Smart ways to cut down on meetings
Meetings are a necessary part of office life. They can help your team reach an important decision, or build consensus on a critical issue. Meetings may also be helpful when you just need to talk things through as a group.
However, meetings can also be time killers. Here are some smart ways to reduce the amount of time you spend in meetings.
Create an agenda… and stick to it
Every so often, you just need a good brainstorming session. If it’s not one of those times, have a solid agenda for your meeting. Circulate it at least a couple of days ahead of time, and encourage people to ask questions or suggest changes as soon as they get the agenda. Don’t save these things for the meeting, or you won’t stay on track.
What should go into your agenda? A list of what topics you plan to discuss, who will be leading each discussion and how much time will be spent on each topic. It’s pretty simple. The bigger challenge is often sticking to the agenda once the meeting has started.
Of course, you’ll want enough time in your agenda for relevant questions and discussion. But if a discussion starts to veer off topic, it should be moved out of the meeting and discussed at another time. As the meeting organizer, it’s up to you to enforce this.
Also, make sure you start your meeting on time. There is no bigger time killer than spending 10 to 15 minutes at the beginning of a meeting waiting for all the key players to arrive. Start on time and stick to your agenda, and you’ll be more likely to end your meeting on time, too.
Invite fewer people
Does it ever feel like you’re having a meeting just because everyone wants a say on a certain decision that needs to be made? Even when that decision isn’t particularly relevant to their role. It happens to all of us.
You’ll cut your meeting time down significantly by inviting only the people who really need to be there. Others may be interested in what’s being discussed, and that’s great! We all want an engaged workforce. After the meeting, send those people a summary of what was discussed and what decisions were made, and let them know you’re happy to have their input.
Other times, you’ll find the opposite is happening. Somebody has a big decision to make and doesn’t really feel comfortable doing it without everyone else’s input. Most issues aren’t this critical. When each employee’s role is clearly defined, and they feel empowered to make important decisions within that role, you may find you need far fewer meetings.
In other words, don’t use meetings as an exercise in hand-holding or passing the decision-making buck to the next person. If it seems like this is what’s happening, try a quick phone call or one-on-one chat instead.
Try standing
Don’t hate us for this one, but a 1999 study from the University of Missouri showed that meetings are 34% shorter if you’re standing up (source). True, it’s a 15-year-old study, but we have a feeling the results still stand today (see what we did there?).
Try taking away the chairs during your next meeting. Allow us to state the obvious and say that standing is harder than sitting. People will be less likely to veer off-topic during a standing meeting, because they’ll really want to get back to their desks.
You might want to make an exception for the person responsible for taking notes during the meeting. And you’ll definitely want to make an exception for anyone who can’t stand for 30 minutes. But try this one out, at least once, and let us know how it goes.
If you’re looking for marketing and communications help, contact us at 416.925.1700, 1.844.243.1830 or info@ext-marketing.com.
How to use the media to build the profiles of your people and products
If you work in financial services marketing, corporate communications or public relations, chances are that you crave positive exposure from the financial media.
Being proactive will help you create and execute on an integrated marketing strategy that includes targeted media coverage. Here are some basic tips to get you started:
Step 1: Start with your market
Let’s say you want to promote a mutual fund company’s products or portfolio managers. Assess where you can differentiate. Do you have a fund that’s outperforming in a big way? A new product (especially if it’s novel in some regard or in a sector that’s getting a lot of buzz)? Does a portfolio manager take a unique approach to achieving strong returns?
Look for an angle that captures a reporter’s attention – something that stands out from the crowd and would interest the reporter’s audience.
Step 2: Understand the media landscape
The financial media is relatively small in Canada, which can be good or bad.
It’s good because you can know the key players in short order. Check out media outlets like Investment Executive, Advisor Group, Morningstar, National Post and The Globe and Mail. That’s a great starting point to become familiar with the writers, the topics they cover, the tone they take, etc.
A small media market is bad because you have the whole industry vying for limited positive exposure. The competition for coverage can be fierce – all the more reason to have a great story to tell.
The competition for coverage can be fierce – all the more reason to have a great story to tell.
Step 3: Clarify your objectives
As you work on a plan for media coverage, consider what you want to achieve. By knowing your end goal, you can work backwards as you develop your strategy.
For example, if you want article reprints available to your sales force as prospecting or retention tools, then focus on gaining media coverage for key portfolio managers or funds on a recommended list. Good press is hard to come by, so make the most of it when you get the chance.
That’s it! By following this simple formula, you can build the profile of your company’s people and products without too much effort.
For more ideas about interacting with the financial media, please contact us at 416.925.1700 or info@ext-marketing.com.
Walking backwards – a marketing lesson
What can walking backwards for 25 years teach us about marketing? Apparently, quite a lot.
Mani Manithan has spent the past 25 years walking backwards. It began as a form of protest. But as the years have passed he now finds walking normally to be a challenge and uncomfortable.
Face forward
Does Mani’s problem sound familiar? Trying something new – or something long-forgotten – isn’t always that easy for people in the financial services industry. As a result, it’s possible for sales and marketing groups to avoid the new and become set in their ways.
Maybe that comfort in the status quo is where the old adage if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it came from?
However, we financial services marketers operate in a rapidly changing business environment where it can become absolutely necessary to relearn how to “walk normally” just like Mani needs to. Don’t take a backwards approach – keep pushing ahead!
We financial services marketers operate in a rapidly changing business environment where it can become absolutely necessary to relearn how to “walk normally.”
Stop before you walk
So you’ve turned around to the possibility of change. But it’s important to avoid changing just for the sake of change.
Ask why are we going to walk down this path of change?
Think about the current focus on the customer-centric, advice-based marketing model for instance. It was born out of the proliferation of investment products. Those companies that weren’t prepared to change course – away from a pure product push toward a more client-oriented approach – may have found their messages falling flat.
Today, we face other great challenges and are, in turn, presented with tremendous opportunities. One example is the great shift in communications and how people receive messages from companies. Social media, mobile and more engaging digital options should be on every financial services marketer’s mind … and their to-do list.
Find a strong footing
There are a number of new ways to get your message out – microsites, infographics, digital flipbooks, videos/animated vignettes and all of the possible tie-ins with social media. Each offers a unique way to convey a message and value proposition – to tell your story – to new and existing clients.
If your clients and prospects want this type of communication, give it to them.