Be You: Transparency and Authenticity

Hey there,

I’m here today to talk to you about honesty, transparency and authenticity.  If Gossip Girl teaches us anything, it’s that secrets don’t remain secret – the truth will always come out.

I’ve been working with a new client with an instinct to hide the company’s true identity, thinking that it could turn off clients.  Again, the truth will always come out so it’s better to be honest, clear, and ok with who you are as an organization, rather than being shady and evasive.

In the case of this client, it’s that the company is one company that has a presence in many local markets.  The organization doesn’t want to acknowledge that the local branches are actually owned by a parent company.  I say, own it.  There is strength in having one solid company vision with locals working in the local markets.  It’s a totally valid business model and customers will come because of the combined strength of the parent organization and the real people on the ground in the various locations with whom customers can form genuine relationships.

Today’s Sugar:  Boston University has had this “Be You” campaign which some people find silly but I really like – I can’t help it – I’m a sucker for puns.  This refrain has played over and over in my classes and I think it’s an important part of my graduate education.  Be yourself!  If you’re a company, be yourself, flaws and all!  If I tried to be something other than myself when I started dating my boyfriend, we probably wouldn’t have dated for very long.  He loves me for being honest, communicative and sometimes flawed. If customers call you out for doing something crappy, fess up, apologize, and try to do better next time.  Own your organization for what it is and don’t try to be what it’s not!

Establish Rapport and Trust in Five Minutes

It’s a snowy Saturday in Boston and I was up at 8 a.m., pulling on my wool socks and winter boots, and heading over to BU’s writing center.  This semester, I will be a writing fellow.  (I know, the title “fellow” makes me laugh, too.)  In today’s training, I learned helpful suggestions for running a 30-minute meeting, which can apply to any meeting with a new client.

Here are some insightful tips from Diana, one of my fellow fellows:

1.  People visiting the writing center are emotional.  They may feel scared, anxious, angry, frustrated, or demoralized.
2. Learn the student’s name before the session starts.  People feel important when you know their name.
3.  Take the first five minutes to establish rapport so that they trust and respect you.  Ask how the semester is going.  Find common ground and show yourself as a peer.  Indicate that you can empathize with their situation.
4.  Be aware of personal space.  Don’t sit too close and creep them out, but don’t sit so far away that the client feels distant and detached.
5.  Set the agenda.  Ask “Why are you here?”, “What do you want to focus on?”, and “When is the deadline?”.
6.  At the end of the appointment, offer them candy.  This ends the session on a high note.

Today’s Sugar:  Establishing rapport leads to trust.  This is a key to opening up a successful meeting whether you are tutoring a new student or meeting a new client.  Although your instinct might be to jump right in when you only have a few minutes of someone’s time, that time could be wasted if you haven’t first gained that person’s trust and attention.  As Diana mentioned, don’t ignore non-verbal cues.  Another key point during our training session was to ask good questions.  These and more tips can be found in the Ragan’s PR Daily article “99 ways to improve your business communication.”

Welcome to Public Relations Sugar.

Dear Readers,

Welcome to PR Sugar – a blog for public relations tips, insights, musings and inspiration.  My goal is to give readers a daily dose of sugar – a takeaway about the public relations field.  My name is Julia and I am leaving Southern California for Boston University where I will over the course of a year receive an M.S. degree in public relations.  This blog will serve as a way to synthesize all the information I’m gleaning throughout this year of PR discovery.  I am guessing that yoga, food, fashion and social events might crop up at some point too.

Today’s Sugar:  Be a Joiner!  When I first moved to Southern California, I didn’t know a single local.  I was both excited and daunted by the task of acquiring an entirely new social life.  One of the first groups I joined was the San Diego chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA).  As I now prepare to leave San Diego two years later, I have acquired some leadership and career skills for my resume, as well as the friendship of five successful public relations practitioners, the strong and savvy women who served alongside me on the New Pros committee.  So go out there and join a group that shares your passion – you never know who you might meet!