Business insights: PSPA keynote speakers provide do's and don'ts.

Three keynote speakers provided business insights and a dose of humor at the Professional School Photographers Association (PSPA) 2008 annual convention, held Jan. 30-Feb. 1 at the Renaissance Las Vegas Hotel, Las Vegas, Nev. Each offered strategies attendees could and should adopt, as well as mistakes

Setting the tone

How business owners or managers interact with their employees sets the tone on how they interact with each other and customers, said long-time educator and world-class triathlete Murray Banks. He opened the convention with his address on how leaders can enhance their performance under pressure.

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"What happens when we're constantly under pressure?" he asked. "Our personalities change under stress. Fatigue, stress, and frustration can change our personae."

Banks said it's the employers' job to create businesses in which the employees want to be a part. For owners and team members to be at their best, leaders should remember the following:

1. Who we are may be more important than what we know. It's not enough to be intellectually capable. "How we relate to people is what makes the difference. Through time, our staff becomes a lot like us," he said.

Savvy, poised, charismatic, professional, focused, aggressive, determined, and competitive--these are the traits of confident leaders. In addition, said Banks, "Great leaders are also warm, humble, fun loving, and compassionate. It helps in our businesses if we are schizophrenic."

Another tip he offered was to call your voice mail. "Ask yourself, 'Is this how I want people to perceive me?' The little things make such a difference in how people respond to us," he said.

2. Keep balance in our lives. "We all need things in our lives, such as spirituality, exercise, family life, eating right, and more. Things that fill us with joy affect how we come to work each day."

3. Have a "lava light philosophy," or realize, like the lava lamp pattern, business is always changing and is never the same. To get colleagues and employees to embrace change, use words such as responsive, cutting-edge, and flexible. He also advised, "Watch out for 'psychoscleroris'--the hardening of the attitude. When things don't turn out as planned, don't let the staff turn negative."

4. What we focus on expands; so focus on the positive, not the negative. Follow the 10/90 rule, he said. Spend 10 percent of time on the problem, and 90 percent on the solution.

5. Keep a sense of humor. "We're going to live to be about 80 years, but we're going to be dead a long time. So have fun, too," he said.

Making the presentation

Terri Sjodin of Sjodin Communications gave detailed information on "The 9 Biggest Sales Presentation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them."

"Most business owners don't think public speaking relates to them, but it does," Sjodin said. "In fact, 80 percent of our time in the field is spent verbally communicating.

"The size of the audience is irrelevant. One-on-one or small groups are just as important. The No. 1 reason most business transactions are won or lost is based on the delivery skill of the person executing the message."

Three main components go into delivering a strong presentation, Sjodin said. The speaker must:

1. Build a strong case.

2. Create and make the case come to life and be relevant with stories and anecdotes.

3. Deliver with authenticity; put the case in your voice with your personality and style.

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"We can be somewhat successful in life by just having one of the three," she said. "If we have two of the three in our speaking, we're quite notable. If we go three for three, we're knocking it out of the park. People like John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan had all three."

All business owners should do a personal inventory and evaluate their sales staff on all three components.

While those three are "do's," Sjodin covered the nine biggest "don'ts" salespeople should avoid when making a presentation:

1. Winging it insults the prospect, Sjodin said, and it is ineffective.

2. Being too informative versus being persuasive.

3. Misusing the allotted time.

4. Providing inadequate support. Provide stories and anecdotes, she said.

5. Failing to close the sale. The presentation should end with a call to action. "Own it," she said. "Don't try to act like you're not selling."

6. Being boring.

7. Relying too much on visual aids.

8. Using distracting gestures and body language. Videotaping presentations is a great way to evaluate body language.

9. Wearing inappropriate dress. In a business setting, conservative is best.

Growing the business

Business growth expert and closing keynote speaker Steven Little wrapped up the convention with "The Seven Irrefutable Rules of Business Growth: 21st Century Strategies for Building Your Company."

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Little stressed business leaders must evaluate trends and adapt to be a growth company. His definition of a growth company is one that has grown at least 20 percent each year for five consecutive years. Little has spent the past 10 years studying those companies and what they do differently. Based on that, he advised:

1. Have a strong sense of purpose. "This starts with you, the business growth leader, and permeates through the rest of the business," he said. "With any growth organization, the sense of purpose is never money. Money is the best fuel for growth, but it won't get you out of bed in the morning."

2. Have outstanding market intelligence. Recognize and then adapt to fundamental change in the business. Owners need to see change is happening in their industries, their companies, and their communities; and then proactively do something about it.

3. Maintain effective growth planning via a written, well-communicated, and continually updated plan. "This is the best predictor if a privately held company will grow," said Little. "Only 12 percent of privately held U.S. and Canadian businesses do this, however."

4. Evaluate customer-driven processes to see if they're strong enough and relative to the competition and the market. "We wouldn't be in business if we weren't customer-driven," he said, "but are we doing it enough?"

5. Embrace, rather than fight, the power of technology. We should ask ourselves, "Are we saying 'no' in our businesses, when 'yes' is not only the better answer but the easier answer?"

6. Find, retain, and train the best and brightest employees possible. "This is the most important way to grow the business," Little said. "Customer retention equals employee retention. Employee retention equals customer retention. They're inextricably linked and lead to growth."

7. See the future clearly. "This is where growth companies spend time and effort," Little said. That involves looking at population shifts as well as demographics. We can't predict the future, Little concluded, but we can analyze current trends for direction.

PSPA elects new officers for upcoming year

The members of the Professional School Photographers Association (PSPA) elected 2008-2009 PSPA officers at PSPA 2008. The new officers are President Harvey Parido, Bryn-Alan Studio, Tampa, Fla.; President-Elect Todd Wilbert, Creative Images, Stevensville, Md.; First Vice President Mark Schoenrock, Lifetouch National School Studios, Eden Prairie, Minn.; Second Vice President Bill Glover, Strawbridge Studios Inc., Durham, N.C.; Treasurer Mike Bell, Bell Photographers Inc., Ogden, Utah; Director John Mark, Mark LabDorian Studio, Spokane, Wash.; Director Robert Kerr, Royal Photographics Inc., Bethlehem, Pod and Secretary and Executive Director Ted Fox, PMA, Jackson, Mich.