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July 27, 2011

What Does Somebody Have to Do to Get Promoted Around Here?

We all have our share of junior high school traumas, right? Here’s mine: Picture me, a somewhat nerdy (OK, extremely nerdy) student in my seventh grade French class……

More Great Career Seminars for Wolverines!

If you’re a University of Michigan student or alumnus, you won’t want to miss Career Call-In, a six-week series sponsored by the Alumni Association of the University of Michigan that addresses real-world workplace issues and answers your burning career questions.

Upcoming Programs:

August 9 – Secrets of Women Leaders

August 16 – How to Be a Great Boss

FREE Special Report on LinkedIn for New Facebook Friends

Thanks so much to all our new friends on Facebook. It’s great to have you on board. Question: What would it take to get more people to like us? Answer: FREE stuff! Like us, let us know, and we’ll send you one our latest Special Report on how to use LinkedIn to help your career.

How can you resist? Please visit our Facebook fan page and don’t forget to let us know if you’ve become a new fan!

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Welcome to Career Smarts!

Looking for practical career advice, ideas you’ll actually use, and insights that make a difference?

Read on, pass this along, and let us know what ideas worked – or share some great ideas of your own with our readers.

Here’s to your career success!

Why ‘I’m Just Calling to Touch Base’ is a Terrible Voice Mail to Leave

If you’re in the habit of leaving voice mails that say something like, “I’m just calling to touch base” - stop.

Let’s assume you’re trying to connect with someone who is crazy busy. And, let’s assume you’re leaving that voice mail because you want something – like a job, or a sale, or an answer on something – from this person.

According to sales expert Jill Konrath, you’re not going to get the time of day from a busy person with a ‘touching base’ voice mail. Voice mails like this one – along with, “I’m just calling to see if you received my information/email/resume,” are a total waste of time, and just make us seem like a pest, according to her.

A few points to consider

Every voice mail/email is an opportunity to deliver value. “Touching base” makes us appear needy, desperate, even pathetic – like we’ve got nothing else to do besides touch base. We know otherwise – so leave a message that is short, direct, gets to the heart of what’s going on in that client’s life, and showcases your talents.

Konrath advises against voice mails that start with, “We specialize in…” or “We’re the industry leader in…” Her point: Who cares? No matter how nicely worded, these are voice mails about you, not them. Talk results (“We’ve helped 5 of your competitors increase retention by 28% over the past year”) in your message.

Come up with a communication strategy. Map out each message ahead of time (voice mail, email, or other messages) and execute.

Konrath tells us that most of us will reach out to someone between 3-5 times, on average, and then we give up.
In fact, it takes between 10-12 messages before we are actually able to reach someone – and that’s assuming that we’re leaving emails and voice mails that are effective in the first place. You need to reach out frequently, no matter how great your voice mails.

Don’t overwhelm with information. In an email, for instance, provide a link to one video, or one blog entry you’ve written, for instance – not five.

Read: Are You Losing Them At Hello?

It’s My Wedding Anniversary – Got Any Relationship Advice?

July 27, 1997. The day I married my beloved, and today is our wedding anniversary. Fourteen years of wedding bliss, more or less, thank you for asking.

If you’ve heard me speak, you know that I love asking audiences for relationship advice. Once, a woman suggested I surprise my husband by ordering him all his favorite sports channels on cable TV. Of course, she may not have realized that I happen to be married to a man who sleeps in his Red Sox hat to ‘wish the team luck.’ Methinks more sports channels is not what this man needs.

On the other hand, I recently got some pretty helpful advice from a man in a seminar I was leading. He said: ”Don’t put your marriage on auto pilot.” Makes perfect sense – if we want a great relationship, we can’t just expect it to happen.

Short, Sweet, and Compelling

This month, we look at how to say a lot with a little. How to get our message across about who we are, what we do, and the value we bring in a way that is short, sweet, and compelling? This month, check out some terrific resources to help you tackle this one: