Former Blog of Eric S. Townsend » advice

Fear Can Lead to Terrible Consequences

etownsend — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 17:01:21 +0000

just overheard an interesting byte on fear via espn sportscenter. the father of the fallen georgian luger revealed today that his son was overcome by fear upon arriving at the olympic course at whistler that would later claim his life. specifically, he was terrified of the turn where he would eventually lose control of his sled. not sure about you, but this theme comes up consistently over the course of my week — though with far lesser consequences. where you allow fear to take hold, you become unfocused and commit less to the task at hand. the prospects for failure increase significantly. for most of us, what’s at stake is our emotional or financial state of being. we can recover from these. for some, fear’s consequence is far more profound and final.

Advice: Savor the Challenge

etownsend — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:07:58 +0000

wanted to pass along great advice from tony phillips of little rock, arkansas. i played football against the guy several times, and he was always a great competitor. “waiting for things to get better before taking action? things won’t get better until you go ahead and get yourself moving forward. the best time to start is always now. no matter what the outside circumstances may be, the most effective strategy is to get your inner strength revved up and rolling right away. if you’re waiting for things to be perfect, then you could wait forever. instead, grab hold of what is here and now. make positive use of it. excuses for delaying may be reasonable and impressive, but those excuses won’t move you forward. circumstances will improve when you make the effort to improve them. even the smallest effort is better than doing nothing. small efforts that bring results motivate you to take bigger, more effective steps. you know from experience that you can do what you set your mind to do. set your mind on the best of what can be. savor the challenge of making it happen.”

Advice: A Blog Loosens Buying Inertia

etownsend — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:33:56 +0000

below is some advice i gave to a new client of mine – a home improvement contractor: competitors have been weakened. people are nervous about which company to trust. the potential is therefore great right now for the companies who stand tall and strong. passion and knowledge are an extremely valuable way to differentiate. it works on your behalf to loosen the buying inertia. i know blogging seems fluffy to many in business, but it is a great tool for offering a hands-on, customer-first experience at a website. you’ll communicate that you’re the safer bet, that you care more than your competitors do about the work, that you’re the one with whom they should feel good about committing their hard-earned dollars. make sense?

Advice: Indirect Talk Leads to Fence Sitting

etownsend — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:14:54 +0000

was working on copy and design for a white paper picthed at executives in the financial services industry. below is advice I offered: i’m not wild about the indirect voice that’s taken in this banking piece. what do I mean by indirect? 1) there’s not enough use of “you” to address the address and engage the reader (everything talks about banking like it’s a sidebar for the reader – when it’s clearly not!). 2) there’s a fair amount of extraneous language to slow down the reader, which has the unfortunate effect of branding the company as long-winded and perhaps not action-ready (punchier text would better imply rolling up sleeves and getting down to business!). i’m guessing both of these are offshoots of the “academic” feel that the company has as a whole, and that the company runs into a fair amount of fence-sitting with business prospects who are down in the trenches. I know from personal experience that sales is difficult where an indirect path is taken to pitching services.

Advice: Don’t Forget to Breathe

etownsend — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 17:56:50 +0000

met a client for coffee this morning in rosslyn, va to deliver his debut cd in person – “dropping product” as i call it. i could tell that he was stressing an upcoming performance from the standpoint of “wanting it to be just right.” here’s my advice: don’t forget to breathe. fear momentarily slows or stops your breathing as it speeds up the perception of events around you, which causes a panic, which limits oxygen to your brain, which makes you function less than properly. breathing reverses the process of fear (and negative impacts like panic) and allows you to regain control of a situation. in baseball, you hear about the game slowing down for the best hitters – so much so that some claim to recognize and track the rotation of a thrown ball that’s traveling 80+ mph. here, past experiences and sound mechanics work hand in hand to simplify an event – which then make a complicated task easier to execute.

Advice: Envision Receipt of Your Press Kit

etownsend — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 17:35:49 +0000

below is some advice i offered to a client today – on the subject of how you want a client to receive a press kit. backstory: client was sending a dvd that doubled as a press kit and product sample. i’m pushing a formal letter, a product dvd and website with electronic press kit (epk). here’s my advice: the key is being nimble with your initial approach. you want new contacts to touch your business in a number of different ways out of the gate. you want the voices in his/her head sounding something like this – “ok, he writes a good letter…clear and to the point…the dvd package is hot – let me pop this in…nice, this looks good….oh, I should check out his website…ok, his website looks decent…cool, things are looking good…let me put this in the “a” pile (throwing your competitors crap in the trash)…maybe i should call or have my assistant reach out to eric to set up a meeting.” the website is key. it’s what your new contact will forward to other people. it should repeat or deliver digital “originals” of the paper items that were sent.

Advice: Focus on Common Ground

etownsend — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 15:18:26 +0000

critiques are a touchy subject for most clients. in marketing, we’re also taught that differences are what is most compelling. well, not always. i provided a critique to a young recording artist this week who writes christian rap. while i find his music promising (and the lyrics are less-traveled material), his response to my professional opinion(s) was not optimal. he’s caught up in the fact that i don’t praise jesus as he does at every turn, or refer to jesus in any way in my critique. here is what i shared with my client: I think my opinions are even more valuable to you because we don’t share the same world view. not everyone you come across will believe as you do. the world is both large and small – if you know what I mean. the internet has connected us all and it is up to us to communicate in a manner that underlines common ground or differences. the result is not the same with both approaches. when you’re in front of a sympathetic audience, then treat accordingly. when you’re not – consider how others may perceive you and what is a very personal subject matter. you can’t force it on others and you could potentially achieve the opposite of your intentions. you could isolate folks from what you’d like them to consider and/or embrace.