Business Best Practices: Kudos, WOWs and All That Good Stuff

(Post by Jessica Killenberg Muzik, APR, Vice President – Account Services)

Meetings … love them or hate them, they are an essential part of doing business.

But what if meetings were something your team actually looked forward to or, at the very least, didn’t mind attending?

Yes, it can happen.

At Bianchi PR we have a standing (albeit flexible) Thursday morning staff meeting and toward the bottom of the agenda is always a bullet point titled “kudos.”

During the kudos portion of the meeting, our leader acknowledges each team member’s achievements for the past week.  Sometimes the achievement is a major media hit for a client in a key publication, sometimes it’s scoring a big media interview, and sometimes it’s just stepping up on those everyday tasks that keep things humming along for the firm and our clients.

The key point: giving positive recognition to each team member for “things gone right.” It encourages and reinforces positive behavior. And beyond that, it helps close the meeting on an upbeat, sometimes inspirational, note.

Now, above and beyond the kudos, we also celebrate “WOWs.” A WOW is an acknowledgement for those times when a staff member has figuratively “Walked On Water” for a client.

Although our clients are unaware of it (until perhaps they read this blog), WOWs actually come directly from them.

Any time a client takes the time to write an unsolicited email or note of thanks to the agency for a job well done, our agency CEO generates a WOW certificate for that staffer.

The certificate itself isn’t anything fancy.

It’s simply a piece of paper prominently featuring the acronym WOW along with a brief description how the staffer wow’ed the client.

It’s presented at the next weekly staff meeting, and the recipient posts it near their workspace, as a pleasant reminder of an appreciative client and a grateful employer.

Now, who wouldn’t want to attend a meeting that promises kudos, WOWs and all that good stuff?

When you end a staff meeting on a high note, it encourages your team to continue to do great work. And isn’t that what best business practices are really all about?

What have you done to make your meetings more enjoyable or to encourage great work among your staffers?

The Play-by-Play: Tackling the Tough Media Interview

Post by Jessica Killenberg Muzik, APR, VP – Account Services

In sports, it’s often said “the best defense is a good offense.”

This is true, too, when it comes to tackling media interviews, especially the tough ones.

So when an issue (such as a product recall, a strike, a plant closing or a layoff) arises for your organization and you’re faced with media interviews, here’s a play-by-play on how best to handle things:

•  First, if there is some human impact (and there usually is), try to genuinely, honestly and briefly express your concern and empathy for those affected. Then, focus on what you are doing to offer those impacted some assistance or what you’re doing to prevent this situation from reoccurring.
• Go into the interview knowing what three to four key messages you want to deliver and make sure they are pro-active, positive and pertinent.
•  Keep your cool. Even if you feel you have the right to lose your temper or get defensive, don’t.  Be calm, be diplomatic and show your genuine concern and compassion. 
• Prepare for the worst. Think about the most negative questions a reporter can ask, then practice answering those questions. 
• Tackle any negative questions carefully – rather than ignore them or become flustered by them – using the following approach:

– First, acknowledge the question – without repeating any inflammatory or loaded words.

– Second, use a bridge to one of your key messages. For example:

• “However …”
• “The real issue is …”
• “Another way to look at it is …”
• “Let me put that in perspective …”
• “Actually, our research shows …”
• “What many of our customers find …”
• “There’s something else to consider …”
•  “It’s important to focus on …”

– Then state one of your key pro-active, positive messages.

If you’re prepared, you can make your next tough interview a win-win for all involved.

One final play: No matter how tempted you are, never say “no comment.” To a reporter, “no comment” can be considered an admission of guilt. You can almost always say something, which in these situations is better than saying nothing at all.

 What are the best substitutes for “no comment” that you’ve heard or used?

The Sneaky Seven: How to Avoid Media Interview Pitfalls

Post by Jessica Killenberg Muzik, APR, VP – Account Services

“Help! I’ve fallen … and I can’t get up.”

Many executives have stumbled in media interviews because they fell prey to unexpected questions or techniques commonly used by some journalists to help extract information or juicy quotes from tight-lipped or cautious executives.

Of course, the best way to prepare for such interviews is to refer all unsolicited media inquiries to your PR representative, who can help you to understand the nature of the interview, identify likely questions and help you develop appropriate answers.

However, when that’s not an option, it’s important to be aware of some of the techniques that could trip you up, so that you can at least be prepared to deal with them … and avoid blurting out something you might regret later. Now, most journalists don’t use sneaky tactics, but the few that do can lead you into dangerous territory.

Based on our experiences, here are some of the techniques that can trip you up … and our advice for each:

Allegation – calling to get a response to rumors, innuendoes or hypothetical situations. Comment only on what’s real or what you know to be true.

Pregnant Pause – using lengthy periods of silence, after you’ve answered a question, to make you uncomfortable enough to volunteer more information.  Don’t feel obligated to fill up the silence.

Zinger – gaining your confidence and comfort, the reporter closes an otherwise easy, cordial interview with one last question, usually the zinger that really prompted the interview in the first place. Don’t let your guard down.

Right to Know – implying that the public or the reporter has a constitutional right to know even the most confidential information about your business. If the information is confidential, it’s OK to say so.  

Deadline Leverage – using the pressure of a last-minute call before deadline to get you to reveal something you normally wouldn’t say. Don’t let the reporter transfer his/her stress to you. Be helpful and be calm.

Odd-Hour Call – calling in early morning, during lunch or after hours to catch you off-guard. Again, always be on guard. If you need a few moments to collect your thoughts or obtain an answer, say so and tell the reporter you’ll call them back in 10 minutes – and do it.

Reference Check – where an unscrupulous reporter poses as a personnel manager or a credit agent and calls former employers, colleagues and customers, disguising their call as a background check. Make sure you know exactly who you are talking to and where they are from.

As a business-to-business PR firm, we find the media we work with are generally straightforward and honest. But you never know when you might come across one of those ambush-type journalists. So, forewarned is forearmed.

If you’re still not confident about avoiding these pitfalls,  take some media training … and practice dealing with them. The career you save may be your own.

Top 10 Bits of PR Advice

This time of year, when high school and college students are graduating, the floodgates of advice seem to open up. Graduates receive unsolicited, and often unwanted, advice from their relatives, from their neighbors, from their parents, from their friends and even from strangers.

Over the years, I’ve received a lot of advice. Some good.  Some bad. I’ve also given a lot of advice. (Ditto.)

Advice seems to rise from experience. Experience comes from mistakes. And Lord knows, I’ve made a lot of mistakes in 30 years, so I have LOTS of experience … and hence, advice to offer.

Here are 10 of my favorite bits of PR-related advice:

1)      In PR (and in life), attitude makes ALL the difference. A person with a great attitude and limited skills beats one with great skills and a bad attitude … every time.

2)      Brilliant strategy without flawless execution is like a new Lamborghini without fuel – it looks good but it isn’t going anywhere.

3)      The most important tools in PR are your brain and your heart. Be smart and be passionate.

4)      If you want your media pitch to be received with enthusiasm, be enthusiastic when you research your target and be enthusiastic when you pitch.

5)      Despite all the new tools and technologies, good PR still comes down to relationships and trust. If you build relationships and earn trust, you’ll succeed.

6)      Don’t forget to use a picture (or video) to help tell your story. Everyone “reads” pictures.

7)      The best way to stand out is not to behave brashly or dress flamboyantly. The best way to stand out is to do outstanding work.

8)      It’s important to really care about your work. But it’s also important not to let your work drive you crazy.

9)      Always have a plan. If it doesn’t get written down, get measured and get rewarded, it won’t get done.

10)   Your Mother was right: Honesty really is the best policy. The truth is powerful … and besides, it’s a lot easier to remember than lies!

Here is one final thought about advice, a quote from poet Edna St. Vincent Millay: “I am glad that I paid so little attention to good advice; had I abided by it I might have been saved from some of my most valuable mistakes.”

What’s the best — or worst — PR advice you’ve ever received?

Greatest PR Blunders – Part 2

The response to last week’s post about your biggest PR blunders was overwhelmingly … well … absent. Not one comment. So there are no lessons learned I can share.

Except perhaps the one to be learned from my blunder, which apparently was to pose this question in the first place.

Maybe it’s that people don’t want to admit they made a mistake. As the line in the old Allman Brothers song, These Days, said: “Don’t confront me with my failures, I have not forgotten them.” Sometimes the mere memory of a mistake can be painful. 

Maybe today’s professionals don’t have time to focus on past mistakes while they’re busy grappling with the present and worrying about the future. Of course, we’re reminded of the George Santayana quote: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Maybe it’s that the most frequent blog commenters seem to be from the agency side, and “agencies don’t make blunders.” Now, show me an agency that’s never made a mistake and I’ll show you an agency that’s just not trying hard enough. (But that’s another post for another time!)

So let’s take a shot at a different question. Here’s one that drew some interesting responses when I posted it last week on several LinkedIn Groups:

What’s on your professional “bucket list”?

Most of us have a personal bucket list of things we’d like to do before we die. Maybe it’s to drive 125 mph on the Autobahn. Visit all 50 U.S. states. Run with the bulls in Pamplona (not so much!).

But as a professional, do you have a professional bucket list? If so, what’s on it?

If you’re a PR person like me, maybe it’s scoring a positive story in BusinessWeek … or working on a PR project with racing legend Mario Andretti… or landing a Fortune 500 company as a client.

So, what’s on your professional bucket list?

Biggest PR Blunders & Lessons Learned

Remember when you were a toddler and your mom told you not to touch the hot stove because you’d burn yourself? What did you do? You touched the stove. You burned yourself. And you learned a lesson that you will never forget.

Years later, when you told your own toddler not to touch the hot stove, what did she do? She touched the stove. And she burned herself. Not because she didn’t want to believe you, but because she had to learn from her own experience. She wasn’t going to learn from yours.

English humorist/novelist Douglas Adams once said that human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.

I might add, especially teenage human beings. But I digress …

So let’s go against our disinclination, tap that unique ability Adams talked about and see if we CAN learn from each others’ PR mistakes.

Now, don’t tell my staff, but I’ve made a few mistakes during my career.

Oscar Wilde once said experience is the name we give our mistakes. So my claim to have LOTS of experience is true in so many ways. Sometimes they were hugely embarrassing incidents of experience, including one faux pas I made more than 20 years ago that was mentioned in a national business magazine (you know, the one famous for its “500” list).

But that’s another story for another time.

We’d like to hear from you … what’s the worst, the funniest or the most embarrassing PR mistake you or “a friend” have ever made?  Share it with us. It may be cathartic for you … I mean, for your “friend.” Comment anonymously if you want. Use a pen name. Or better yet, use your bosses’ name.

Perhaps we all CAN learn something from your mistake. And if we do laugh, remember that we’re laughing WITH you, not AT you – probably because we’ve made a similar gaffe!

In the end, the only experiences lost are the ones we don’t share.

Go ahead. It’ll be fun …