Owning my time - No I can't call back later

Today, I needed to call a doctors office to find out their protocol for submitting insurance claims. I visited a few weeks ago and yet nothing posted on the Aetna page. Understanding the office policy would help me not feel stressed out. No need to worry if you submit bills every few weeks

As soon as the receptionist picks up the phone she seems rushed. I answer the questions of first and last name. Before five minutes have passed the answer returns "we're busy, can you call back?" I thought that getting into a back and forth is never succcessful. It is a simple question so we can just get an answer.

She says the woman who does the billing questions is busy and I'll have to call back.

It is time to get my needs on the table.

"Don't you have my phone number? Can she just call when she's not busy?"

I simply state "If she's working ask her to call when she's not busy. I don't want to call back because there's a chance she may be busy again."

With that, I was put on a 5 second hold and was able to ask my question. It actually just took her one second and she answered and said it was implied this was a lengthy question. Basically, she said no without even knowing my need.

Email Turnaround - When to Walk Away

I have, of late, been very involved in a number of causes through which my learning curve is bending in a positive direction. However, my own rules for engaging individuals via email and acknowledging their requests isn’t shared by all. More specifically, some individuals will request an item, let’s say during a phone call, and lose everything in translation to email.

Sometimes, this is because they feel that responding via email makes things a bit more formal. Also, some have a lacking time management system and can’t respond to messages.

My own rule is once an email is sent with an ask or items that a party has requested there are two reminders. After two weeks, there’s no need for me to spend any additional time on the matter (we’re not talking about payment collection, although you can just put someone on small claims notice). It’s no longer effective to ruminate on why they aren’t responding as the perspective can often become personal. My business, in communications and RE, will require retainers for the purpose of avoiding large financial losses due to lack of turn around. It’s a policy to protect my work and time.

Being open to constructive criticism

Guilty. That would describe my charge to the offense of not taking criticism well at times. It's always a different story when working with a client. There is a sense of amazement when a client won't just immediately implement some overhaul or new process that's been suggested. Lately, I've tried to digest my own absorption of positive feedback that's packaged in a constructive manner.

One such example is the website which I am creating. Last night, one of my buddies here in the city took time at the end of the day to skim my presentation next week. My perception was that it was essentially completed and really didn't require any further work. His thoughts - not an exact mirror. There were some pointers about general flow and word usage consistency. Even though there was nothing major sometimes when we are so invested in a project it's difficult to "move on" from what's on paper. Taking this to heart will definitely be a valuable tool to all future clients.

He also took a look at the new website and I figured that wouldn't be fun. What's so interesting is that even though there was an attempt to speak to a wide audience in terms of what communications consulting was, he didn't get that vibe. We always assume that our audience knows more (closer to our level of understanding) about any topic in which we are well versed. That's definitely been true of the advocacy work that I'm doing with the single payer healthcare initiative. Far too many large words and references to policy numbers that most people don't know anything about. He reminded me to incorporate the same thoughts to really smooth out what I could provide, in terms of consulting services, to a new audience.

Great help for current and future projects.

Vetting information which is supposed to be objective

We live in an age where information is produced, then copied, at lightening speed. Verifiable sources can be difficult to track and even harder to tack onto an "expanding" storyline. Whether this applies to business in their attempt to position their brand in the market or public policy conversations as weighted by the media - verifiable information should be tracked.

If someone posts a defamatory story about Company XYZ and it is untrue, how do they respond? They simply find the document which verifies their account of the story and present it as primary evidence. I know that sounds a big legalistic, but it's an important point. Word of mouth advertising, positive or negative, can be incredibly difficult to contain. Image, once begun rolling down that snowball hill, can be incredibly time-consuming (and expensive) to repair. Even if the story wasn't factual the damage left behind can be long-lasting.

My thoughts on this subject were triggered by a story posted on CNN which was presented as factual and (through light research) was cast as unsound and over-reaching. The CNN article can be read here CNN article on drug use and risky AIDS incidence. My response can be ready at my Facebook, here David's Facebook page

Finally, you can market to a new audience

Small businesses can be an incredible amount of hard work. Though the ability to manage your own time can be a lure this isn't a walk in the park. As "the" face of your business time is a very precious commodity. In order to move from the research and information gathering phase of a new service launch the question should be "Is this enough?"

Many times, in general, there can be a safety net like feeling of over-investing in continuous conjecture and "talk" about a plan without ever putting it into practice.

Once all exploratory information is on deck crafting the messages to your audience is really exciting. It can take several months and tons of schedule jockeying to get to this point so why not move full steam ahead? With all of the reading and market surveying that generally falls into the previous stage all of the language used by your clients is fresh in the "cabeza" so now is the time to put it to good use.

The audience is new, the information is new so it's important not to follow up by immediately reverting to all of those ancient email formats. This audience is supposed to be pulled in with awareness emails and then slowly "developed" for your conversion email. That's when you drop the bomb:
THE ASK....the reason you actually contacted them in the beginning

Just pay close attention to what the research showed. If your potential client pool noted that time was so very precious and family/work balance is impossible don't inundate them with needless information. Anything which might streamline information and make listening to you easier should be rolled into the marketing program. The newest strategy to keep the attention of an increasingly busy society is video e-newsletters. They don't have to read massive amounts of text, just play it in the background while they cook (or dial for the local delivery guy).

Just say it

I have been going back and forth with a client for about a week. I needed them to basically reroute a few processes in a more clarified manner. More specifically, emails were being sent out for a project that weren't very clear. Some referred to the project in one tone, others styled it differently.

My point: At some point we need to be able to know what works and what doesn't. If there's no point of reference, that's impossible.

Client Stance: The processes that are in place are great. We don't need to move to some systematic way of communicating. This is just meeting people and making really solid connections, not quantity.

The issue: The client didn't dispute anything I was saying. What I was saying wasn't what needed to be said. Instead of saying "we need to be able to track," the intended message was "this isn't powerful and it's kind of sloppy."

Lesson learned.

Finetuning messages to brand new audiences

I had a coffee meeting with a board member of a national nonprofit. She has an aim at redirecting the website. Her own descriptive was "horrible." Yikes.

Through her I met someone who has a background in policy on the state and federal level. This person will be coordinating the effort to update the website. While she is learning hopefully this will be a great opportunity to learn new skills of website development. At my previous employer I edited a little section every now and then but it mainly involved textual information.

During the meeting she mentioned there's a conference in September that would be great for me as a public speaking engagement. It would involve presenting on the implications of social media for an aging population. It's interesting that sometimes I don't realize my level of understanding of something until asked to teach someone brand new. I am definitely a novice, per my age group, in social media. The label of expert is very different as applied to a much older audience.

Message point: As the audience becomes less familiar with the information the message must be crafted more from a "freshman" approach.

I think that's one of the communications barriers with the Single Payer movement. It's been going on for so long, i.e. legilsation introduced way back to the 1970's, that those who are educated use advanced language and understand complex organizational structures, i.e. health insurance companies and legislative bodies. At the end of the day, though, this message must resonate also with those who don't live and breathe healthcare policy.

Asking someone who has put substantial energy into crafting a message to dilute it's content strikes them as odd and sometimes offensive.

Internal communication influencing audience mesages

Ususally, when one is part of an organization they know a lot about some topic. Regardless of their industry, it just seems that you talk about it all day long...it's second nature. We forget sometimes that "we" are not the audience. It's their language, not ours, that needs to be spoken.

An example is numbers. I personally love them and think they add an unbeatable argument to everything under the sun. The average person, though, doesn't care as much as I do. Sometimes, there's the assumption of intent (stolen from my former VP of Human Resources). We think "Oh sure, they want all the facts and data to support everything."

Not really.

They just want whatever you are offering to ease their burden or fulfill a need. The message is figuring out where's their connection? What is the language they speak and understand?

Actually, if more nonprofits used this method instead of feeling that "the cause" and emotion create a captive audience their events would be much more successful. Mind you, I did horribly at fundraising because I didn't follow these simple rules. Just assumed everyone was "on board." At the end, I was floating in the sea, far far away from shore.