I ran across this newsletter article (Proposal or Contract? February 2005) on the Win Without Pitching site a few weeks back. I remembered then that someone had told me to check out WWP a while back. In the constant overflow of information running across my radar, I had forgotten to do so. I encourage you all to not make that same mistake and to check out not only this article, but the entire Web site. WWP is oriented towards designers and ad agencies, but the principles advised in the founder’s (Blair Ennis) philosophy are highly applicable to quite a few consultancies. You can sign up for his newsletters, follow him on Twitter (@blairenns) or sign up for his RSS feed. Many a juicy morsel of consulting genius.

The very word ‘proposal’ raises the blood pressure of many a consultant or sales executive. Even if your firm is smart enough to have created a proposal template (and even smarter if you’ve got an online version that your client can fill out, instead of you!), it’s rare that a template will cover all bases of a project. This is particularly true when there are quantifiable deliverables expected at completion of a project such as a strategic marketing plan, a web site or printed brochures.

In my own growth process as a business owner, I have spent countless hours putting together detailed proposals for clients who probably had no intention of hiring my firm. I even suspect that in a few cases, my proposal was used to drive down the prices of other firms. I’ve learned to streamline our process quite a bit since I first started. I make sure clients know that our pricing information is confidential information. I’ve gotten better (and braver) about qualifying clients on the phone to make sure they’re not tire kickers or uninformed enough to think that $1000 for a corporate identity package is a reasonable fee, etc. I’ve also modified my proposal form that I use to get initial budget feedback from/to clients. Even with that, I still found myself spending several hours putting together numbers when I actually had no real idea whether the client perceived enough value in our services to commit. And in recent years, I began to have a sneaking suspicion that there was probably a still better way, but I wasn’t sure what it was.

And then I found the WWP article. Eureka! It takes a little bit of guts, but not that much. And it is pure genius. I highly encourage you all to read the actual article (not that long and includes a simple outline for what a proposal should contain), but I’ll summarize it here:

1/ Typical proposal situation: great meeting, enthusiastic client who requests a proposal.

2/ You promptly spend significant time putting it together and email it over.

3/ The client is never heard from again. Your emails and phone calls are ignored.

4/ You are left scratching your head as to what happened and what you did wrong.

There is only thing you did wrong: you wrote up the proposal.

Here’s where WWP’s genius part comes in: don’t write up proposals. Get a verbal commitment from the client before you spend any time doing that. Without the verbal commitment, your proposal is a complete waste of time. And as I mentioned above, could be used for nothing more than to drive competitor prices down.

My own tip that I’ll add in here is that you get extra brownie points for getting the verbal commitment from whoever has the authority to sign checks or authorize someone to do so. A verbal commitment from a Director of Marketing can be a very different thing than one from a CEO.

Oh, and if they tell you they’ve got to have something in writing to show their boss? Don’t give them that opportunity either. Suggest an in-person presentation with both your client and his boss. Ask for the commitment at the end. If you get it, start typing. If not, tell them you’ll be happy to send over your contract (not proposal!) once they’ve made up their mind.

The above requires that you have your act together. You’ve got to know your business well enough to ask the right questions and get the information you need to put together your verbal presentation. But this, as I’m sure you’ll agree, is not at all a bad thing.

“Expert agencies write contracts that get signed, order-taker agencies write proposals that sit on shelves. Let your competition write the proposals.”

In this particularly difficult economy, we all need to get better at getting to the right customers and closing them faster. Let your competitors spin their wheels on proposals. By the time they’ve submitted one, you’ll have already spoken to several clients and your chances of landing one (or a few of them) are much higher.

Tips to visually improve the quality of a Flip video (or, really any video that you create for your website):

1. Dress the part. If you know you’re going to be making an on-camera appearance, get ready for it. You may consider wearing your company colors, or a version of those. Or, wear an outfit that’s particularly complimentary. Solid colors tend to work better in front of the camera than stripes or busy patterns. And, be extra-neat with your hair and makeup – the camera shows, and sometimes amplifies, any mistakes.

2. Stake out a spot for the camera. Arrive to your location early, and bring a friend to help you select the best angle from which to take the video. Think about not getting the camera too much in the audience’s way while still getting your shot framed correctly.

3. Think about framing. In most cases, you’ll want either a waist-up shot or a head-and-shoulders shot. If you use your hands a lot while you speak, or for a longer presentation, consider the waist-up shot. If you have a very short presentation, then a head and shoulders shot may make more sense.

4. Watch the background. Make sure there are no clocks acting as halos above your head, and that any artwork doesn’t distract from your message. Also, protect your background if you can – make sure no people will be walking through, or giving you “bunny ears.”

5. Be stable. The “Blair Witch Project” can get away with shaky videos and dropping the camera, but your business video should be as steady as possible to make a pleasant viewing experience. Use a tripod to keep things steady during the video. It may help to have a mini tripod (like this one: http://bit.ly/UVher) and also a taller tripod, so that you can see which one works best in the space.

6. Keep your place. This is an old trick that I remember from drama class in high school. If you’re going to be standing during the speech, or even moving around a bit, bring a piece of painter’s tape (which won’t wreck the floor) and mark your position on the floor. Occasionally, glance down to make sure you’re on the mark, which will mean that you are framed in the best possible way in your video.

7. Get assistance. If you’re going to be moving around, the camera will need to be moved to track you and keep you in the frame. For this, using a large tripod makes sense because many of them have a swiveling head, which will allow an assistant to track your movements smoothly.

8. No disembodied questions. If you’re going to have a question-and-answer period during your talk, warn the videographer – so that they can be on the ready to film the audience as they ask questions. That way, you won’t have disembodied questions being asked from behind the camera – which looks a little strange.

9. Inform the audience. Most people don’t like to be surprised and find themselves suddenly on camera. Let them know at the beginning of the event (or even when they sign up) that you will be filming.  And, let them know how they may appear in the final video. Don’t forget to have anyone who’s recognizable in the video sign a Model Release (some people who film videos during seminars pass out Model Releases at the front door, and collect them almost immediately after the seminar begins). You can get a sample Model Release here: http://bit.ly/GLvps .

With these tips, your videos  will look more professional, and they can become a beneficial part of your brand.

It’s not often that consultants need to hand out a resume, but it’s always nice to keep useful resources in mind. Mashable posted a review of neat resume builder called JobSpice. Check it and Mashable’s review, “JobSpice: A shockingly Simple Resume Builder,” out. 

“Resumes: we all hate them, but they’re the key to even landing the job interview. You want it to be clean, concise, eye-catching, and most importantly, accessible. You can build them in Word, but then formatting changes based on the computer. PDFs are better because they render better, but creating them is often a painful process and most tools on the market from the likes of CareerBuilder or Monster just don’t cut it.”

Catching up on my email, I read a wonderful one from WIC member Gail Webber on Women’s Equality Day; and I thought it a good thing to share.

On August 26, 1920, women were given the right to vote. As Gail suggested, “let’s pause and reflect with gratitude on some of those who’ve blazed trails for more than a century. They and thousands more are positive role models for overcoming obstacles and meeting challenges.”

• Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and Lucretia Mott gathered in Seneca Falls, N.Y. on that hot July day in 1849 to begin the quest for a woman’s right to vote
• Sojourner Truth, a former slave, abolitionist, preacher, and women’s rights advocate
• Ida Wells-Barnette, a newspaper owner and founder of first black woman’s suffrage society.
• Dr. Mary Walker was arrested for wearing trousers on the street, resulting in revocation of her Congressional Medal of Honor bestowed for her work as an army surgeon in the Civil War
• Victoria Woodhull, the first woman candidate for the U.S. Presidency
• Sacajawea, a guide to Lewis and Clark
• Mary McLeod Bethune opened a Negro girls’ school in 1904 in Florida, the beginning of Bethune-Cookman College
• Alice Paul, author of the first proposed Equal Rights Amendment
• Jeanette Rankin, the first woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives
• Margaret Dreier, a powerful labor leader articulating the rights of unskilled working women
• Frances Perkins, the first woman cabinet member, Secretary of Labor 1933
• Eleanor Roosevelt, tireless crusader for peace and equality
• Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman in Congress
• Patsy Takamoto Mink, the first Asian-Pacific woman elected to the U.S.  Congress
• Sandra Day O’Conner, the first woman Supreme Court Justice
• Sally Ride, the first American woman in space

Every election, I take my daughter with me when I vote. I tell her of the importance of voting and how special it is that we have this right. I tell her the story of the time when women didn’t have this amazing right. And I love her response: “But why Mommy; that makes no sense at all.”

So, remember and share this with your daughters, sons, husbands, mothers, fathers, and friends.

Thanks for sharing Gail!

If you need to record an MP3 of a teleseminar or class, here are some tips to improve the quality of your recording:

• Make sure you have a foam cover on your microphone, which will limit popping of the “p” sound.
• Limit outside noise – don’t record when traffic outside your office is heavy, or when your neighbor is mowing the lawn.
• Limit inside noise – send the dog out for a walk with someone, make sure your house is nice and quiet (or barricade yourself in the quietest room).
• Limit echoes – don’t record in the bathroom. Even if it’s the quietest room.
• Bookend with an introduction and conclusion that mention your website/brand if appropriate.
• Test the sound a few times before going for the whole recording – listen for background noises you’ve missed, make sure you’re not breathing directly into the mic, etc.
• If you’re doing a longer recording, consider breaking it up into sections and recording 1 at a time and then splicing together in software. You’ll be less likely to get voice fatigue.
• Have water, Kleenex, all that sort of stuff nearby. Warm water helps me to recover my voice.
• Consider recording while standing up to keep up your energy levels.

Do you have any other tips that you’d like to share? Do so in the comments! I’d love to know.

I’ve been tweeting for about five months now and loving it. It’s become a regular part of my day and work life and I’ve gained boatloads of insight, access to information and more, which I wrote about earlier.

I’ve noticed a somewhat disturbing trend in some tweeting though, something that brings me back to Business Communications 101 with a heaping dose of Internet Etiquette 101: you are your own PR team, and anything you put on The Internets can and will come back to haunt you. Or at the very least, could leave your followers with a less than golden impression.

Case in point: I’d been following a certain tweeter’s posts since Day 1 of signing up for Twitter. This person has a rather ascerbic style which I didn’t particularly like, but I found enough of her tweets interesting (at first) that I decided to keep her on my follow list.

Over time, what seemed at first to be a slightly sharp personality felt more and more like negativity. When I tweeted about a very fun evening I’d had out (a somewhat rare personal tweet for me, I keep it strictly business, for the most part), she promptly tweeted back with a cutting remark, trashing what I’d tweeted about. It was then I decided that was enough.

Oversensitive? I don’t think so. Had it only been that one tweet, I’d agree with anyone who said that. But it wasn’t. It was all of her tweets. Rarely a positive or helpful thing did she have to say. A lot of griping though. A LOT of griping.

I should mention that — thanks to TweetDeck, a must-have app for Twitter lovers — I had even moved her out of my ‘favorites’ in order to get less exposure. She was a prolific tweeter, so the influx of bad vibes was pretty heavy. Nonetheless, I understand the power of networking and there were aspects of her presence in my circle that I valued.

On the day she totally trashed my tweet however… she tipped the scales and I decided that her value wasn’t worth all the negativity I had to wade through to get to the good stuff. Did she mean it that way? Was it something I’d misunderstood? Well, at this point, it didn’t really matter because my overall perception of her was that she was not someone I wanted to communicate with. Life is short, and all that.

I removed her from my network. And proactively searched for lots of other tweeters. And found so many, with such useful, funny, insightful and enthusiastic things to say. And I haven’t looked back. And tweeting is fun and worthwhile again.

What is particularly unfortunate for this consultant is that she is someone I would have potentially hired. She is well-respected, talented and probably does her job very well. But what would working with her really be like? What if something went wrong on the project? Her overall down attitude gave me a lot of insight into how she really ticked, and I didn’t like what I saw. So not only did she lose a follower… she lost future jobs.

With the rise of social media tools such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc., I am seeing what I call the ‘Do All — Tell All’ mentality. Because there is some gray area between personal and business usage of social media tools, I believe there is a danger of forgetting the basics of good business communication. If we’re not careful, it can be really easy to let a little loose and say and do things we wouldn’t have dreamed of doing before Social Media gained the foothold it has firmly wedged for itself in the world of marketing.

So… be careful, Tweeps. Keep it positive, informative and helpful most of the time. Occasional bellyaching is okay (and can be good, if done well), but if the majority of your posts in a 24 period (or longer) are negative in tone, you might want to take a little break and realign your tweets with a different outlook that presents your most attractive face to the public at large. You never know who might be paying attention.

You can increase the interactivity of your website with an email form. An email form can help your customers have a conversation with you, and can help you suggest or control the topics of conversation. You can:

• Collect visitors’ email addresses for an opt-in newsletter
• Have prospects contact you for more information
• Have clients send in their project-start-up information (like an intake questionnaire)
• Have interested visitors ask you a question or suggest article topics

Creating a form that emails you its’ content can help with all of these tasks and more. But, how do you code the form?

I just found a free online tool that works really well for this purpose:

http://www.emailmeform.com/?page=fwstep

You sign up for an account, and then it walks you through the process of creating an email form. Then, it generates a simple link that you can paste into your website code, email to your designer, or place on a blog post.

The added bonus to these forms is that they come with CAPTCHA images – those combinations of letters that some forms make you type in. These help control spam submissions.

Try it out if you need to make your website a bit more interactive.

If you’re tired of reading about what Twitter can do for your business, may I suggest you pause, take a deep breath, and consider one more source. A recent Fortune Small Business article, “Tweeting for Profit,” profiled the success of a skeptical, first-time Twitter user and business leader at a small Emeryville-based company Fliqz. 

The point of the article: not only will Twitter not “go away,” but it’s growing, it’s free marketing, and is NOT a time suck if done properly.

Setting up a Twitter account for your business takes mere minutes. So what’s stopping people? What are the Twitter trigger-pull barriers? Business owners often cite reluctance to tweet because of the transparency and immediacy. They also fear properly translating their company’s offerings into a brief message.  I don’t think immediacy and transparency fears are the barriers. Companies, particularly small businesses, know the value of nimbleness. I think “Twitter block” lies at the intersection of writer’s block and a new language way. 
 
Tweets are definitely a language in which marketers and business leaders must become fluent. The good news: the tweet learning curve is a mere 140 characters and yields massive rewards. “What will I say?” you think. Answer: Not much, so don’t fear writer’s block, because you’re not really writing, merely Tweeting. And Tweet block is quite surmountable with a (very few) flicks of your fingers.

Getting Past Twitter Block

Here’s how to unblock and learn the basics of this new language: when composing a Tweet, consider the success of the San Francisco bakery Mission Pie. Think of your business as a bakery of ideas and services. Tweets are hot fresh offerings. Your tweet simply broadcasts a) the availability of your “pies”; b) their attributes, like an irresistable wafting hot apple smell; c) and a call to action. For the bakery, it’s a countdown that the pies are selling out. 
 
Here is an example: Today’s pie: Granny Smith crumb top crust, 10”, heat @ 350 for 12 mins to bring out scent of crisp apples, cinnamon and brown sugar. 14 left.  This is exactly 140 characters! Victory!

 “Okay,” you are thinking, “but what about my business (let’s call it) Accounting Expansions Strategies? It’s much more complex than pies. Our latest offering, which we’re launching with a webinar, is a newly packaged marketing program to help small and midsized accounting firms expand their footprint into China.”
 
Try this: 
Gain global reach in 10 wks w/free webinar China by the Numbers. [Insert your tiny URL here]. Head East with AES!
Notice how you didn’t have space or need to describe the market segment that you’re targeting, which is small and midsized accounting firms? Your Twitter followers will know your target market sufficiently to be interested in your latest hot pie. New prospects are armed with enough “Twit”-formation here to click through to your webinar. You’re done with that Tweet after mere moments and 140 or fewer characters. And you’ve set up the opening for a Twitter cycle.

Note: A best practice is to make sure your next tweets are NOT always all about your company. Alternate promotional tweets with news and facts that bring value to followers. For example, the next few tweets in this cycle could be fresh news stories impacting small and mid-sized accounting firms; then a tweet teasing the webinar content; then persuasive opinions from other business leaders about the potential value of doing business in China. With a little practice you will stride right through the intersection of Writer’s Block and New Language Way into the land of Twitter. Welcome to the Twitterhood!