by Randy Stertmeyer, COO, Communicators International, Inc

Stert, Miami University, Ohio Baseball. captain… a few years ago.

If you are in business, and especially if you are in sales, it is always a good idea to “brush up” on your listening skills. And a big part of listening is to “hush up.”

I’ve heard it said, we have two ears and one mouth, and a wise man uses them proportionately.

Anyone who has taken a sales course has learned that there are two kinds of questions; closed-end questions which usually require a short, often one word, answer like “yes” or  “no”; and open-end questions, which require long, descriptive answers. We learn much more from the later. But to really learn from them, you need to shut up and listen.

Listening is an acquired art. We call our company Communicators International. We have learned that good communication springs more from when and how to listen than it does from how we use words.

It is generally agreed that the concept of listening as an art, was born in a seminar given in 1974 by Eric Fromm, a world-renowned social psychologist.  In speaking to a group of American students in Switzerland he related “the art” to his success as a psychoanalyst.

The best short primer on listening effectively I’ve seen comes from psycho-spiritual writer Aletheia Luna. She offers the following steps:

1. Make Eye Contact. (Obvious, but frequently forgotten.  If you don’t look at the person while they’re speaking, you give them the impression that you don’t care).

2. Don’t Interrupt. (Let the person speak uninterrupted. Allow the person to say everything they need to say. The goal is to shine the spotlight on them, not you).
3. Practice “Active Listening”. (Clear your mind of your needs and of your mission, to assure that you fully understand what you are hearing).
4. Show You Understand. (Provide positive reinforcement to show that you understand.  A simple nod or a quiet verbal response such as “yes”, “yeah”, “ah”, or “okay” will demonstrate interest and comprehension without interruption).
5. Listen Without Judgment. (To effectively master the art of listening it’s extremely important to withhold any negative evaluations or judgments. If you understand your business, your needs and goals aren’t going anywhere. Once you fully hear the other person’s thoughts you will have a better roadmap for making your case).
6. Listen To Non-Verbal Communication. (About 60 – 75% of our communication is non-verbal. Observing “body language” is a critical part of listening).
7. Create A Suitable Environment. (It is impossible to listen to another person when your phone or theirs is buzzing. Remove all distractions and find a quiet place to sit down and listen).

Stert the handyman, 2018.

It is also critical in today’s hi-tech world to apply these same principles to the many forms of communication beyond face-to-face verbal encounters. Emails and text have replaced a great deal of the interpersonal dialog we used to see in business.

It makes it much easier to hide; to avoid unwanted discourse. Without body language available as a tool, we must learn to read between the lines. As with face-to-face meetings, we must slow down and fully digest the written exchanges we have every day.  This means reading more than once and analyzing in the context of the person and situation involved.

The tendency with emails and texts is to rip off a response and move on. These quick replies are often visceral and reactive. Wrong!!! Slow down. Think. Yes, time is precious, but being reactionary is very dangerous.

So brush up on your listening skills. I am reminded of an old Four Seasons song that was on the “B” side of their big hit Rag Doll in 1964. The first two lines of the chorus say it all:

Silence is golden
But my eyes still see 

The next time you are in an important meeting or on a critical sales call, give it a try… just hush up and listen.

By Terri Sparks

Thanksgiving is America’s most traditional holiday meal, one with a national menu that every family follows in their own special way… year after year. For many of us, “traditional” means those famous, handed down recipes from Grandma. You may eat the same dishes every year—green bean casseroles, candied sweet potatoes or sausage stuffing (do you call it dressing?) Or, how about something wildly different, tasty beyond belief… and only allowed to be ingested just once annually…  to bring to this year’s table?

Over the years, my friends and family have been coming up with a “twist on traditional” dishes that might have the boring old Pilgrims sailing the Mayflower back to England. Check these out…

Here are my top ten Thanksgiving food recommendations. (Warning, you may have to start taking Lipitor immediately afterwards…! But remember, these are decadent recipes for just ONE feast.And,they are worth it!

1. White Castle Stuffing – a TAS favorite! My best friend, Lorraine used to make this all the time. I thought she was bonkers, until I actually tried it. Just make sure you remember to state when ordering, “no pickles and no cheese.” Smash ‘em up and stuff ‘em or bake ‘em! Yes, this is stuffing consisting of full-sized White Castle hamburgers! (4+ million calories per serving)
2. The TAS famous Hankie Pankies for appetizers. Speaking of “stuffing”. This one drives my mother-in-law crazy, because everyone stuffs themselves with these before the big meal. Ground beef, spicy breakfast sausage, Mexican Cheese all melted together and topped on those little Pepperidge Party Rye Slices; toasted just a bit. My father-in-law would disown me if I didn’t bring them! (6+ million calories)
3. Turkey Dinner Pierogi – A hand-rolled apple sage turkey kielbasa placed on a generous bed of billowy apple and sausage stuffing pierogis, and then doused in traditional Thanksgiving gravy. (Caloric content beyond the threshold of measurement)
4. Thanksgiving Leftovers Pizza – With store-bought pizza dough, use the gravy as the sauce, mashed potatoes and turkey as the toppings, and mozzarella cheese to pull it all together. Feel free to throw in whatever leftovers you have, too. The guys may want to wear their Sansa-belt pants before attempting to eat this. Sooo good! (A billion+ calories)
5. Apple and Sausage Macaroni & Cheese – Fresh apples and some hard cider give this basic mac and cheese a double dose of fall flavor. (My kids love it!)
6. Three-Cheese Corn Pudding – What’s better than one cheese? Three, especially when those cheeses are white cheddar, yellow cheddar… and, Parmesan. (Say “Cheese! Jabba the Hutt endorsed!)
7. Leftover turkey casserole – Shredded turkey, celery, water chestnuts mixed with cream of chicken soup and some mayonnaise, and then topped with a crunchy, salty abundance of crushed potato chips- DONE! Years ago, the favorite of Sidney Greenstreet. (Famous wild food food forwager, Euell Gibbons,would be spinning in his grave nonstop upon reading this recipe.His loss, as it is amazingly tasty. Seriously!)
8. Pumpkin Chocolate Tiramisu – I found this one last year on Marthastewart.com. The “old” Tiramisu dressed up with pumpkin puree, replacing the espresso syrup with almond liqueur. (If you can still move by the time this is being offered, you won’t want to miss it!)
9. Cranberry Jell-O Shots – Need I say more?
10. Pecan Pie Martini – Again, no words needed.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite days of the year because it reminds us all to give thanks and count our blessings. After this top ten list, we probably should also start the Atkins diet!

Gobble Gobble!

If you’re a business owner/manager and work within the commercial construction arena, chances are at times you’ve felt like the mythological King Sisyphus.

Remember him? He was punished by the Greek gods. He was forced to roll an immense boulder up a hill, only to watch it come back to hit him, repeating this action for eternity. Not ironically, ever since those ancient times, tasks that are both laborious and futile have been described as “Sisyphean.”

Quite honestly, it’s not always good to be King.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t build your business. After all, if you’re the king or a top-ranking officer, it’s paramount that if you fall down, the best thing to do is get up and keep moving toward your goals.

I know that sounds a bit cliché-ish. But if you have a program from which to work off, a strategically posed business growth plan, I don’t think you need a magic wand to build your business. Just some patience, a strong dose of optimism and, a firm commitment that once your plan is crafted, you’ll stick to it.

From a discipline standpoint, having and sticking to a business plan really is no different than committing to get your tired old body back in shape. You put together (or have someone put together for you) a workout program, and then stick to it religiously. No pain, no gain, and after you get used to the routine, you see results. Your business-building plan can work just as easily.

To begin, you must:

• Know what you strengths (and weaknesses) are. Be honest.
• Ask yourself, “What is a reasonable sales growth goal for my firm?”
• Step out of your ego. Just because you don’t like your competition, don’t be in denial if they’re beating you in certain areas.
• Never hate your competition. Be civil regarding them, especially if you ever rub elbows. You might even be able to find out more than you’d ever realize. Remember what Don Corleone said? “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.”
• Include your management team in the development of this plan. Their input will prove to be invaluable.
• Make sure once your plan is in place that you share it with your people. Get them excited about being part of it, especially your sales team.
• There’s no reason not to keep using old school tools to promote your business, especially if they’ve successfully worked over the years. But to be afraid to learn about/implement the newer online promotional tools is insane. If you’re over 55 and set in your ways, be smart enough to bring in younger employees who aren’t. It’s even smarter if you jump into the 21st Century and learn/understand these disciplines.
• It is imperative to have personnel with a strong understanding of today’s social media and how it can be used to positively build your image, reach prospects and educate your targets regarding why they need you.

Let’s talk about focus. What kind of growth are you looking for? The easiest is to stay where you are, work hard to maintain all your existing customers, and then just raise your prices across the board by a certain percentage. Now, that sounds pretty basic, and it can make sense. But would your incumbent regular customer base stay with you, were you to announce a 10 percent price increase, especially for the upcoming New Year?

From a realistic standpoint, growth sometimes can be gauged based upon internal need. For example, if you’re maxed out, if all of your team members are working more hours than ever to accommodate your clientele, then obviously, you need more bodies.

But don’t just bring in new hires as a Band-Aid due to having more work than workers. Rather, bring in people who not only can help you meet the demands of your everyday business – ones who will free up fellow workers. Allow them the time to focus on bringing in new business, rather than just slaving to maintain what you already have. After all, it will soon be 2017. Everybody wears more than one business hat these days.

Do you want to grow what you already have and branch out in other directions? Or, maybe you are thinking about growth by acquisition? Maybe you just want to grow your business, so that it can go on the sales block? In other words, build it to sell it.

On your mark, get set, grow…

Once you decide the direction to grow your business, go online and look for some of the commercial construction economic reports, which often readily are available. I’ve read many.

Perhaps the best annual commercial construction preview in my estimation comes from the Gilbane Company. It’s professionally done, unselfish and very much on target. Obviously, knowing your marketplace well is a necessity.

To structure your plan, there are many basic protocols.

Here’s an outline of one.

• Start out with your company’s mission statement.
• Every construction firm has a certain company culture. State yours here.
• If you’re big enough and want to project your organizational structure, possibly via a flow chart showing hierarchy of positions/roles, do it.
• Go into detail regarding company goals and the financial projections needed to attain these. It’s best to be conservative.
• In great detail, outline your product/service offerings. With your staff, go over each component that you “sell” to your customers. Be open and honest. Are each of these offerings as good as they could be? If not, how can they be improved.
• Make sure you have an ironclad HR program in place for existing personnel and those to be added. If your firm is large enough to have a dedicated HR person/department, look at that as a great insurance policy for your firm.
• Make a listing of all the challenges you envision in the upcoming year. Of course, this will change, but by realistically forecasting what you very well may confront, eye-opening business surprises during the year will be dealt with more effectively.
• Clearly, know all the laws to which your firm must abide. As business owners and managers, you’ve all been hit once or twice by some regulation (taxes, zoning, etc.)
• Embark on a cogent marketing program. And to do so, think about working with a professional marketing firm offering a strong track record within the industries you target. Even though so many firms want to go “in-house,” which in many cases makes sense economically, determine if you’ll get the best talent that way. Or, should your company partner with an outside firm? This marketing program should be put together in great detail. It can and should include participation in networking events, utilizing social media, ongoing content development, advertising, public relations, community outreach services, an ongoing protocol for targeting potential customers… and, so much more. Included also should be a review how to best support your sales team with the best marketing tools and customer services.
• Make a strong effort to make your plan flexible, so you may adjust to the many business variables to be encountered.

Let’s face it – 2017 will be upon us in a few months. Some people believe an “election year” is a guarantee of business increases. Whether or not that is valid, I cannot answer. I can state, however, that if a company puts together a convincing business plan, remains patient and optimistic, good things will happen. The best indicator I’ve seen these last few months is the amount of cranes at construction sites in larger cities. If you do it the right way, business can and will grow.

Unlike King Sisyphus, you indeed can be King of your own domain. 

I’m sitting in front of Gate 5 at the Scranton Wilkes Barre Airport, getting ready to jump into the very minuscule, propeller plane en route to Charlotte, where I’ll have a three-hour layover before my connecting flight to Palm Beach International takes off. Normally, just the thought of airports, going through TSA security, layovers, rushing through terminals and sitting in the plane not unlike a canned sardine… next to a new mom whose baby is either screaming or being breast-fed, all elicit high anxiety levels. Post 9-11 airport travel sucks.

But this time, it’s different. I have this exhilarating feeling. I’m coming home after spending three days at the annual Arley Classic, a beaucoup extravaganza where our long-time client, Arley Wholesale Products, every year seems to do everything right… everything better than the previous year. To call the 2015 edition impressive, would be a gross understatement. It was, without question, one of the best “business gatherings” I have ever attended throughout decades as a marketing communicator. 

How did  Arley knock it out of the park? Well, first of all, the entire team functions as one professional unit. I’ve spent many a minute listening to clients’ personnel talking behind their co-workers’ backs, one person bashing another to ostensibly bolster their standing. Not at Arley. The entire staff, from seasoned owner to rookie, functions as one smooth-moving, totally professional entity. Each team member is a veritable campaign manager for the other. Positivity abounds at Arley, as well. The entire three days were put together seamlessly: trade show, golf, dinners, cocktail hour(s) and more, each one at optimal levels. On time, well attended, everything perfectly choreographed! Even the comedian, brought in to perform after the first night’s dinner, exceeded all expectations!

And, why was this fun, worthwhile, highly professional gala event even better this year than in previous ones? My take is that as highly up-to-date as Arley is, I’ve noticed the one and only item the firm always toots its collective horn about pertains to tradition: how the company steadfastly sticks to the ideals of its founder, dating back to the mid-thirties. This credo includes: 

• Being honorable in everything you do
• Living up to your agreements; your word is your bond
• Being loyal to your suppliers. They are the backbone of your business

The result is a highly advanced, extremely sophisticated, contemporary company that hasn’t for one second forgotten its roots… or, the good old-fashioned business maxims it built its foundation upon.

This guy had such a good time. And from the first night’s apres-dinner, awe-inspiring speech “The  Champ is Here” (manuscript available upon request) given by the firm’s executive Vice President of Operations, Scott Levy, I knew this wasn’t just any old business soiree; this was the epitome of a textbook-level company event. Not surprisingly, I was far from being alone with these thoughts.

Congratulations to Arley Wholesale Products on its 13th annual Arley Classic and Trade Show. It was a TEN. On behalf of Communicators International, Inc., let me emphatically state how proud we are to be the advertising & public relations firm for such an ultra-professional client that seems to exceed first-class levels on regular basis… with everything it does.