., who addressed the personal aspect of presenting oneself.
When networking, she says, the objective is to introduce yourself in a memorable way. Her concept is based upon the premise that being who you are is powerful enough. Ginny suggests taking a moment to feel the energy of the room, asking yourself, “What can I do for the people here? What need can I fill? What contribution can I make? Who here can help me solve this problem?”
Ginny pointed out that people make judgements about a person within the first seven seconds of meeting them. Ninety-three percent of the impression you make is through your tone of voice and body language, she says. You want to radiate an energy that says you feel confident.
Key to making a memorable impression is getting the other person to talk about herself, and listening carefully for a “link” – a shared experience or interest – to something you can tell about yourself. Once you have that link, you can go deeper. Ninety percent of networking is small talk, says Ginny, two percent is business.
Presenter: GEORGE CAUTTERO
Veteran producer/writer/director and former New York Chapter president, George Cauttero, took the floor about presenting one’s services.
Fundamentally, he says, people want to work with people they like and trust. Part of a prospective client’s job is to know what services are out there; the vendor’s job is to make sure prospective clients know about his service.
Networking is how things get done: whom you know and who knows you. Anytime you meet people, you’re actually marketing. Networking requires a performance on your part that has to be planned for: Whom might I meet and how will I approach him? Technique gets refined with experience.
When presented with a networking opportunity your objective is to meet as many people as you can. Find out what you need to know, and move on. Typically people make the mistake of meeting only one or two people.
When exchanging business cards, George recommends, notate where and when you met the person, a keyword, and a course of action. Then follow up with a snail-mail note acknowledging the meeting. Just doing that will distinguish you from ninety percent of everyone else.
George also suggests keeping your name out there by emailing news releases three times a year, or whatever frequency works for you.
A Good Program and a Gracious Host
What made the seminar so useful was the way the three presentations dovetailed together, each facet supporting the others.
John Follis’s principle of the exciting idea lent itself to the presentation of one’s self and one’s services; Ginny’s Pulos’s principle of establishing shared links applied to pitching an idea or a service; and George Cauttero’s principle of people seeking out people they like and trust applied to pitching ideas and establishing rapport.
Kudos to Linda Lopez for producing such an informative and successful evening. Thanks to NY Chapter treasurer David Driscoll and Consolidated Edison of New York for hosting it.
* * *
Veteran writer/producer/director, Henry English, is president of english motion media, inc., a film and video production company creating corporate videos, TV commercials, and educational entertainment for businesses and non-profit organizations. He can be reached at 212-865-7242 (Ph), 212-961-9228 (Fax), info@e-m-m.com, and www.e-m-m.com.
Recent Comments