David Koren

Three Great Quotes

Today, I happen to have come across a few great quotes that relate to marketing:

"You do not merely want to be considered just the best of the best. You want to be considered the only one who does what you do." - Jerry Garcia

I was interviewed this morning by a reporter for Oculus, the magazine and e-newsletter of the AIA NY Chapter. I used this quote as a way to demonstrate that architects need not to compete with one another, but to truly stand out.

"The best swordsman in the world doesn't need to fear the second best swordsman in the world; no, the person for him to be afraid of is some ignorant antagonist who has never had a sword in his hand before; he doesn't do the thing he ought to do, and so the expert isn't prepared for him; he does the thing he ought not to do; and often it catches the expert out and ends him on the spot." - Mark Twain, from "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court"

I found this one in a Tom Peters presentation while I was searching for the correct phrasing of the Jerry Garcia quote. I think it speaks adequately of the challenge of being a brand leader (like Gensler). The threat isn't the direct competition. It's the competitor who you don't see coming, the renegade.

"The short road to ruin is to emulate your adversary." - Winston Churchill

I'm a big fan of Winston Churchill, and I plan to use this one, too. Don't be a copycat! Do something different!

Paco Underhill and Presentation Style

I'm at Parsons School of Design watching retail guru Paco Underhill (author of Why We Buy, which I honestly haven't read yet). I'm writing from the lecture not to report on his content, which is somewhat what I expected--a talk about why people buy stuff, a topic I don't honestly care that much about.

I'm writing this from my phone in the lecture because Paco Underhill is one of the strangest presenters I've EVER seen (and I've seen A LOT of people present). I can't figure out what's wrong with him exactly... The room is divided into two halves with a central aisle. Paco keeps strutting up and down the central aisle, twisting awkwardly to the left and right to address the people over there, then the people over here. My first impression is that this is a bad presentation trick that some presentation coach told him to do, because he's a generally uncomfortable presenter, and people who are comfortable presenters strut around a lot.

But there was a problem with my thesis... He's not actually a bad presenter. His speech is somewhat lively and actually delivered fairly well. In fact, if anything, it feels a little pat, a little over-rehearsed. What's weirdest is the combination. This awkward, uncomfortable, forced strut combined with a speech that feels like he's given it 100 times. You'd think that, if this were old material, that he would have figured out how to present it by now. Could the strut just be some new trick that he's added recently to liven it up, at the suggestion of some presentation coach?

That's what I thought, until I heard something else... At first, I heard a pause, like he was struggling to remember the next word... like his word-for-word memorization of the script was beginning to fail him: 'plan my... menu for the week.' So, is this script memorized word-for-word? Is this just a performance? Is he perhaps animatronic?

Then I heard something else... 'We have new ne-necessities.' That's it! He's a stutterer! And this speech has been rehearsed significantly, first with a voice coach, and then, it seems to me, with a presentation coach.

Well, good for him. I admire his 'polish,' or, at least, his sense that in order to make a polished presentation, he needed to rehearse it to death with (probably) two different coaches.

I look at him. I look up at Paco, into his eyes. I put my glasses on in order to see more clearly. I look in his eyes, and he looks terrified. Despite the fact that he's strutting around the place, making large gestures, speaking with gusto. He's simply been rehearsed by experts, over and over and over. Like an animatronic actor.

But most people probably haven't noticed any of this. They probably just think he's a little weird.

That said, once I've figured out that he's a stutterer, and sensed that he's afraid to be making a big presentation like this, I find him empathetic and charming. He seems real and human in a way that he didn't before. Once I know the story, I like him more.

What do I take away from this? Well, I think it's important for each presenter to find their own natural style (and Paco Underhill, despite his growing prominence, despite his attempts to overcome his stuttering, hasn't found it). For my brief keynote at THE Marketing Event on Friday (see text below or elsewhere on this blog), I wrote it Thursday morning, and I rehearsed it once... at about 11pm, Thursday night, in a bar, for four friends. I wanted to do it again at home, but I ran out of steam, and felt good with my one rehearsal, so I let it go. And I think I did well... My words, written word-for-word as I talk, written 24 hours before the speech was delivered (so it was as fresh and topical as possible), then rehearsed once, in a bar. And it felt fine. It was fun. I didn't stress out. I was a little nervous, but channeled it quickly and attacked my material.

Another lesson here is that the more we know about people, the more we learn facts about them that make them real and human to us, the more we are able to empathize with them. The lesson is that we all need to try to bring our entire selves to everything we do, so that we are real and empathetic to those around us.

Now back to Paco's talk...

My Next Book?

Through the last recession, corporations and other organizations have been able to wrest tremendous productivity from the people in the middle of their organizations, the professionals. Professionals are now working in incredibly productive ways, utilizing technology to make them more productive than ever before.

There are still two places in which most organizations are not particularly productive--at the top of the organization (because people who lead organizations, for the most part, still don't understand the true potential of technology, and have not integrated contemporary technology into their working lives) and the bottom of the organization, as most people at the bottom of organizations are not "plugged in"... They're simply punching a clock, doing a job, biding their time.

But imagine if EVERYONE who worked for a company, or a not-for-profit organization, or an acadmic institution, or a government agency really owned the mission of the organization, really understood where the organization was going and felt like they were a part of it... Wouldn't that be unbelieveable? Just imagine if every secretary, every laborer, every clerk were plugged-in to where their companies were going, were real participants in the journey of their organizations. Their jobs would change, they would be happy, they would be able to grow and evolve within their organizations as their organizations evolve.

So... The next book I want to write is a book for the people at the bottom of organizations, people who hate their jobs and want to get somewhere, but don't know where, and have no idea how to make changes in order to get there... Something like, a book called...

'THIS JOB SUCKS!"
transforming the job you hate
into the career you want

Or something like that. I'm working on it.

My Introduction/Keynote for THE Marketing Event, November 4, 2005, 8:45am

Welcome to THE Marketing Event!

I'm David Koren, the President of the SMPS New York Chapter for the 2005-2006 season.

On behalf of the SMPS Board, our Professional Development Committee, and everyone involved in this event, I want to thank you for being here and being a part of this event.

We've never attempted anything like this before. And it's fantastic that so many of you have come out and committed to spending the day with us. With your help, I know we can make this event a huge success—for our chapter, for this community of marketers, and I hope for each of you personally and professionally.

The fact that each of you is here demonstrates a commitment on your part to your career as a professional services marketer, and it also shows a commitment on your firm's part to your development as a professional.

Let me just say a few words about what this event is really about…

Marketing in our industry is a tough job… for a number of reasons… Deadlines, lack of structure, lack of an established career path, and in some cases a lack of appreciation or understanding of what you do from your principals.

But marketers and the marketing effort is vital to the success of our firms.

Though it can often seem like you work in a proposal or presentation factory, the role we play—or that we can potentially play—is far more valuable.

Marketing, at its core, is a critical strategic function of any business. Marketing is about identifying where you want to take your firm, and putting processes and messages in place to help you get there.

In my book, the Architect's Essentials of Marketing, I half-seriously compare marketing to the FORCE from Star Wars. It's an energy that binds your firm together and enables you to get where you want to go. Sure, marketing has to do with proposals and presentations, but it also has to do with every interaction anybody has with your firm or its people—from the way the receptionist answers the phone to the way a project manager conducts a meeting to the way your voice mail system works. It's all marketing.

There's a quote from marketing guru Harry Beckwith that I absolutely love: "Marketing is not a department. It is your business." 

Given this fact, isn't it ironic that, as marketers, many of you probably feel like you live under an avalanche of RFPs, that you work too many hours, that you'll never get promoted within your firm, that your job and your life is just not what it should be.

The fact of the matter is that we all have it within our power to change the way we are perceived within our firms, and to change the way our firms think about marketing.

But if we don't take ourselves seriously, we can't expect the leaders of our firms to take us seriously.

We are vital to the success of our firms. We provide value in ways that the leaders of our firms can't always see. We are communicators. We are collaborators. We are strategic thinkers. We do whatever it takes to get the job done, whatever it takes to help our firms bring in business.

So, what does this have to do with the event today?

We wanted to create an event that would bring the entire community of marketers in New York together. It's great that you're all here. The group of people in this room is the core of the marketing community in our industry in New York. And, by extension, some of the most important people in our industry in New York.

Today is about professional development. And professional development is about more than just learning. Today is about learning, but it's also about building community. The people in this room are your community. We are your network. We are your peers. We are the group who understands what you're up against, the challenges you face, your role in your firm.

Through embracing and connecting with this community, we all become better professionals, and we can all define our own career paths by understanding the roles that others play in their firms.

For me, that's what today is about. Building and growing our community of professional services marketers in New York, and providing everyone in this room with a greater sense of connection, and a greater understanding of your job, and what is possible for you in your career.

That said, I have to ask, how many of you are SMPS members. Put your hands up.

Why is this important? Because the SMPS is the professional organization for people who do what we do. It's our club. Without the SMPS, we are just individuals who happen to do marketing for architecture, engineering, or construction firms. With the SMPS, we are a community of marketers.

How many of you are not SMPS members? Put your hands up.

We want you to join. We want you to be part of our club. We promise that it'll be worth it. There are a number of representatives of the SMPS here today. Please talk to them about membership.

Ok, now… Let me see the hands of the SMPS members again. Good. Now, how many of you are members of a committee at the SMPS?

This is your club. This is your community. If you talk to the many committee members that are here, you'll find (I hope) that they'll tell you that you get out of it what you put into it, that the value of being a member of this professional organization, and this community, comes from participation. That if you're active, you meet people, you interact, you learn, you grow.

If you're not active, you get a bill each year, your firm pays it, and you're a "member." But what are you really getting out of membership?

If you're not on a committee, join one. We've got representatives here from every committee in the chapter—programs, professional development, communications, public relations, membership, special events, sponsorship.

Committees are the engine of the chapter. Committees drive the chapter and push us forward.

This is our organization, and it can be whatever we want it to be. Committees are where ideas come from, and committees carry out their ideas. Get involved, grow within the organization, and be part of where we're going as a community.