Enjoy the wealth of making a connection

Making connections comes naturally for people who belong to Toastmasters,
including Ray Metz and Harold Vroman. Photo by Liz Cezat.

One of the most pleasing aspects of life is to make a genuine connection with the people around you. No matter what your circumstances – rich, poor, sick, healthy, young, old or middle-aged – if you can relate to people in a humane and compassionate manner, you are golden and so are the people you come in contact with.

The connections go beyond words; they encompass actions and attitudes. It could be an 80-year-old grandmother, whose eyes crinkle with delight when you tell her how pretty she looks in her pink sweater. Or an infant just 8 days old, whose tiny fingers grasp yours as you bend down close and gaze into her eyes. It could be a janitor at a shopping mall who is listening to a Tigers’ game that prompts you to comment about the team’s winning streak – bringing a wide smile to his face. It could be an agency intern doing on-site work at your corporate location who appears to lack confidence; yet when you tell her that you appreciate her efforts, there’s a glow of delighted surprise on her face as she stands up taller.

My grand daughter Ellie being held for the
first time by fellow grand parent Mike Schultz.
Photo by Liz Cezat.

These are small interactions yet they allow us the opportunity to practice kindness and courtesy, and show genuine love for each other.

Take a moment to really interact with people in your life. Not just family and friends, but strangers – people who seemingly are totally different than you. I think you will find that when you reach out and touch someone: with kind words, holding a door open for them to pass through, or simply smiling, you will find real treasure.

Give it a try and report back on your experience. Don’t let shyness or being introverted stop you – seek to make a connection with real people today and every day.

Would you like some art with your message?

Maybe it’s the art lover in me, but I respond much better to a message or article when accompanied by a graphic image or photograph. The interplay between words and images is a compelling combination. Each reinforces the other.

Graphics and photos add dazzle and depth to brochures. They make marketing postcards pop. Photos especially bring a story to life in annual reports. Graphics on websites underscore the intent and draw the reader in. It’s an immersive experience. Imagine you are walking into a forest. You see the trees (the copy) yet you also see the canopy (the art that frames the message).


Recently, I saw a special exhibit at the National Art Gallery in Washington, D.C. It was by Andrew Wyeth, an American artist (1917-2009) whom I wasn’t familiar with. I was with a friend who had taken art history in college and knew a lot about the artist (see accompanying photo.) I learned much from her shared history.

I relish looking at paintings and trying to discover the artist’s intent. Yet, I find it helpful to have a bit of lore to enhance my appreciation. Viewing the artwork and reading about it are both visual actions, yet combined they become a multi-sensory experience.

Andrew Wyeth, special exhibit: National Gallery of Art

As a communications consultant, I thrive when working on projects that require me to tell a story; reveal someone’s personality and passion through a profile; explain the benefits and features of a service; or make the case for a worthy cause that compels donors to support the vision. Much of these projects are copy intensive; yet there are ways to add an image (photos or graphics) that deepens the message.

Think of what these art elements (aka: visual information) could do for your next white paper. Many people don’t gravitate toward white papers because there’s all that ink on white paper. Yes, you’ll learn something but it also tends to be a rather tedious experience. My team and I can make white papers more compelling with imagery that reinforces the message.

Graphics alone: think logos, are pure visual communication. Yet, when graphics need to be paired with their partner: words, my designers are masters at adding perception to your message, stories and corporate reports.

Please share your experience about how the interplay between words and graphics motivated you or prompted you to take action.

Ramp up your business etiquette

From my experience as a business owner of marketing, writing and design services, I believe that business professionals in southeastern Michigan need to ramp up their Northern charm and Midwestern good manners when it comes to returning phone calls and replying to e-mails.

Small business owners and entrepreneurs are heralded as the job creators and courageous warriors of commerce, yet the treatment that we receive from many prospects is not conducive to business.

I implore those of you who ignore phone calls and delete e-mails that have a legitimate request behind them (aka: not spam) to ramp up your business etiquette. Practice common courtesy when it comes to replying to phone calls and e-mails from those who don’t work in your company and are asking for your business, a referral or a favor.

Too many professionals leave callers and e-mail inquiries hanging. If it’s a legitimate call – even if it’s a cold call for business – please have the courtesy of at least sending an e-mail saying: 1.) I’m interested, please call; 2.) I might be interested, check back (state a day/time) or 3.) I’m not interested, but thanks for asking.

Most astute cold callers for professional services will include an e-mail and website so you can check out the company before responding.

My clients, trusted associates and best prospects are not included in this diatribe. I treasure them for their business, assistance and ongoing support and kindness.

Those with high-powered jobs think they are in the driver’s seat. Yet, it often takes just one business cycle downturn, incompatible boss or market shake-up to be out of a job. The tables could be turned. What if you were looking for a job or business leads and no one took your call or responded to your e-mail?

I’ve already preached the Golden Rule to my kids – Treat others the way you want to be treated.  Now I have to remind the business community that it applies to their human interactions as well.

Rules of thumb for response time:

Primarily for VPs, directors, managers and those who need a refresher.

• E-mail pitch for your business: If you have the time and interest, set up a phone call to learn more about the service. Based on those results, if you have an immediate or pending need for the service, set up a personal interview. If the caller (perhaps a business owner or associate) is convincing and the online presence is solid, hire the company to take on a smaller job to gauge the working relationship and results.

• After a job interview: Respond to the interviewee’s personal thank-you note within one week (e-mail acknowledgement is fine). Respond to phone calls within three to five days, even if you don’t know whether the interviewee has made it to the second round. If in doubt, have your HR department call or e-mail the interviewee.

• Request for an interview for a publication: Respond within three to five business days, and set up the interview as soon as possible, keeping in mind that you may receive copy to review before publication (for non-commercial media).

• Job in progress with business owner or associate: Don’t let two to three days go by without responding to a job in progress. If you are dealing with a major personal or work crisis, or are out of the country, try to send a short e-mail or text noting that fact.

• Proposal in the works: It takes time to listen to the prospects’ concerns and write up a proposal for consideration. The courtesy of a response (“yes,” “no” or even “maybe”) is necessary to move ahead with the project, amend it or table it. Being decisive is an admirable business trait.

If you have pet peeves about business etiquette, please share them so we can all improve our game.

Can your internal team handle the project?

In the professional services arena, there are times when a major project you are asked to handle begins with the attitude, “I can do that – no problem.” But, over time the project morphs into a huge gorilla that dominates your thoughts. As a result, you can’t eat, you can’t sleep, you spend too many hours worrying about the project. It’s almost as if that big project is stalking you. Maybe it’s a website. It could be a major report designed to bring in new business or obtain additional funding. Perhaps it’s a marketing event or seminar – where content and branding must align. Maybe your staff needs to be trained in using social media to reflect well on your business or organization. 

Consider your team when starting a project.
Photo by Liz Cezat. Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ

There could be several reasons for fear (or inaction) related to the project:

1.     It’s beyond your scope of expertise.

2.     You have the skills to do it, but don’t have time to complete it.

3.     You are a team of one, and you need the right people on board to make it happen.

4.     You have no interest in doing it. It’s outside your comfort zone of capability and you don’t have the time or patience for the learning curve.

5.     You’ve done it so many times, you want “fresh eyes” on the project. That way, you can take on new projects that do excite you.

To determine how you should approach this project, ask yourself these questions:

1. Do I have the right tools?
       2. Do I have people with the right skills to successfully complete the project?
       3. Have I set a realistic timeline for completion?
       4. Have I outlined the essential action steps from beginning to end?
       5. Do I have a realistic budget for this project?
       6. Once I complete the project, what benefits will my business or organization gain
           from it?

These are the essential questions that can put you in control when assessing whether to take on the project in-house or outsource it.

Above all, be realistic in what you can achieve. The right approach along with the right attitude can put you miles ahead in getting the project accomplished.

You can rely on the services of Cezat Creative Resources, Inc. to handle projects without the need for a retainer. We don’t rest on our laurels. Each project brings out our creative genius. We typically bill by the project, and welcome projects that are used for marketing, sales, training, fund-raising and overall communication. Our professional team handles writing and editing, graphic design, photography, website development and presentations. Take the first step: www.cezatcreative.com

Do what you are “best at” for happiness and fulfillment

Photo by Liz Cezat.

The end of a year and beginning of a New Year is often a time of reflection and resolutions. When thinking about what to write for this special blog post, I had no inspirational magic bullet. Yet, lately I’ve been thinking about Ed King and his practical yet profound advice to small business owners such as myself.

King is a retired Wayne State University Small Business adviser who remains a mentor and champion for multitudes of small business owners. I took an evening course of his and it has guided me for years. During the course, he insisted that we, as entrepreneurs, spend the majority of our time at work doing what we are best at. He used an example: Dr. Michael DeBakey, the famed heart surgeon who invented a device that led to the heart-lung machine, which paved the way for open-heart surgery, and who was a pioneer in heart transplantation – to name a few of his Texas-sized accomplishments.

What King found most impressive about the late Dr. DeBakey was that he went into surgery and only performed the portion of the surgery that he did best. He had directed other surgeons – associates or residents - to do other parts of the surgery, such as opening and closing the surgical site. This permitted Dr. DeBakey to perform thousands more surgeries. In the process, he saved many lives.

In the business world, King related this example to that of a coffee shop owner who worked best in her coffee shop interacting with customers and creating new coffee blends. Over time, she became immersed in the ancillary tasks, such as running errands and schlepping big bags of coffee beans. As a result, the business suffered and she wasn’t finding personal fulfillment either. The reason: she wasn’t doing what she was best at. She needed to direct her employees to do the heavy lifting so she could spend the bulk of her time interacting with customers and making great coffee.

Think about how this relates to you and your life. Are you doing the things that you are "best at" in your work world – whether you own a business or work as a director, manager or employee? If you’re not doing what you love to do and do well, think about transitioning in the next year to work that you love. It might even mean reorganizing your work to spend more time doing what you like and delegating what you aren’t so good at – preferably to someone who is good at the task and enjoys doing it. See the win-win here?

What I love to do and do best is to write, conduct interviews and do the project management – whether it’s for print, the web or presentations. This versatile skill set is well suited to marketing, public relations, fund raising and sales. This year, I’ve discovered it’s also good for sharing knowledge with others by being a trainer. I plan to do more training in the New Year.

In recent months, I’ve been working with a collaborative team on an Internet project. There’s a real need for a good writer who can organize a website, write snappy headlines and succinct copy, and keep tabs on all the moving parts and the people – working together to create new programs. The driving force for me is not only to work with creative professionals who are doing what they are “best at,” it’s also knowing how the end product will be used.

What I’m discovering is that maybe it’s not enough to do what you are “best at” but also to find the reason behind your desire for using that skill. You might find that there is a person or people behind your drive - because that’s often the true motivator for wanting to use one’s best talents to bring new things to light.

For Dr. DeBakey, it was saving patients' lives. For the coffee shop owner, it was sharing her knowledge and love of coffee with customers. For Ed King, it was helping business owners become successful. For me, it’s about communicating effectively to inspire, teach, influence and motivate people to take actions that will either improve their lives or the lives of others.

As we roll into a New Year, I have a sense of pride about my professional skills and my ability to deploy these skills to make a good living. Here’s something for you to think about: if you are doing work that you love, how can you make it even better? If you’re not doing what you love, isn’t it time to head in that direction?   

How to get new donors to support your major initiative

Bring your fundraising goals down to earth through
targeted communication. Photo by Liz Cezat.

Before you try to convince new donors to embrace and support a major initiative, you will need to find out something about their beliefs. If you are making a presentation, you may want to invite people from certain work places, clubs or neighborhoods, based on a scale of attributes that closely match your existing donors. Think of cloning the persona of your most avid donors. If you are planning a letter request,  target the message in a manner that explores the initiative fully and also points out how this initiative speaks to the new donors' interests.

Let’s say a fundraising professional needs to raise $5 million to name an endowed chair at the engineering school of a leading university. That professional knows to address the topic of a new endowed chair. Yet, he or she must adroitly weave in the core message, "What’s in it for the funder?" Because the funder or donor needs to be moved to make a generous donation for  this program.

You, as a fundraising professional, could proceed to talk about how the endowed chair will improve the faculty’s ability to teach because they will have new tools and technology to do research and be better equipped to teach their courses online or in the classroom. That same endowed chair will benefit students because it will provide funds for the university to upgrade their science laboratories. For donors, funding such a chair will enable them to feel empowered about advancing the level of education at the university, plus it will mean a more educated workforce for the businesses that these donors own or operate. The answer to the core message is: "Take ownership in this educational advancement."

As a fundraising professional, you need to provide descriptive details about how this new program will impact not only the university but also the larger community. Create a vision through your words and phrases to make it desirable to new donors. Illustrate through technological advances and personal touch-points how it will improve the standard of living in a community they care about. While the technological advances of the initiative provide a macro overview,  the personal touch points can make a connection with a micro view. 

The tone of your message - for print or in presentations - is vital to the success of your campaign. Striking the right balance between the appeal and making it appealing can elevate your website copy, newsletters, brochures and annual reports for a dynamic impact. The right approach can ensure the success of your fundraising goals for a university, health care system or a community-based nonprofit. 

I have expertise in crafting fundraising appeals for case statements, marketing materials and community relations/PR. Plus, my writing is supported by professional graphic design. I welcome your questions to help you achieve greater success in your campaign.

Punctuation – when to use a semi-colon

While discussing punctuation isn’t a sexy topic, knowing how to apply commas, exclamation points (hint: rarely), single quotes or double quotes, and the ever challenging semi-colon can make your copy read better. It also lends a halo effect to your topic. The wrong punctuation casts a shadow over your writing and confuses readers.

Don’t feel bad if you don’t know all the proper grammar - it is easy to learn. As a journalism student, I got my wake-up call while working as an intern at the former Dearborn Press and Guide newspaper. The society editor (Remember those ladies who liked to lunch and knew everyone in town?) told me that my copy was full of errors. Being a young, impetuous writer, I thought that correcting poor grammar was the job of an editor. But from that point forward, I started to pay more attention to the nuances of the English language – learning how to spell words correctly and how to punctuate. My guides were “The Associated Press Stylebook” and “The Elements of Style” by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White.

Correct punctuation isn't as riveting as spring flowers
on a cactus, but it still makes a great impression. (Photo: Liz Cezat)

The best way to learn how to punctuate a sentence correctly is to read books or esteemed news magazines: “The Economist,” “Time,” and the “New York Times” to cite some of the best. You can no longer rely on newspaper articles since they cut the editing staff. I hate to call them out, but The Huffington Post has “shake your head” poor editing. Often times, when reading an article in HP or another online news source, you may need to change a “by” to a “my” because it appeared correct in spell-check (good technical cross-check) but neither the writer nor the editor bothered to proofread and correct the error.

Mistakes will be made; no doubt about it. But learning from your grammatical errors will build your knowledge base. I was working on editing the resume of a University of Michigan graduate and she didn’t know some basic grammar. I said to her, “Look, you need to commit this to memory. You can’t keep making the same mistakes.” Smart, educated people need to learn the basic grammar rules and apply them. 

After all this harping about getting it right, I’m going to provide five tips to keep you as sharp as an exclamation point.

1.     Commas – use them in a series (Example: She needed bananas, walnuts and flour for the bread recipe.) A comma is needed before “and” if the sequence of items is followed by  another sequence. (Example: He wanted to buy an umbrella, boots and a raincoat, and he also needed to get books, pencils and a calculator for his daughter.) Also use a comma if the sentence could be confusing without it or you want readers to pause. (Example: It was a fun, tasteful and successful event, and one that our supporters will surely remember.)

2.     Use of single quotes – Consider them to be interior quotes that are used within a quoted sentence. Example: Sue said, “I am so excited about the new iPhone that I told my father, ‘I would pay $1,000 for it.’” (Here, I ended with the standard quote mark after the single quote so it actually looks like three quote marks. If it was an indirect quote, it could be stated: “I am so excited about the new iPhone that I told my father I would pay $1,000 for it.”)

3.     The apostrophe (‘) – Use this for all contractions: they are= they’re; it is=it’s; we are=we’re; you have=you’ve; you are=you’re (… there are many more examples)

4.     Semi-colon – When two sentences are closely linked together, you can either make it two sentences or one sentence, joined by a semi-colon. It also signals the end of a series of items or a sequence of name/title attributions. (Example: He gave written copies of the report to Michael Mulligan, VP of Finance; Carol Spasek, Chief Information Officer; and Dick Black, VP of Human Resources.) (Example: The audits were impeccably completed; not a decimal point was out of place. It could also read: The audits were impeccably completed. Not a decimal point was out of place.)

5.   Exclamation point – Typically let the words do the talking (Joy. Peace. Love. These values are all that we need to be happy.) Compare that to: (Joy! Peace! Love! These values are all that we need to be happy.) It sounds hyper, doesn’t it? If you feel like you must use an exclamation point, use it only when it adds emphasis. (Example: Lucy’s gift of a trip around the world made her parents so excited!) Basically, it’s a once in a lifetime event to use an exclamation point. Only slightly kidding.

This blog post is only intended to cover the most common errors and bring some levity to the topic.
There are many online grammar sites that address the thousands of usage questions in more detail. Here is a sampling:

Commonly confused words (great guide, with examples of usage too):  http://grammar.about.com/od/words/a/UsageGlossary.htm

http://www.writingcentre.uottawa.ca/hypergrammar/pronouns.html

When to use commas: http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/commas.asp.

I welcome your stories about how improving your grammar has made a difference in your career.