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PM Forum - Nottingham
Influencing with impact
How can business development and marketing professionals put themselves in a position to influence fee earners? It is all about profile, presence and professionalism, insists communication trainer, Steven Pearce of Stephen Pearson Associates.
The event, which was hosted at Pinsent Mason’s Manchester offices, kicked off with the speaker urging the audience to ‘get inside the head’ of the fee earners that they hope to influence.
Steven claimed that the personal brand of marketers is not something to be taken lightly or ignored. He insisted that they must manage their own brand in order to ensure that they are perceived as an essential asset and not as an overhead. To gain this respect, marketers need to exude presence, profile and professionalism.
Steven demonstrated the importance of presence by highlighting the vast array of handshakes that you can receive – everything from the limp and lifeless to the sweaty and excruciating knuckle breakers. He noted that despite its simplicity, the handshake, is key to first impressions and that greater care in managing your body language can vastly improve your presence and perception amongst others.
Secondly, Steven claimed that personal profile has a major impact on perception, and encouraged the PM Forum attendees to become more active in surrounding themselves in a quality network of other professionals. However, a good network should not be measured by quantity only, but also by the diverse array of different professions and skills that it covers. Steven was resolute in claiming that this is the best way to develop business opportunities in any market.
Steven then moved on to the professionalism that marketers must show in order to earn respect. After a brief brainstorm, the group agreed that punctuality, reliability and integrity are key attributes of professionalism.
Finally, once a marketer has developed their own brand, he or she is in the position to offer subtle speed coaching and advice to a fee earner on meeting their professional objectives. The idea behind speed coaching is to generate credibility for the marketer and ensure that they are not forgotten in the minds of those that they wish to influence.
The first step of speed coaching is for marketers to find a moment to clarify the fee earner’s professional goals within the organisation. The marketer must then build resourcefulness and confidence by identifying with the fee earner the right qualities and resources that they will need and already have to achieve their goals. When reviewing the success of the training, it is important that the marketer refrains from criticising what has already happened and instead should feed forward and offer advice for future behaviour.
Steven rounded off the seminar by offering a range of useful tips to improve communication. His final message was that marketers should never ignore a feeling that they need to ‘scratch the itch’ – if an idea pops into your head, you should pursue it and see where the ‘itch’ takes you...
Alastair Henry
MC2
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