Clive Simpkins

Meet the mainstream media

Excerpted from Clive Simpkins' book: Media Appearance Secrets

Many people regard a media interview in the same light as a medieval torture chamber. With a bit of simple preparation it needn't be of course. Former British journalist and Economist editor, Walter Bagehot (pronounced badge-it) famously said, 'Do not let in daylight upon magic'. But once you do let in the light of understanding, much of the mystique and angst goes from the media engagement process.

The question most frequently directed at me when coaching in media skills is, 'What makes for a good media interviewee?' The short answer is always, 'When you're well prepared and then set out to enjoy yourself.' When you enjoy the interview, the readers, listeners or viewers will enjoy you.

There isn't some special aptitude or genetic predisposition to handling the media well. Here are a few contextualising thoughts, whether for print, radio or TV:

1. Get the full name and contact phone numbers (including mobile) from the person who makes contact with you about the interview. Get a back-up name and number. I was once left sitting in the deserted reception area of a TV network, causing great anxiety to the news anchor who was expecting to interview me, because the contact person's mobile phone was off! Fortunately I made the second half of the newscast.
2. Have an objective for the interview – regardless of what they might be interviewing you about. What do you want to leave behind in the mind of the reader, listener or viewer? If you know that – in one simple sentence – you can introduce thoughts or material that will help deliver on that objective. If you sit passively waiting to hit the ball back across the net, you're wasting an expensive and valuable opportunity.
3. You can't ask for the questions in advance. Those days are gone.
4. Don't even depend on the topic remaining the same. A breaking news story can skew the direction of your interview if the journalist feels you have the expertise to respond to the emerging issue.
5. You have no right to pre-read, check or approve the print piece or the radio or TV interview if they're pre-recorded. You may offer to check material if the interviewer so desires, purely for factual and technical accuracy. Remember: you're not the print sub editor, or, in the case of electronic media, the commissioning editor.
6. A poor general knowledge, even if you are a subject matter expert, is a major disadvantage, because you'll present only a very narrow spectrum of information.
7. Read in advance, something of the journalist's print work, listen to the radio host or watch the TV anchor person to get a sense of their style, pace and rhythm.
8. Cut non-essential clutter from your diary on the day of the interview. This will better help you focus and remain calm and resourceful.
9. Former US president Richard Nixon infamously said in 1972 to then national security advisor, Henry Kissinger, 'Never forget: The press is the enemy. The Establishment is the enemy. The professors are the enemy.' Wrong: The media (dunno about the profs and the establishment) are your umbilical cord to your public.
10. Media exposure in the right environment and editorial context is worth a lot of money. If you're not prepared and you don't leverage the time to optimum advantage, you're pouring a big and expensive opportunity down the sewer.
11. Rehearse with colleagues and 'insiders' the worst-case, nightmare questions that you'd most hate to be asked in an interview. When you've gone through them in advance, they don't sound quite so ghastly when the journo or interviewer asks them.
12. Be on time for the interview. If it's TV, be in sufficient time to go through make-up or you'll appear on camera sweaty or shiny and that'll make you look nervous – just like Richard Nixon.
13. When the interviewer greets you, don't say 'thanks for having me'. They didn't. Your mom and dad did!
14. Don't greet 'the listeners'. You're having a conversation with the interviewer. Not the masses.
15. Keep your answers concise - the classic soundbite. Give headline, then sub-head and if asked, elaborate with 'body copy' detail.
16. If you represent an organisation, you're the voice, the face and the image of that organisation in the interview. What you say and how you behave has a direct impact on the public perceptions and image of that organisation. So don't take things personally, stay calm, focused and be cordial.
17. Keep good eye contact with the interviewer. Think into, listen into, speak into their eyes.
18. Keep your vocal tone and manner warm and conversational. Speak in your normal, natural voice. No airs and graces.
19. Don't say anything to anyone before, during, in commercial breaks or after the interview that you wouldn't be happy having broadcast to the nation. Microphones may be live when they shouldn't be - and remember, no bad language or off-colour humour.
20. Finally, having prepared, now be prepared to have fun!

 

Standard Bank needs a disaster recovery plan

I'm left in awe that a commercial giant like Standard Bank can exhibit such utter incompetence when there's an IT problem.

Evidently as a result of some sort of attack, their Internet Banking service went down yesterday. They claim it was for a very brief period. However, over an 18 hour period (only during office hours) I still got answers from their Internet Banking call centre conceding that there were problems.

Yesterday afternoon I called into Talk Radio 702's Eyewitness News Desk to report the problem and was told they'd look into it but there was only one person at Standard Bank permitted to talk to the media - Erik Larsen - and he 'wasn't always easily available'. Hmm. What's the point in paying him then?

I don't care (as the marketing people have subsequently told me) that the attack affected the bank's 'ability to communicate with its customers'. Never ever, when there's been a problem with either Standard Bank or Vodacom 3G service, has either organisation taken the trouble to SMS or e-mail. Yet they BOTH boast cutting-edge technology capability. Bizarre.

If you try calling the Standard Bank Internet Banking call centre out of office hours in a time of service failure like this, you get a recording telling you what their office hours are. Um, Not helpful.

Here's what I think the difficult-to-reach Mr. Erik Larsen may want to consider:

1. Don't wait for hours to decide that this IT glitch is not a 5 minute fix.

2. You will NOT panic customers by immediately sharing problems. You'll get their understanding, their respect and maybe they can go to a plan B (i.e. into a branch) because they know what's going on because - guess what? - you told them. Gosh, isn't that easy enough?

3. When you have a problem, put extra people on the phones and keep your call centre open longer hours to deal with the crisis. Or is your salary bill and the bottom line the only consideration? Isn't  reputation management on the radar any longer?

4. When you finally do get your part of the problem sorted, brief your call centre properly. I called this morning (Standard are pulling the recording) and got told explicitly 'If you're a Vodacom 3G customer, the problem lies on their side' or words to that effect. But quite blatantly blaming Vodacom. Not fair, much though I can't commend Vodacom service.

5. I wonder if there's actually a document or crisis communications plan lying covered with dust in a filing cabinet at Standard Bank, that was once put together by some PR agency? Get it out, dust it off, update it and implement it the next time things go wrong.

6. Their marketing person (she tried real hard to mollify me) told me today 'We had no means of communicating with our customers'. Huh? I said: What about the media? Radio in particular? How about (when you know it's going to be largely wireless internet customers being denied access), using Social Media like Twitter or facebook to to get the message out there? How come they didn't pick up on all my tweets of frustration?

All in all, a horrible communications and reputation management failure. It should be an embarrassment and of deep concern to Standard Bank's shareholders. If they can't handle something on this scale, I'd hate to see their response to a real crisis. Jaco Maree, the Standard Bank CEO, may want to revisit how his organisation connects (or doesn't) with its stakeholders.

Because I still can't 14:10 29th October '09 (twenty five hours later) get into the Standard Bank website, here's a little screensnatch off Google, of Erik Larsen's contact details. File 'em. You may need 'em.

 

OUTsurance can take a call centre bow

In a world where I weekly have to deal with some or other call centre, OUTsurance stands out like a shining beacon of cordiality and efficiency. Most call centre agents are flummoxed if you ask what I call an 'off-script' question. You can hear from their disinterested, unmodulated tone of voice that they really don't want to be doing what they're doing. In contrast, OUTsurance call centre agents - and I've spoken with several different ones - chat in a warm, informal yet professional manner. If they've had voice coaching, then credit to them and the coaches. Refreshing in a world of mediocrity and don't-care-less-ness. Take a bow!

The arrogance of some 'imported' executives

Yeah, well, this is Africa. I guess certain Europeans have the notion that we still sleep in trees and eat elephant steaks for breakfast. But it really ticks me off that in the space of just one interview, the Dutch-born Rutger-Jan van Spaandonk [pictured] - Executive Director of Core [who hold the Apple distibution rights] in South Africa can exhibit such astonishing insularity, contempt, rudeness and lack of self-awarenes, all rolled into one. Go read the interview with Techcentral's Duncan McLeod. I'm at a loss for words, other than to suggest a course in EQ would be a damn good start.

The man obviously doesn't understand the correlation between executive behaviour and the brand image or reputation of a product. My sense is, if this is how he behaves in an interview, how would he react if a problem with one of his products was escalated to his level? Not a good prognosis.

When you send unsolicited e-mails with quotations in them...a caveat

Pictured: Screenshot of unsolicited e-mail received by me.

Dunno who Toby Deenik is, but he's clearly decided that I should be the unwilling recipient of his unsolicited e-mails - and without an unsubscribe option.

Since he's raised his head above the parapet, let me take the logical potshot and say that if you really, really must use quotations from eastern sources in your e-mail or website signatures, then please take the trouble to get the spelling correct. Getting people's names wrong is rank amateurism. Name and form are inextricably interlinked and to mess with name spelling is the gravest discourtesy of all.

In this case, Toby dear can't spell 'too' correctly and he's got Jawaharlal Nehru's first and surname wrong. Pandit Nehru (pictured) was India's first and longest serving Prime Minister. Toby clearly feels that the Nehru referent power adds something of value to his e-mails, but he's done little other than expose himself to ridicule.

A parenting e-mail newsletter I receive often quotes Gandhi - and despite me mailing the author several times she persistently spells the great mans' name Ghandi. Sad.

A newsletter from a leadership development company arrived in my in-box, announcing with justified fanfare, the participation of a high profile business person on one of their programs. They had both parts of his company name wrong. Not a good impression.

It's important to realise that if someone hits a spelling glitch early in a piece of corresondence from you, they may simply not read any further. It speaks about your lack of attention to detail and your sloppy quality control. Sure, we all make typos - but when it's stuff with an expected lifespan, take the time and trouble to get it right. If you're a lousy editor, get someone else to proof it. Capish?

Dyslexic actor? ;-)

Brought a weekend smile to my face. In today's Citizen newspaper. Poor dude couldn't even work out which hand to write what word on. ;-) No wonder he's got to leave acting. Yah know - camera left, exit right etc. Must have had a terrible time poor lad....

Inappropriate e-mail addresses

Ain't this cute? The e-mail address is clearly designed to inspire confidence in the quality of the tuition! Ad in the Citizen 31st January 2009.

Are you ill-mannered?

Most of us, I guess, would say 'Absolutely not!' if we were asked this question. Yet the subtlety of what constitutes rude or ill-mannered behaviour escapes many people in business today. So what, you might think. Yet everything about you speaks. So committing an etiquette or manners faux pas (blups), particularly when you don't know that you've done so, can dent your image, your reputation and your credibility.

Despite the geographic size of South Africa, even Johannesburg is described, in business-terms, as 'a small town'. Reputations and impressions get around quickly. To paraphrase Iago, in Shakespeare's 'Othello': 'He who steals my purse steals trash. But he who robs me of my good name, takes from me all that I have and enriches himself in no measure.' Yet most of the image and reputation losses I see, are not occasioned by other people, but by the person themselves. Sometimes you can indeed be 'your own worst enemy'.

A few thoughts then, for behaving and interacting like a professional – and it's not a treatise on e-mail or 'netiquette', but let's kick off on those topics, anyhow:

• Speak your e-mails out loud of they're likely to have the slightest chance of offending. Remember, people can't see your facial expression, your body language or hear the tone of your voice – so the chances of misinterpretation escalate exponentially.
• If it's a contentious e-mail, don't put the recipient's name in the address line whilst you're drafting it, in case you inadvertently hit the 'send' button.
• I use the occasional smiley emoticon in my mails. So if there's a line that might potentially be misconstrued, the smiley creates the tone of voice. Don't go use a great big, animated yellow smiley waving its arms. Here's the one I use. J Simple.
• Don't get straight into the business matter of the e-mail. You would never just walk up to a client or customer and cut to the chase as it were. There would be some vestige at least of what we call a socio-emotional phase. A bit of chat that acts as the segue or link into the purpose of the interaction.
• What do you say at the end of your e-mails? Some people have just an embedded signature with their details. They finish writing and that's what you're left with. Make sure you finish with 'regards', 'cordially, 'best wishes' or something halfway civilised! J
• If you ask for help, do you say 'thank you'? I receive so many messages or e-mails asking for information, advice or a contact and 90% never bother to 'close the loop'with a little 'thank you' message or communication. Those that do, are always at the top of their game. Interesting, isn't it? It tells you why they're there.
• Do you only contact specific individuals when you need their help or want something from them? Don't. That's exploitative at best and parasitic at worst.
• Don't try, uninvited, to leverage other people's relationship networks to your advantage. Sometimes people will offer to connect you. If they don't, maybe it's because they're not comfortable doing so. Remember, it's relationship capital you're asking them to trade on your behalf. That's a precious commodity.
• Don't lay claim to relationships, friendships or to 'having worked with' people when it's simply not true. Don't do it. You will inevitably be 'busted'. The credibility damage that comes with that is huge.
• Do you conveniently 'forget' your wallet in your car when you're doing coffee or a luncheon with others? I know of one woman who regularly spends ten minutes scratching in the depths of her handbag in an attempt to 'find' her purse. Not OK.

These are just a few examples of inappropriate business social behaviour. The list goes on and on. Here's the bottom line: be aware of how you engage with and interact with others. Observe what you do as if you were in their shoes – maybe you won't be very happy with what you read, see or hear.

 

 

How to treat your speaker at an event

There's a time-sequence and often a 'value chain' of people involved in a speaker arriving at an event. So let's back-up to the beginning. Whether you're a private individual within an organisation, a professional conference organiser (PCO), a speaker bureau or an agent, then in the interests of professionalism, all, or some at least, of the following, needs to happen:

1. Don't book the speaker to arrive under the bell. I've twice in the last year had PCOs insisting that the flights they'd booked would be fine. In both cases there were airline delays and the conference speaking order had to be reshuffled. That causes huge stress for the speaker and the audience might incorrectly get the impression that the speaker didn't pitch on time. It puts the speaker in the invidious position of having to tell the audience, however diplomatically, what happened in order to preserve reputation. In the process probably killing chances of a re-book with the clearly not-so-professional PCO.
2. If you're collecting the speaker at an airport, make sure the person collecting them is there before the speaker arrives. If it's in a foreign country, this is even more important. If it's through an African airport, you may well wish to use the services of a professional, politically-connected individual to ease their passage through immigration, customs etc.
3. If the speaker's staying over, try to book them into a room close to the actual function room or conference speaking area. We schlep equipment. We want to suss out the venue, do a technical check. We may want to rehearse. A trek from room to venue is a pain.
4. If you can, have a 'holding area' for the speaker/s. It's nice if they're able to wait in a room with tea/coffee/juice and perhaps some snacks. We've sometimes left home at four in the morning! We get low blood sugar.
5. Protect the speaker on arrival from the person with a dyslexic god-daughter who wants a free consult on how she might be helped. Or the conference or event management person who feels a desperate need to jabber on about utter trivia when the speaker might want to get the mind into 'the zone' of a relaxed Alpha, early-Theta state of concentration and relaxation.
6. Don't demand that the speaker put her or his presentation on your computer. I make it a condition that my own machine is used. I've learned through painful experience. 'State-of-the-art' means different things to different people. My top-end processor notebook computer, with awesome graphics card and 2GB of RAM, along with the latest presentation software, will run all the graphics and fonts I need. I've seen dated computers turn the speaker's fonts into gobbledygook on screen. That doesn't make the conference organiser look stupid. It reflects poorly on the speaker.
7. Ditto with video files. They often don't export fully on a memory stick. Go with what will keep the speaker most comfortable. Insisting that she or he fit in with your tech infrastructure is a recipe for disaster. This should of course have been resolved at booking stage. But sometimes the 'techie' on the day will be a rank amateur, brought in on the basis of price or politics. I've witnessed a high-ranking German Ph.D. standing pleading for his visuals on screen, in front of 1 000 people at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. The techies involved had a little mixing desk like you'd get your son when he wants to start doing Karaoke. They hadn't draped any equipment and were 'testing' other speaker's slides during breaks, for all and sundry to see.
8. Put a fresh 9 volt battery in the cordless lapel microphone for the speaker – for every speaker. The darned things cost R 30 for gosh sakes!
9. Have enough microphones available. And in reserve in case something goes wrong – and it can and will. Having one microphone that you share'n swap, in front of the audience, is unprofessional.
10. Manage the time! No, you can't get 300 people to tea and back in twenty minutes! If you're not good at logistics, speak to someone who is. Don't squeeze the speaker's time-slot. Use RAG (red, amber and green) lights at your event. Green, the speaker's fine. Amber, she or he's got 5 minutes and red, they bloody well sit down. I got even the late Chief Rabbi of Johannesburg, Cyril Harris, to sit down when he got the red light. Be uncompromising.
11. Negotiate any scheduling change with the speaker. I was slated to speak late afternoon at a game lodge in a highly inaccessible part of the country. The preceding speaker literally got lost (clearly not a GPS man!) and I was asked to step in over an hour early.
12. Ask your speaker to be there early enough to cover such an eventuality. Many will be there early to get a 'feel' for the audience, to suss out the vibe, their sense of humour (or lack of!), their level of engagement, etc.
13. Give the speaker a name and mobile number to make contact on arrival. Make sure that phone is on vibrate or flash. It's anxiety-inducing to arrive, dial the number and get voicemail.
14. Professional speakers will have given you a mini CV or custom-crafted introduction on them. Tell the MC not to try and memorise it. This is not the MC's Andy Warhol 15 minutes of fame at the speaker's expense. The info establishes suitability and credentials for that particular talk. So stick to the script.
15. Include breaks for the audience. An audience dying to smoke, that is low on blood sugar or invoking the gods for a catheter because they need a loo, can't focus on a speaker.
16. Finally: Don't summarise what the speaker has said. The MC is there to thank the speaker, briefly, for the presentation. Not to recap the talk.

Published in SA Conference magazine August/September 2008 issue.

 

Writing Styles

The 'tone and manner' of business correspondence going to clients is something that receives scant attention in most organizations. Advertisements are usually subjected to exaggerated scrutiny, but non-advertising communication is often of the 'default' sort. This is bad news in corporate image terms.

Some thoughts which might help change this:

1) The old days of using extremely formal, legalistic or archaic language forms (it used to be called 'officialese' or 'legalese') are gone. This is largely as a result of e-mail, SMSs, teleconferencing, videoconferencing, movies, actuality TV, radio broadcast informality, development of the global village and the like.

Even the BBC - the last bastion of so-called 'Queen's English', has for years already showcased a plethora of regional and international accents along with stylistic and delivery differences. Even given the legislative and other constraints of some professions remember that good communication is simple communication. Slipping into 'ghastlies' like 'heretoforementioned', 'as per', 'your telecon refers', 'will revert' and such clichés should be avoided at all costs. Where the gravity or other implications of a communication merit it, don't use colloquial language if that's not your style, but equally, avoid sounding like an apprentice in Charles Dickens' writing factory.

2) Nobody speaks their mother tongue with phrases like, 'we shall', 'you could not', 'they have not', etc. We actually say we'll, you couldn't, they haven't etc. I'm not suggesting you start writing like this if it's not comfortable or natural for you. But natural, 'spoken-speech language' is the way of the future.

3) A good way to end correspondence, is not with 'Yours faithfully', but 'Yours sincerely', or even better still, 'Cordially'. If you know the person personally, maybe end with 'Kind regards', 'Regards', 'Warmest regards' etc. Even 'Affectionately' is appropriate under the right circumstances. I've even got to the 'Lots of love' stage with some of my clients, but heck – who knows, maybe you're not the huggy sort! E-mail tends to have introduced a brusqueness that is devoid of either salutation or sign-off etiquette – which is just plain rude.

The greatest communication compliment that can be accorded an individual is when that person's speech and their literary style are virtually identical. That's the highest level of communications congruence. Again, it may not be stylistically suitable if you're drafting a legally-binding contract, tender, responding to a proposal or confirming something that needs to be written in an unambiguous way.

However, when it comes to e-mail or newsletter-type communications with your client base, a warmer, less-formal but still dignified and respectful mode of address works better. Maintain an ethos of personal service, approachability, accessibility and humanity. Your business can still function very professionally while maintaining a personal touch. A natural, spoken-language style of writing in PR or business-to-client relationship marketing communications, is not only appropriate but desirable.

To quote verbatim the conclusion of a famous British politician in a letter to someone he detested…. "I remain sir, your most humble and obedient servant. (Like hell!)" Yup. That's how he wrote it!