PLAIN, PURE AND SIMPLE

There’s hope in them words.

In the past 12 months or so, the likes of former SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt, research from fund manager Invesco, and various and sundry media have pointedly – and poignantly – argued for the use of plain language.  In everything.

No one individual, no one corporation is immune.  Bloomberg BusinessWeek dove into the intricacies of Goldman Sachs’ rules for communication.  [Who could resist this one:  “Each individual’s correspondence must be sampled no less often than annually”?]

Financial advisers were another target.  Corporate mission statements received another volley of “please simplify.”  And Levitt took his once-and-future colleagues to task for using Wall Street-ese.

All these op-eds make us happy.  Most communicators and designers are, by instinct and by training, advocates of the strategically plain.  But where’s the reinforcement for great writing behaviors?  What’s the overall plan for change?

Once upon a time, the reward for best prose was bigger and better attention, which translated into book sales, media readership, even Internet visits.  Today, those incentives don’t work; bigger and better attention goes to Lady Gaga and Justin Beiber.

Maybe change for plain starts at the grassroots, with some simple tools put into the hands of influencers and agitators.  It could be a five-point checklist, inserted into brochures and annual reports, pasted on explanatory packaging.  Readers and consumers fill out that card, returning it to the originator.  Additional pennies per purchase or per stock share are given to those companies excelling in streamlined (and comprehensible) words.

Or for quick returns, how about a national award, with Hollywood-ish publicity, celebrity presenters, and re-tweets for the best non-advertising copy in different categories?  The statue would, of course, be called Mark, after author Twain who said he would never “write ‘metropolis’ for seven cents when I can write ‘city’ and get paid the same.”  A road show, then, would forever cure winners of using more than three-syllable words. 

Psst:  Brangelina, you busy?

ABCs* WE NEED TO MASTER

The days of Willy Loman are gone.  Long gone.

Along with, we hope, Ricky Ross and his colleagues from Glengarry Glen Ross.

Yet Arthur Miller and David Mamet’s plays continue to be revived year after year.

Perhaps it’s because today’s sales pro is still a breed apart.  These highly skilled practitioners live for meetings, listen with care, present dynamically, overcome objections, excel at negotiations, and drive for the deal.  Rightfully so, their contributions to the bottom line can be easily calculated. 

Many of us might not immediately accept that selling has become part of our job portfolios.  “Not my competency,” we’ll say.  Or simply sidestep the issue, knowing that handling rejection and mastering cold calls is integral to success.

Wait.  Ever accompany your deal-making counterparts to a prospect or new client meeting?  If you have, no doubt you’ve noticed a few similarities:

• Preparation is first and in-depth, well before the initial meeting.
• They ask great questions – and listen hard to the answers.
• Their to-the-point presentations zero in on benefits and value added.

Which is what we do.  Or should do.

To aspire to become trusted advisors in marketing, in branding, in design, in communications, we need to think about, first, when we sell – and second, how well we do it.   How often have you negotiated for more resources or a longer lead time?  When advocating that a new tool be implemented, do you develop a business case to present for leadership buy-in?  Are you comfortable with an “ask” of any kind?

Selling is now a science, with rigorous processes to adopt.  A few dozen business schools offer courses.  More than a handful of companies and coaches specialize in teaching industry-specific skills – to those working in professional services, within healthcare, for high tech.  Our consulting friends and colleagues have gone through innumerable strategic selling sessions to better their client skills.

It happens every day, in email, on the phone, with a presentation.  Are you ready?      

*Otherwise known as Always-Be-Closing.

COMM-CENSUS

Waahh!

The cries you hear are coming from the Midwest, which, says the U.S. Census, is no longer the heartland.  Instead, metro areas increased by nearly 11 percent over the last 10 to 12 years, as did western and southern regions.

Some other numbers that count:

• Latinos, along with a more concentrated Asian upswing, lead the people growth surge by major margins – like 65 percent in Texas, 55 percent in Florida, and, yes, nearly half the increase in Arizona and Nevada.  [That’s not so good for the GOP.]

• City hoods have become more integrated, with the most prominent example being Atlanta.  [That’s great news for promoting the U.S. of A. as a true melting pot.]

Other drool-worthy stats for demographers and psychographers range from Detroit’s “credit negative” status (a 25 percent decline) to the year 2041, the so-called date for the “majority minority” switch in this country.  [Translation:  At that time, whites of European ancestry will make up less than 50 percent of the population.]

We could spend even more time pondering the population shifts and transitions.  What becomes crystal clear to us, in our professional roles as chief communicators and change mavens, are the implications to our work (not to mention the companies we work for). 

A few of our top-of-mind thoughts: 

• Families and personal life take center stage, with policies and advertising and communications reflecting that focus.

• Diversity gets real.   Nope, not a simple nod to mixing color and gender.  Rather, language and visuals and behaviors become keenly attuned to everyone’s needs and inclinations. 

• Words and pictures matter.  Partnering with human resources experts, draw up different kinds of guides that segment and introduce messages and design and translations that will resonate with the various employee populations. 

• Internal and social-media communities will form naturally, gravitating towards like-minded colleagues who share specific values, yet welcoming other more diverse individuals and teams.

Is this a vision, an evolution, or a brand-new world? 

THE ART OF THE ONE-PAGER

You would think that a society consumed with 140 characters and all types of texting abbreviations would have mastered succinct-ness.

Not so much.

Ever sat through PowerPoint presentations  that drone on and on and on?  Or suffered through meetings that, somehow, misplaced their agenda?   And waded through mounds of non-legal documents to try to uncover the one or two salient points needed to move the project ahead?

It is difficult, we admit, to filter all the information from our inboxes, our business conversations, our RSSs, our regular subscriptions, our podcasts and vodcasts (not to mention the drive-time radio) into one compelling message or outcome for our latest work project. 

Numbers are proof of our lives’ (and our thinking) complexity.   For instance:  Every two days more information is created than between the dawn of civilization and 2003.  

When that happens to us, we resort to diagrams and drawing.  And dumping our minds and insights on one (and only one) 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of paper.  Now, we’re not talking “drawing” in terms of Michelangelo, but rather in the use of shapes and figures similar to what we did in grade school.  In fact, anyone – even without a design bone in their pinky – can produce a one-pager.

Where to start:  Ask yourself about the end of your project, what you want to accomplish.  The results, in short.  Begin with a picture (in stick figures, if you’d like) of the “end.”  What will the company do differently?  Your team?  Other audiences?  What will the impact(s) be on all these varying groups and sectors and industries?

Those musings, we suspect, can be captured in a few bullets or phrases. 

Then, track back to the beginning and plot your progress. Like Monopoly, you’ll need to begin at “go,” what consultants call “current state.”   Select circles or arrows or any two-sided shape to show the two or three previous phases that need to occur before arriving at desired results.  Insert, again, a few bullet points for each shape.  Expect to explain only enough to have readers/viewers/listeners understand your journey.  And applaud.

AN Rx FOR DISTRACTION-ITIS

Everyone these days has some form of the distraction disease. 

It’s manifested through multi-tasking, reminders to “be in the moment,” and marked (or disguised) inattention to directions.  It’s further demonstrated by our focus on all the wrong syllables and cloud-thinking while in the midst of other activities. 

Before you bristle and say “that’s not me,” answer a few questions:

• How many times have you checked text or email while idling at a stoplight?
• Do you ever turn off, shut down, or otherwise ignore your constant e-companion … or not answer your cell?
• How often do you wake up from a sound sleep to capture an idea – yes, on paper – at your bedside?

Yeah, you got it:  Distraction-it is.  As do we.  What’s more, our attention span for even leisurely reading or movie watching tends to get shorter and shorter.

To be honest, it’s really not our problem.  Just the issue of those colleagues who insist on conducting long meetings and require that way-too-lengthy documents be absorbed.

For those managers, we have the panacea:  Serializing.  Or breaking up subject matters into discrete information chunks that we can digest while (okay) completing other tasks.  Charles Dickens wrote and published his novels in magazines, chapter by chapter.  Soap operas and TV sitcoms/rom coms and dramas are, in essence, video serials; we tune in to our weekly 30- or 60-minute fix of Mad Men, Modern Family, and the erudite Masterpiece Theatre, among other sequential stories. 

All hold our attention, captivate it even.  Water cooler talk swirls around Lord Grantham’s valet Mr. Bates and his “imprison-hood,” or if the HBO series Luck with Dustin Hoffman as ”Ace” Bernstein will ever return. 

Why not, then, embrace the serial?  A story told well will resonate – and, at least, be remembered.  New hires would have access to the series’ “bible” that lists facts and figures, introduces protagonists and antagonists for consistency.  It’s available in any medium.  [Obviously, the shorter, the better.]  It could feature a prequel, a sequel, and, in years to come, revivals.  It spotlights distinctive personalities to care about.  Installments make easy engagements – and cliffhangers, compelling. 

Compared to the daily deluge of emails and PowerPoints and conference calls and meetings, we’d welcome these words:  “Please sir, I want some more.”