Telephone Tips

[by Charles Gupton]

With the rise of on-line social media and texting as means of communication, there seems to be a breakdown in the awareness of proper and effective use of telephone skills in the business environment. After witnessing and experiencing a number of breaches, I thought I’d offer some observations that may offer some insight in this area.

• Smile into your conversation. You’ve probably heard that you should smile when you answer the phone. I’d suggest starting pleasant then smiling with great enthusiasm after you find out who it is or how you can be of service to them. A gushing “hello” followed by continued gushing can sound insincere. But who do you know who doesn’t want to believe that their call brings delight to the listener.

• Translate your excitement into sound. Studies have revealed that people lose 30 percent of their energy level when talking on the phone because they don’t have the face-to-face interaction. So exaggerate your enthusiasm so that your listener knows you’re interested in serving him or her.

• Speak your listener’s name. Although it may be quite contrived to repeat a person’s name a number of times when you’re together, it’s different over the phone. Saying a person’s name by phone is like verbal eye contact when you can’t look them in the eye. Just as good eye contact can help maintain attention in person, speaking the caller’s name keeps his/her attention when numerous interruptions can draw the caller away on the other end of the line.

• Always make friends with anyone who may be the gatekeeper for the person you may be trying to reach. Anyone who has the power to watch your VIP’s back probably has the influence to allow you through. Or not.

• Every time you call someone, always, always, always ask if it’s an acceptable time to talk. People are inclined to answer their phone in all kinds of circumstances. They may have chosen to answer, but they may not choose to give you their attention. If you need their focus, ask for the best time to follow up. It’s your responsibility to set the best environment to communicate your message. Respecting someone’s time is one of the best means of getting more of it.

• Make your voice-mail message professional. It can be creative and fun. Just make sure it represents what you want your clients to visualize about you. A client told me about an artist she found through the Web whose work rather impressed her. When she called, she slammed into a wall of heavy rock and a message laced with “hey dude’s.” Great work. Bad impression. No assignment.

In a business environment in which the smallest of details can have an impact on whether a project gets assigned to you — or not — make sure all of your telephone skills are as sharply focused as your photographs are.

Charles Gupton photographs real people, really well, by understanding and telling the stories of his subjects and clients. Find his photographs at www.charlesguptonphoto.com and his writing at www.charlesgupton.com.

Efficient Freedom

[by Charles Gupton]

I once had a strong disdain for franchises as a means of business ownership. It seemed to me to be a sell-out to a system that limited the freedom of an owner too much for my liking. Especially after I watched a photography buddy of mine give up his heart and passion for photography to explore, and eventually buy, a franchise business so that he could earn a stable income for his family.

Although I’ve not hit a point that I’m ready to buy a franchise, I’ve come to appreciate the value of having systems in place which allow me to have other people do repetitive tasks that distract from my creative idea generation and production. We all have basic duties such as billing, accounting, client follow-up, photo file backup, etc., which needs to be taken care of on a consistent basis but don’t require any creative brains cells to get completed.

Because I worked in the “solo-prenuer” mindset for most of my career, I found that I did most of the work myself. When I did delegate tasks to assistants, my directions were not very clear because there was no effective system in place to get consistent results until my assistants established them.

As it dawned on me that I needed more effective means of getting rote tasks completed, three different people – within a one-week period, no less – recommended the book “E-myth Revisited” by Michael Gerber to me. Having read it, I realized that great systems are less about limiting one’s freedom to work than they are about creating opportunities to be creative. Also, creative people need to see that systems require an ingenuity of their own and systems-oriented people often use creative process to manage and tweak their systems to make them more efficient.

I doubt that I will ever be a systems person by nature. But I’ve come to appreciate that a lot of my creative energy gets drained by a lack of reliable, repeatable systems to get the seemingly mundane tasks off my mind so that I’ve got the brain space to devote to the heart-centered projects that do fuel my life.

Charles Gupton photographs real people, really well, by understanding and telling the stories of his subjects and clients. Find his photographs at www.charlesguptonphoto.com and his writing at www.charlesgupton.com.

Start to CUS

[by Charles Gupton]

Are you feeling the financial heat build along with the summer heat? Do you need to build some cool business and generate some cold cash?

Well, before you get frustrated and start to cuss, why not CUS instead! CUS is an acronym for Courage, Urgency and Shamelessness.

Courage does not indicate a lack of fear, but a willingness to move forward in the face of it. It also doesn’t mean that one should act foolishly or without a thoughtful strategy. Too often we can over think and “what if” ourselves out of taking the steps we need to make our ideas successful.

Urgency means that a task requires immediate action or attention. There are often tasks that we need to give attention to that are critical for our success, but we just don’t want to face them. By designating one or two of those items every week as “urgent,” we can trim down that endless “to-do” list into actionable items. Every item that gets done builds the confidence to get the next one completed too.

Being shameless indicates a boldness or audacity in one’s work. How often do we allow what others might think about us to stand in the way of doing great and significant work? Is there an area where you need help to break your inertia and move your business forward, but are afraid to ask for help? Don’t let embarrassment stand in the way of your success. As a creator, you have great gifts to contribute. By holding back and being reticent, whom are you serving or helping?

So, while others are waiting for the heat to break or vacations to end or school to begin or whatever the excuse-of-the-week is, take a deep breath and start to CUS your way to a profitable summer.

Charles Gupton photographs real people, really well, by understanding and telling the stories of his subjects and clients. Find his photographs at www.charlesguptonphoto.com and his writing at www.charlesgupton.com.

Deep or Wide?

[by Charles Gupton]

The primary business of every business – be it banking, plumbing, restaurant or photography – is the work of acquiring and retaining customers. No buyers, no sales, no business.

To that end, most business owners use the strategy of casting their nets in more directions in an attempt to draw in practically anyone who can fog a mirror as a potential customer. The idea is that the broader the foundation on which one builds, the more likely the business will withstand destructive economic winds.

Diversity of client base can be healthy. If you’ve ever had all your business eggs in one or two industry baskets and experienced the fallout from their decline, you’re wise to broaden your customer base to some degree. But there’s a difference in having a variety of clients to serve and chasing after too many people. The difference comes in driving the significant relationships deeper rather than adding more names onto your contact list.

As you have probably heard numerous times, all things being relatively equal, people do business with those they know, like and trust. When business owners cast out in too many directions for too many people, they not only don’t get to know their potential clients, those people have no reason to get to know what is distinctive about the business approaching them. It requires time to get to know someone, much less develop a like and trust of that person.

Although it may not seem intuitive, driving fewer relationships deeper rather than having a multitude that live on the surface is a far better long term strategy for business growth.

Action Trumps Inaction

[by Charles Gupton]

Although it’s against my perfectionist nature, I am finding that with today’s fast changing market conditions, I’m needing to make a huge number of decisions without first having all the information I’d like to have in hand.

However, as I look around, I’m seeing way too many people living in fear of making wrong decisions — a fear that even a small failure will be catastrophic. But I’m also seeing that time and again, the riskiest decision one can make is to do nothing. So, just make a decision and act on it.

Action trumps inaction.

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