It’s extremely difficult to read a speech and sound as if you mean it.

For most of us, when reading, posture changes, the throat tightens and people can tell. Reading is different from speaking, and a different sort of attention is paid.

Before you give a speech, then, you must do one of two things if your goal is to persuade:

Learn to read the same way you speak (unlikely)

or, learn to speak without reading. Learn your message well enough that you can communicate it without reading it. We want your humanity.

If you can’t do that, don’t bother giving a speech. Just send everyone a memo and save time and stress for all concerned.

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We either ignore your brand or we judge it, usually with too little information. And when we judge it, we judge it based on the actions of the loudest, meanest, most selfish member of your tribe.

When a zealot advocates violence, outsiders see all members of his tribe as advocates of violence.

When a doctor rips off Medicare, all doctors are seen as less trustworthy.

When a fundamentalist advocates destruction of outsiders, all members of that organization are seen as intolerant.

When a soldier commits freelance violence, all citizens of his nation are seen as violent.

When a car rental franchise rips off a customer, all outlets of the franchise suffer.

Seems obvious, no? I wonder, then, why loyal and earnest members of the tribe hesitate to discipline, ostracize or expel the negative outliers.

“You’re hurting us, this is wrong, we are expelling you.”

What do you stand for?

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We all know the role that big business plays in politics and the influence large corporations have on government via lobbyists and donations. But did you ever consider that your small business could have the same kind of influence?

Of course, one small company cannot hope to wield the influence of a massive global corporation. But by banding together to make our voices heard, small businesses can make a difference. Sound too intimidating? Start small. For many of us, the issues that affect our businesses the most are the ones being debated on the state or even local levels.

Making your voice heard can start as small as working to get a zoning variance so you can run a business from home. In my area, business owners have successfully lobbied to get parking meters removed so that more customers will visit their businesses, legalize sidewalk dining to attract more customers to restaurants in a beach community, and change restrictions so that local coffeehouses can feature live music at night. You may not think of these as “government” issues, but these are the little things that make a big difference in a company’s profitability—or even survival.

Local governments are hurting for money these days, which means they’re thinking more creatively and are more willing to listen to solutions proposed by business owners. Once you’ve cut your teeth on some of these local issues, consider what’s cramping your business’s style at the state level. Is it taxes? Regulations?

Recently on my blog SmallBizDaily, politician and marketing professor Amy H. Handlin shared her 7 tips for successful lobbying. One of the tips that rang truest to me: Create a coalition. Handlin advises reaching out to other entrepreneurs who share your concerns, then educating more business owners about the issues so you can all be effective lobbyists for change.

You can also hook up with community organizations that share your concerns. This article on Business News Daily cites a business owner who joined forces with organizations from churches to the Boy Scouts to protest a transit project that would have required his business location to close. Or you can join an existing business organization that shares your attitude about political issues.

Another solution—run for office. One entrepreneur I know went so far as to run locally office this year (she didn’t win, but maybe next year).

Whether we vote red or blue, the reality is that government—large and small—affects all of our lives and businesses. Shouldn’t we have an effect on government as well? You can get more in-depth advice on successfully advocating for your goals by reading Handlin’s book titled, “Be Your Own Lobbyist: How to Give Your Small Business Big Clout with State and Local Government.”

From Small Business Trends

Making Your Voice Heard as a Small Business Owner

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The 5 Deadly Sins of Voice Mail

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

As a marketing or even simple communication tool voice mail is pretty dead. The telephone, a form of communication that has received only minor tweaks in the last 100 years, just doesn’t provide much to like these days. My perfect telephone would have a status feature, like IM, and transcribe all calls and responses and store them via email.

If you ever call me you’ll notice that I suggest in my voice mail message that you send me an email, so there’s a pretty good bet that if you leave a message the barrier to a call back might be high. It’s not that you’re not important enough, it’s just not how I work. If you’re calling someone because you have something you would like to sell them, then you better not commit one of the following sins or you can forget about a call back.

No reason for call

This is one of the worst. You call someone and say, “hey Bob, this is Sandy, give me a call.” Even if Bob and Sandy are best buds this one is a crime. There’s a good chance that Sandy just needed to know what time the meeting is today and should leave that info for one of a dozens possible ways that Bob can respond. If Sandy really wants a call back because she wants to sell Bob something, then this borders on silliness.

No value presented

When you leave a message in a prospecting mode you better get the recipients attention by mentioning something of value. Point them to an event, a free resource, or information that demonstrates you understand a vast amount about what they do and what their challenges are. I got a call the other day where the sales person suggested, “I don’t really know what you guys do down there but I would love to come over and spend half an hour to see if there’s anything we could do together.” Seriously?

No reference for call

Cold calling in any way, shape, or form is abusive to both parties, a cold call voice message isn’t much better, it’s just easier to delete. Spend some time getting to know who knows the person you’re calling. Use the vast data available in your social networks and find virtual connections. At the very least find a way to strike some common ground and suggest so and so thought you should call. It’s much harder to ignore a referral.

No suggested call back plan

Phone tag is a cruel form of voice mail torture and can be minimized by suggesting when you are going to try to call back or suggesting when the recipient can catch you. You can also suggest all the better ways, such as email, that you might be reached. This is particularly helpful when trying to move something forward without the ability to meet on the same clock. This is a place where the use of shared calendars like Tungle.me or Skedgeme make a bunch of sense.

Rapid fire phone number

This one probably just comes in as a pet peeve, but have you ever noticed how often people will leave long thoughtful messages and then get to the phone number part and speed up like they’re all of a sudden out of time. So now the person trying to call them back has to replay the message three times in order to jot down the number. Slow down when leaving your number and say it twice.

As an aside, here are some services that turn voice mail into text and email.
Jott Voicemail
Google Voice

and virtual phone systems that do many things
RingCentral
Grasshopper

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