Sometimes we want to ask a favor, but feel awkward doing so.  Perhaps we don’t know the person well or they’ve already done a lot for us, so asking for more might seem greedy.  Whatever the reason, you don’t want to put the other person on the spot with a direct request.

Sometimes you can resolve the problem by asking indirectly.  Words you can use for this purpose include:

Can I ask you for some advice?
Could I ask you for a little mentoring?

To be asked for advice or mentoring is a compliment, the person asked being attributed superior knowledge, judgment or experience.  Also the person asked has great latitude in choosing a response.  She can spend ten minutes or an hour with you.  She can simply give you a few words to the wise or open her contact list to you.

Sometimes a contact will help beyond the expectations of the person making the request. Gabriela, an executive recruiter, ran into a former client at a conference and asked him for some mentoring on business development.  He immediately began introducing her to other people he knew at the conference, describing her work as a recruiter in ways that would have sounded immodest coming from her.

Caution!  Do not use this approach indiscriminately. If it is seen as simply a ruse to get introductions, the contact will feel you are being manipulative as opposed to tactful.  Only use these words with someone whose advice or mentoring you would legitimately value.  That way you won’t come across as false.  If all you come away with from the conversation is some good advice, you should be thankful.  After all, that is all you asked for.

Don’t underestimate the importance of your bio. This short summary of your professional credentials is often a client’s first introduction to you. When set alongside those received from competitors bidding on a project, it provides the client with an easy basis for comparing your experience and intellectual horsepower to theirs.

If you work for a big firm, colleagues will review it to determine your suitability to work on a project or receive a referral. It is also used by association program committees to assess your suitability as a speaker. In short, it is a critical marketing document.

In spite of the bio’s importance, it is often thrown together in a rush, seldom updated and delivered in one form to all parties, regardless of their reason for wanting it or yours for giving it. This cavalier treatment of your bio must stop. The time to update it is now. You can then review it annually and before each use to update and customize it.

You want your bio to make your case as compellingly as is consistent with honesty. You want it to be accessible, meaning that it must appear easy to look at and engaging to the reader. To the degree possible, you want to make it memorable. You want it to stand out, even while adhering to the format designated by your firm.

One format to accomplish these ends is provided below with content kindly donated by an old friend and master publicist for professional service firms, Meg Wildrick. We have created two versions of her bio, directed at her two major markets, professional service firms and financial institutions.

Immediately after her name, title and firm comes a short statement of the value she provides her clients. Here it is in the form of a quote—quite acceptable at a public relations firm. A tax, estate and trust attorney might do better with something more staid. Then there are brief summaries of work she has done, emphasizing the benefits the clients received from her efforts. She can develop many of these to plug in and out and so adapt her bio to different clients.

After that comes a client list, also adapted for the use of the bio. So, for example, knowing that the readers of this blog come from many professions, she chooses to emphasize the breadth of her experience with professional firms, rather than the depth. If you can’t identify a client by name use a description like, two large, New-York-based banks.

Because all of her former work history is relevant to financial institutions, each employer gets a single line in Version #2, but in Version #1 only McKinsey & Company gets this honor.

In contrast, she has done more publishing directed at professional firms than at financial institutions, so publications are noted in Version #1 but not in Version #2.

Note, finally, that both versions are dated, allowing readers to quickly determine its currency. One of those readers should be you, reviewing and adapting your bio each time it is used.

Each version creates a compelling case for Meg’s experience and competence. But this is only one format and there are many that work. Do any of you readers have suggestions for how to make a bio compelling?

Version #1

Bio: Meg Wildrick Title: Managing Director
Firm: Bliss PR Email: meg@blisspr.com

Quote: Professional service firms sell their services with stories, which is why they are among my favorite clients. Stories fascinate me – what makes them interesting? memorable? effective? After studying literary stories in school, I moved to the business world. There, I refined and adapted my storytelling skills. In 1998, I landed at BlissPR where I get to tell the greatest stories imaginable—such as stories about building new businesses or turning around troubled companies—to the people who need to hear them. I also help clients hone their storytelling skills through strategy sessions, messaging workshops and media training.

Sample experience:

Build Name Recognition: Helped a large consultancy expanding rapidly in North America increase firm-wide name recognition and build visibility for senior consultants in healthcare, financial services and new media.

Support Lead Generation & Increase Valuation: Helped a small firm develop a publicity-based lead generation system which substantially increased its value, captured by the partners when they sold it a few years later.

Attract Employees: Worked with the New York office of an executive search firm to help them attract mid-career professionals for their Board and Financial practices.

Increase Credibility: For an international accounting firm, worked to position key professionals as experts on business trends and accounting issues.

Representative
Clients:

Accounting: Deloitte & Touche
Consulting: Roland Berger & Partner, Strategic Decisions Group
Architecture & Engineering: RTKL
Executive Search: A leading firm

Prior
Experience:

Consultant at McKinsey & Company

Strategic Marketing Positions at Brown, Brothers Harriman, Bankers Trust, GE Capital’s Financial Guaranty Insurance Company

Speeches &
Publications:

Meg has spoken to Association of Management Consulting Firms and published in Consulting to Business.

Education:

University of Edinburgh, M.Litt. in Comparative Literature
(Marshall Scholar), Williams College, B.A. (Valedictorian)

September 17, 2008

Version #2

Bio: Meg Wildrick Title: Managing Director
Firm: Bliss PR Email: meg@blisspr.com

Quote: Stories are the real currency of financial services. Financial firms sell products (many of them quite technical), but what customers buy are results. Stories that demonstrate these results make complex products more tangible. I’m a born story-teller. After studying literary stories in school, I moved to the business world. There, I refined and adapted my storytelling skills. In 1998, I landed at BlissPR where I get to write tell the greatest stories imaginable—stories about retirement, health & wellness, savings/investment and philanthropy—to the people who need to hear them. I also help clients hone their storytelling skills through strategy sessions, messaging workshops and media training.

Sample experience:

Increased Name Recognition: Secured company and product profiles for an asset management firm, which has a solid reputation in the institutional markets but was relatively unknown among consumers.

Launched a New Service Area: Worked with an insurer to define a cross-company retirement strategy – and promote that strategy in the media.

Raised Credibility: Worked with a national network of financial advisors to position their estate planning and retirement experts as authorities on personal finance issues.

Attracted New Members/Clients: For an investment group of high net worth advisors, secured profile stories and national business coverage. Membership doubled as a direct result.

Positioned Company as Industry Leader: Helped a large benefits provider build and implement a thought leadership platform, establishing itself as the expert voice on workplace issues.

Representative
Clients:

New York Life MetLife
GE Capital Key Bank
Deloitte & Touche AIMR
Sentinel Capital Management

Prior experience:

Brown, Brothers Harriman, Strategic Marketing
Bankers Trust, Marketing
GE Capital’s Financial Guaranty Insurance Company, Business Development
McKinsey & Company, Financial Services Practice

Speeches:

Meg recently gave a speech on Marketing and PR at the Securities Industry and Financial Management Association (SIFMA)

Education:

University of Edinburgh, M.Litt. in Comparative Literature
(Marshall Scholar), Williams College, B.A. (Valedictorian)

September 17, 2008

An earlier posting, Do Rainmakers Leave Messages?, discussed the kinds of voicemail messages to leave and when to leave them.  This one covers the practicalities and etiquette for leaving a message that every professional should know.  Many obviously don’t.

If you leave five voicemail messages every working day, a low estimate, it totals to about 1,200 messages a year. Each message you leave serves as a small advertisement for what you would be like to work with.  Leaving a voicemail message is one of those small things you had best do right.

To start, think of the problem from the recipient’s point of view, an easy task because we all receive voicemail messages.  It is best to assume that at the time she picks up your message, the receiver is in a rush, squeezing the call to her voicemail box in between other urgent matters.  Assume that yours is one of a number of messages she must get through as quickly as she can.  Finally, assume that she is not in a location where she can write easily and that she must hear you over a bit of background noise.  Sound familiar?  If you make these assumptions, your voicemail messages will be better under all conditions.

Here are the steps you should follow:

1>     Leave your name first, stating it clearly and spelling it, if it is likely to be hard to understand. If needed provide the name of your company or other relevant affiliation.

2>     Immediately after your name and company, leave your phone number. Immediately after your name and company, leave your phone number! Got that? Doing this saves the recipient from having to replay your entire message again to get your number, if she doesn’t get it the first time through.  State the number slowly and clearly, so the recipient has at least a hope of getting it down the first time.

People who leave 20 minute voicemail messages and then blurt out a garbled phone number at machinegun speed at the end are a menace to the business world and should be forced to attend voicemail courtesy training the way bad drivers are forced to attend auto safety classes. Leave your number this way and people will come to dread your messages.

If you are not in the habit of leaving your number immediately after your name, you will have to work at it to retrain yourself.  Go to the trouble.  The delayed, garbled, fast-spoken phone number is the most common and most annoying breach of voicemail message etiquette.  Leaving it this way also marks you as an inconsiderate rube.

3>     Next, consider giving a short indication of the urgency of your call. This is not always desirable—sometimes you don’t want to emphasize your lack of urgency—but when it is, you can help your contact make a quick decision about whether to listen to your message now or leave it for later.  The exact wording depends on such factors as your relationship with the recipient.  (This isn’t urgent . . . It would be helpful if over the next couple of days … I’m in need of some quick help, if you can …)

4>     Next, provide the core of your message as concisely as you can. If it is bound to be lengthy or complicated, consider sending an email instead of leaving a message.  If you want something, make the request clear.

5>     Consider leaving a brief personal message at the end. (Give my best to Adam and the kids). You may also want to repeat your phone number slowly.

You have many opportunities to practice these guidelines. Use them.

I recently gave a speech to a group of architects during which I referred to a structural engineer, whom many of us knew. One of the architects corrected me, saying, “He’s not really an engineer, though. He’s a salesman.” “Yes,” I agreed, “he certainly is a big rainmaker for his firm. But why do you say he’s not an engineer?” “Because he’s not practicing his profession,” said the architect. To which I responded curtly, “Yes, he is . . . at the highest level.” We looked each other in the eye and then decided not to have that argument and went on to other subjects. Pity. If we had argued, we might have learned something.

So, instead of debating with the architect, I have done so with myself, as I often do. After winning and losing the argument from both sides several times, I called the engineer (or former engineer) in question and asked him what he thought. He was extremely busy and, I sensed, thought me either mad or with far too much time on my hands to be bothered by such an angels-on-pinhead issue. And he stunned me with his answer. He wasn’t sure, but leaned towards the view that he wasn’t a real engineer any more.

Instead of a definitive answer, I came away with a second question, is it important whether an engineer or actuary or architect or accountant or lawyer or consultant is practicing her profession when selling? I find it best to deal with these questions simultaneously.

The first question comes down to what practicing your profession means. The simplest definition is using one’s specialized education and training in a specific area to solve a problem. 

The answer to the second question—is it important whether or not selling is practicing your profession—depends, of course on your point of view. Here is mine:

One of the pernicious aspects of the professions is the pecking order among specialists. This is, arguably, most egregious among architects, where designers look down on project architects, who look down on construction administrators, who look down on specifiers. Name a famous architect and it will be a designer.

Pecking orders exist in other professions, too. Strategy consultants outrank all other types of management consultant, for example. Trial lawyers outrank other litigators, who are effective at negotiating settlements. Structural engineers outrank their more common brethren, the civil engineers.

In some professions, like architecture, the rankings remain rigid over time. In others, the rankings have changed. Over the past twenty years, the prestige of mergers and acquisitions attorneys has risen from the dregs of the profession to one of the most acclaimed specialties. The status of the general counsels, working inside a corporation, has also risen over the years, as the corporations have given them more power.

There are two strong arguments I can make for saying that a professional who sells her firm’s services is practicing her profession. First, she uses that education and the knowledge she has gained from experience to understand the client’s business issue, translate into a set of technical needs, assemble a team that has the right set of technical abilities to address those needs, and then with the team, develops an affordable solution to the business problem. She may not work at a drawing table or CAD machine, she may not write briefs or argue a case in front of a judge, or do many of the other tasks which she studied in school to earn a professional degree. To say that doing this is not practicing a profession is like telling a pianist that he is not really a musician, because he composes music.

The second argument for including rainmakers among those who practice their profession is based on an analogy. If a general counsel or in-house architect is still considered to be practicing her professions, then logic dictates that professionals who sell their firms’ services are, too. One is the buyer and one is the seller. Both buyer and seller use their technical knowledge to structure and negotiate the transaction. Why should the person on one side of the deal be considered to be practicing her profession and the other not? The general counsel doesn’t plead cases before a judge or write contracts and the in-house architect doesn’t design buildings any more than the professionals who sell do. But they do use the specialized knowledge in other ways.

To say that a professional is no longer practicing her profession, because she makes her contribution to the firm by selling, is not only inaccurate, it is harmful. It is pernicious, because the person who says that selling isn’t practicing a profession is attributing a professional inferiority to sellers and is most likely justifying his own sales ineffectiveness on the grounds of professional purity. He is saying, “I studied to be an architect and want to remain one, so, of course I can’t sell anything.” This form of elitism is not good for the speaker nor for the one who has supposedly given up his profession. Because I like a good rant from time to time and because I feel a passion about this subject, I want to say, :”Stop being such an ineffectual dweeb and be a real architect (or actuary, accountant, engineer …) and sell something.”

Maybe it’s just as well that the architect and I didn’t have that argument after all.

In his current post in his blog, Trust Matters, Charlie Green argues for listening largely so the client realizes she has been heard. He argues that you should “listen for the sake of listening.”

I am not sure whether we disagree or we use different words to say much the same thing. Your goal, I believe, is to figure what the client wants from you when she talks to you. If she wants to know if you can help her with a problem, tell her yes or no, and if it’s no, try to help her find someone who can. If she is trying to scope out a problem, help her do so. Hold the selling until you both have a clear understanding of the problem. If she simpley wants to vent or brag a little, let her do so.

Clients quickly catch on to the professional who claims to be able to help them with any problem. Saying that you can’t do something and refering the client to someone who can is both the right and professional thing to do and good business. If you have helped a client find someone who can solve Problem A better than you can, the client will trust you when you say you can help with Problem B.

Your first objective should always be to understand the client’s problem as she sees it, rather that as you think she should see it or would like her to see it. And once you do, if you can help her solve it, get on with the selling. That’s why she called you.

When a prospective client wants to know something that might hurt a professional’s chance of winning new business, many will finesse the answer by saying something that is true but misleading.  When employing one common form, the Rubber Ruler Finesse, the professional chooses a reference point or measure that makes the answer deceptively attractive.  For example, when a client asks how long a professional has been with his firm, the professional may say, “It’s my first year,” instead of the more precise, “Two weeks.” 
 

Or take this example:  “Do you do a lot of work with banks,” asks the client, and the professional responds, “Yes, a lot. Almost 30 percent of our fees came from that industry last year.” He doesn’t say that all of those fees came from one bank, the only one his firm has ever worked for.
 

Professionals at small firms often use this finesse when asked how big their firms are.  They give the number which includes the largest number of people, even though those counted include support staff and, sometimes, employees not related to the delivery of a professional service.
 

Though these answers are true at some level, they pass the definition of a lie found in Sisela Bok’s  Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life,  the classic book on the subject.  According to her a lie is “any intentionally deceptive message which is stated.”  So, is this type of truth stretching honest or not when selling a professional service?  I would like to hear from you.  Consider the following additional points:
 

¨      We will assume that the professional successfully deceives the prospective client in order to eliminate answers that deal with practicality rather than ethics.
 

¨      One only has to look at a few clients’ advertisements to realize that they commit comparable deceptions.
 

¨      No one considers it unethical to lie in an oriental bazaar.
 

¨      Professionalism requires a high standard of honesty with a client.