Some organizations trip badly over their attempt to create and develop loyal and passionate customers.  Let me give you an example.  I fly quite a bit, so I try to focus my flights on one airline, in my case it’s United Airlines, so I qualify for better service.  Having flown over 100,000 miles and 100 flights on United last year, I re-qualified for their “1K” status which gives me advantages including early boarding (to capture the coveted overhead storage), first access to upgrades, etc.  So I felt like United definitely rewards me for my loyalty – at least until this last week.  I was flying to San Francisco to address a group of CEO’s and my wife decided to join me (I’d love to tell you about the beauty of a walk in the Muir Woods…).  I booked us in Economy Plus (United reserves early rows in coach with extra leg-room) and put in a request for upgrades to first class since it was her birthday and I wanted her to be extra comfortable. 

But instead of creating a wonderful experience where I build my faith and loyalty into the airline I boarded more than 100 times last year, they delivered a disaster.  Rather than bumping both of us into first class they only gave me the upgrade.  That’s okay I thought; I’ll switch places with her so she can fly first class and I’ll stay in economy plus.  “Can’t do that” said the United service rep on the phone.  “When you moved into a different cabin, your wife lost her Economy Plus status and has to be reseated in further back in coach.” So not only do we now have to sit apart, she (or in this case, me) would have to be relocated to a middle seat deep in the plane on a now fully booked flight in both directions.  And since my upgrade was made automatically my original seat next to my wife had already been given away.  There was no way to unscramble the egg.

The end result is that my wife did fly out in first class and I sat in a middle seat, happy for her but miffed at United for the predicament.  What was worse was knowing that the customer service rep could have bumped me up to a supervisor who could have fixed the problem – but the offer was never made (and I typically am loathe to ask or demand).  I know United has to have rules, but I also know I will NEVER forget this incident and I will always know that no matter how hard I work (usually paying higher fares) to be a loyal United customer, they will never see me as an individual with specific needs – including the need to feel like our association is a relationship rather than a series of financial transactions.  So there may be a 3’ x 4’ red carpet for loyal 1K flyers at every gate, but don’t expect much in terms of truly helpful, unique, and endearing customer service.  Every year United sends me a stack of coupons to give their employees in recognition of great customer service. I rarely get the opportunity to use them.

This weekend I attended a meeting of the NSA-DC chapter of the National Speakers Association, and one of the guest speakers, Susan Sarfati of American Program Bureau (a Boston-based speakers bureau), offered a list of things meeting planners want in a good speaker.  Now, when you think about it, meeting planners want what most audiences are after, a great experience so their client – the host organization – feels upbeat about their meeting.  I’ve divided the list into two categories, those items that relate primarily to the quality of the speaker (style and content) and those items that have more to do with their character (what they are like to work with).

Speaker Quality

Relevant topic for the audience

The speaker’s ability to relate to the audience

Dynamic

Inspirational

Captivating

Authentic

Likeable

Uses humor

Doesn’t read the slides

Provides information beyond the obvious

Uses relevant stories

Speaker Character

Doesn’t use a gate-keeper or handler

Approachable (for the audience, willing to stay and talk)

Giving and willing to share information (handouts, slides)

Doesn’t complain to the audience about how little time they have to speak

Doesn’t try to sell from the stage

Understands the sponsoring organization (did some homework)

Exceeds expectations

Understands the time frame and fills it effectively

The Speaker Quality items track pretty closely with what we are finding in our own polling of CEOs around the country.  So far this year I have been able to share our communication skills package to over 200 CEO’s in Philadelphia, San Diego, Phoenix, Raleigh-Durham, Providence, R.I., San Francisco, and Toronto, Canada.  During each seminar we ask what they expect from a “great presentation.”  The results are remarkably similar where ever we go.  We will soon publish that list and let you know via this blog.

Welcome to my blog. My goal for the entries that follow is to offer you an ongoing resource of both strategic and tactical (practical) tips on how to engage and connect with any audience on an emotional level – the only level or place that will have meaningful and lasting impact.

The communication marketplace is full of advice on what to say and how to say it, but there is little if any advice that does the following:

1. Offers a theory of communication to hold all the parts together
2. Uses empirically validated science to back up that theory
3. Delivers an integrated approach to communication skills building that makes the learning more practical, self-sustaining, and effective.

At RheemMedia, LLC, we define good communication as “the accurate and effective exchange of meaning,” not the simple conveyance of information and data. As you might agree, taking the original intent and meaning of the source (you for example), and then using language and visual aids to get others to hear, interpret, and understand exactly what the source intended is a serious and difficult process. Getting it right, or at least doing it better, is critical whether you are the CEO of a company trying to create a corporate culture, head of marketing trying to convey the value proposition of a product or service, or an entrepreneur trying to capture the passion and purpose of a new idea.

So, stay tuned and visit us often to learn new, practical and proven techniques to become an even better communicator than you are right now. We promise to deliver a new approach that will make you more effective as a leader, mentor, manager, salesperson, advocator, and relationship builder. We communicate all day and every day, even when we are not talking. Our effectiveness as a communicator is the most critical part of our overall skill set in determining our success in life (no matter how you define it). So let’s get started.

How did I get here? I have been in the communication field for several decades in positions ranging from a cabinet-level speechwriter and science advisor (for the Secretary of Health and Human Services), a full-time consultant to the House Science Committee, a White House correspondent for a national daily, Washington, D.C. Bureau Chief of a television news operation, and an award-winning PR executive for a top agency based in New York.

More recently, as President and CEO of RheemMedia, LLC, I have spent the last nine years consulting on communication and media strategy for literally hundreds of CEO’s in the United States and Canada. Assignments have ranged from managing the response to the largest consumer product recall in history, running the national roll-out of a new retail chain, media and presentation training hundreds of CEO’s, and working with over a hundred scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on how to more effectively engage audiences on important science and health related issues. I have consulted for U.S. Senators, Royalty, and non-profits. In all these experiences, my clients have all wanted the same thing – “how can I better convey my message to those I want to reach most?” That is now my full time occupation.

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