How to fail fast

On or off the learning curve? New communications media: Fad or fact? It doesn’t matter. As a communication professional, you are obligated to learn new channels. Facebook? Twitter? LinkedIn? Blogs? YouTube? Are you still in denial about social media or did you jump in, learn from smart friends and suggest new ideas for your employer or client? Where are you on the adoption curve? Stay relevant. Don’t be a dinosaur. Just do it.

You are not your résumé. Your résumé is not a stone tablet documenting your career. Do you customize it every time to show the prospect you have exactly what she wants? Do you include links for your Facebook page, blog, Twitter account and LinkedIn profile? If you do not have a complete profile and recommendations on LinkedIn today, you do NOT exist to prospective employers and recruiters. Do you have a portfolio? Is it online and accessible 24/7?

Be responsive. How long did it take you to return my call or acknowledge my email? Is that how responsive you are to someone trying to give you a job? We are all competing in a global market and there are other candidates who are at least as smart as you, willing to do your job at a fraction of the rate and a lot more eager about getting the job done. Extra points awarded for responding quickly and providing valuable information. Instant disqualification for responding two weeks later with “I’m interested” and expecting someone to be impressed.

Listen more. Typically, your clients aren’t communicators. That’s your role and great communicating starts with great listening which leads to deep understanding which, best case, sets the stage for great thinking. So, listen. Probe with questions. Repeat back what you think you understand. You have two ears and one mouth. Use them proportionately.

“But I’m so experienced.” Your experience might be perceived as a price tag that puts you out of the competition. It can also be a great big “sell by” date indicating you need to be left on the shelf. Your experience might imply you don’t know about the latest, greatest marketing media (see above). Your experience might intimidate someone who graduated college 10 years after you did. And it might create the impression you’re too good for the job and will get bored and split at the first opportunity. Don’t assume it’s a good thing. Focus on results and value.

No whining. Life can be hard. Work can be hard. And a lot of things are unfair. But complaining about it doesn’t change anything except the perception that you can’t hack it. As Jerry Maguire says, “That’s not what inspires people.” People don’t pay a premium for someone who sees only half-empty glasses. Find a solution instead of finding someone to blame.

Think ahead. If you can’t play chess, at least play a good game of checkers and figure out what your client or manager wants next. I don’t know about you, but I get Big Points when I can anticipate what my spouse wants. Your client is the same way. If you earned a good result for the client, did you write it up so all your client has to do is forward it to her management? (And she might not do as good a job as you will.) Think ahead. Just one or two moves.

It’s not about you. There’s a very fine ego balance consultants need to strike with their clients. On the one hand, you are the Star Who Does Great Things. On the other hand, you’re equally attentive to the Little Things: you get the rental car, order the meal that’s just a little bit less expensive and listen with Total Fascination when she’s telling you about her cat (mom, ex, garden, shoes, etc.). You’ll hand your client breath mints and make eye contact to let him know he needs to take the mints. Your entire Reason for Being is to make your client successful and as a service provider you go to great lengths to make that happen. And you will be rewarded and your ego stoked when the client trusts you completely with their career and future.

A handwritten note: the gem of personal marketing. Who writes Thank You notes? People who know that the recipient might just tack it to the wall of her office and look at it every day as a constant reminder you are One Classy Pro. Anyone who refers a job lead or grants you an interview is worthy of personalized multi-media gratitude: email, voicemail, thank you note, Facebook wall post, etc. But when you write it, stamp it and mail it you always leave an infinitely indelible impression.

Keep your promises, keep everyone on track. Take notes. Flag action items. Send the action items to the people involved. Resolve any misunderstandings. Act on the action items. Report on the status of the action items. Reconvene and repeat. Simple? Yes. Effective? Absolutely. Common? Not at all. When was the last time you received timely minutes from a meeting? Or any recap at all from a meeting? Some one ought to be doing this and you have an opportunity to be the hero in this story. You are a communicator. Get it done.

Be interesting. Being an interesting person doesn’t compensate for you being unresponsive, not smart, or having out-of-date skills, but combined with great performance, being interesting makes you The Complete Package. Be involved in your community. Coach soccer. Play an instrument. Dance. Practice yoga. Volunteer. Sky dive. Write a book. Do a triathlon. If you are someone who is admirable, then you increase your chance of being admired.

Dress to impress. You can’t judge a book by its cover, but you can judge the cover by the cover. Are you dressed appropriately and with a sense of style? Are your shoes shined? Are your nails neat? Breath fresh? Glasses clean? Don’t make me be your mother.

Don’t touch the third rail. Politics. Religion. Sex. Do we really need to elaborate?

Pay it forward. Give and you shall receive. Leave an unsolicited Recommendation on LinkedIn. Share your contacts and resources with new colleagues or students. Send small, thoughtful news articles they might enjoy, or send something that made you think of them. Don’t be a stalker, and don’t expect anything in return. It will come back to you, tenfold, over the course of your career. Guaranteed.

Do you feel our pain? Are these tips a no-brainer for you? If so, you’re one of a few rare GEMS (Go-to Expert Marketing Superheroes) and we’d love to know you.

Need help and want us to send over somebody who “gets” it? www.htconnect.com

Over at Web Worker Daily, one of our favorite ways to keep on the cutting edge, has a great post today:  6 Ways to Revive a Dead Social Media Channel.  Take a look at this great tip:

5.  Post consistently and relevantly. Another aspect of gaining back the trust of your connections is to show a commitment to engaging in and updating your channels. Jumping in once every few months appears haphazard and careless. If you don’t show you care, why should anyone else?

Here’s the link to the story.

The Wall Street Journal has published an excellent overview on how people can find jobs online and I highly recommend you read it.  Here, in a nutshell, is the Wall Street Journal’s list of five mistakes online job hunters make:

1.  Forgetting manners

2.  Overkill

3.  Not getting the word out

4.  Quantity over quality

5.  Online exclusivity

One of the most important lessons from the article is this:

Many people make the mistake of joining LinkedIn and other social media sites and then just letting their profiles sit publicly unfinished, says Krista Canfield, a LinkedIn spokesperson. “Just signing up for an account simply isn’t enough,” she says. “At a bare minimum, make sure you’re connected to at least 35 people and make sure your profile is 100 percent complete. Members with complete profiles are 40 times more likely to receive opportunities through LinkedIn.”

Here’s the link to the full story.

Suddenly, everyone wants to be a consultant. The battle for work heats up again and only the strongest and smartest will survive.

High Tech Connect has a unique vantage point with nationwide clients large and small, agencies and non-profits, new college graduates as well as seasoned industry experts, freelance contractors and newly unemployed perm candidates. We know what it takes to be successful in this challenging market.

Here are a few tips to help you stand out at the top of the candidate pool:

VERSATILE & PROACTIVE: Regardless of your background, the more versatile you are the more valuable you are to clients. You need to be equally strategic and tactical. Clients and employers are still extremely stressed and understaffed. There is little time for formal training or even project direction, so you must be proactive and assertive. Everything you do from the résumé, interview and follow-up needs to assure the client, “I’ll do whatever it takes to make you look great.”

SOCIAL SAVVY: Eighty percent of hiring managers are using LinkedIn to find candidates so if you haven’t yet posted your qualifications and recommendations on LinkedIn, you’re missing opportunities. And every project, from writing to exec comm, now requires some element of social media marketing. If you are still in denial about social media, you will no longer be relevant to today’s employers. High Tech Connect uses a proprietary database, LinkedIn and Facebook to find the right connections for clients because “perfect” candidates are moving targets more than ever before.

RUN A “REAL” BUSINESS: Being an independent consultant requires more than just printed business cards. You are a business owner and the IRS is increasingly auditing people who don’t correctly operate their sole proprietorship. They are also scrutinizing corporate clients for misclassified contractors and leveraging million-dollar penalties. Because of the risks involved with hiring consultants, more clients are requiring sole proprietors to incorporate and carry business liability insurance, or using placement agencies like High Tech Connect who will payroll you.

Finally, while you may be great at marketing a product or service for your employer or clients, you may not feel as comfortable marketing yourself. Take inventory of the tools and techniques in your marketing arsenal and don’t be shy to use them for your personal brand. Call a friend who can give you honest feedback or trade services with another communications colleague whose expertise augments yours.

There’s no time to waste. Projects and jobs are popping up everywhere and you need to be poised for success. Go get ‘em!

Have some of your own tips to share? Leave a comment here and share this post with your colleagues.

Social media at its core, means sharing, participating in a community, and as counter-intuitive as that feels to private citizens, it’s critical for a social media manager or CEO when creating a company’s social brand. Of course, you do need to be careful if you have young children and not disclose sensitive personal information. But professional communicators need to understand the playing field has changed and if they can’t find you or see your contacts and credentials, they assume you have something to hide. Or you simply don’t “get” social media yet.

For example, why would High Tech Connect allow hundreds of clients to have direct access to 1300 carefully selected consultants via our LinkedIn and Facebook pages? It’s the core of our business model, after all! But our business is not just tossing names and résumés based on keyword searches. Clients trust us to sleuth out the perfect ones with exactly the right skills and personality. They don’t have time to screen everyone who claims to be a writer in our Friend list, and they certainly don’t know who might be exaggerating. We do.

So despite our initial reservations, High Tech Connect is now quite open with our connections in social media. We’re certainly more open than our competitors. We are very honest about collaborating with candidates and clients to create a three-way-win. And we use social media to bring us closer to our colleagues: giving career advice, listening to their suggestions, supporting their families and interests, and keeping our friendship alive.

In social media, you first have to give. And the benefit of that goodwill and generosity is priceless from a brand perspective. So if you want to position yourself as a social media expert, you need to unlock your connections. Share your contacts, your ideas, your advice. In return, you will receive unexpected gifts from those who want to help you to succeed.

What did the attendees think? Here are some of their comments:

“The crash course was singularly one of the most impactful I’ve ever attended in relation to helping me grow business in 2009. Great job all round. Brian was brilliant.”

“My head is still spinning from all I learned!”

“You guys are awesome! You need to do this on the next level, like Lesson 2.”

“You guys cut thru a lot of clutter and techno-babble. For me, the approach was right. This ain’t about technology. It’s about information. Linking people and ideas. Ease. Sign me up for the grad course.”

“The HTC crash course is worth every penny. I suggested a client build their online presence…we’re talking about it…I absolutely could not have made the proposal pre-crash course.”

“In 7 hours I learned what it would have taken me months to figure out on my own. Your presentation was densely packed with answers to questions I didn’t know I had. Thank you for offering this timely class – it has really boosted my value to clients.”

“As a result of attending the seminar, I imported my Outlook calendar into Linkedin and have increased my connections by 30% from just an hour of activity on Lilnkedin.”

“I feel like I finally get it! Now I just need to let go of the fear and jump right in…”

“GREAT seminar. Tons of material covered in a very short time. Again, I just needed more time to absorb, ask questions, and have hands-on experience.”

“The High Tech Connect staff brings expertise and enthusiasm to their workshops. They have real world experience with the subject matter, and check in with each individual attending to ensure they gain what they need from the information presented.”

“The event not only presents a lot of ‘dots’ but more importantly helps ‘connect’ the various dots: Facebook, Twitter, blogging, RSS…”

“This was definitely as advertised! I’m glad I parted with dough to be here.”

“High Tech Connect continues to work with its team to arm them with the latest innovations and techniques. Their Social Media Crash Course is a great example of how they keep their team ahead of the curve.”

“Very good and frank overview of most popular social media tools. Nice to be able to experiment in real time – definitely worth my time!”