Using the Media to Market a Business
Business Crises: Expect No Warning
Corrections or additions?
This article was prepared for the March 13, 2002 edition of
U.S. 1 Newspaper. All rights reserved.
Hiring: Finding the Hero’s Spark
The wizard knows. His NBA player picks will score an
average of 909 points a season. Those he rejects, only 367. His chosen
baseball pros will generate an average of 146 hits this year, compared
with a mere 71 by those players he turns aside. As Orlando Magic’s
General Manager John Gabriel put it, “This guy has saved us
millions.”
This wizard applies the same methods, with the same success rate,
to selecting the best salespeople in almost any field. How much is
that worth to you?
Herb Greenberg, founder of Caliper, the human resources
assessment
firm on Mount Lucas Road, has spent four decades in determining the
right individual for the right team. On Monday, March 18, at 6 p.m.
he speaks on “Secrets of Successful Selling: A Program to Ensure
Future Growth” at a meeting of the Institute of Management
Consultants
(IMC) at the Doral Forrestal. Greenberg will analyze the essential
traits of top sales performers and the optimum environment such
employees
require. IMC dinners are held the third Monday of odd months at the
Doral Forrestal. Cost: $60. Call 908-325-0095 or visit
Greenberg, a man who enjoys his work, begins an interview with a quiz.
“Now,” he says with a smile, “I want you to answer true
or false to these four questions:
I am a good leader.I am a responsible person.I am emotionally stable.I get along well with people.In this reporter’s most honest, job-application-review opinion,I answer true to all of the above. “Now, of those fourstatements,”he continues, “tell me which is most like you, and which is leastlike you.” This is harder. I take my best shot. He laughs andafter tearing my choices apart with Patrick Sweeney , Caliper’svice president of marketing, Greenberg explains: “You see, thisway I’ve got you to actually reveal something about yourself.”Multiply that little revelation times 180 carefully-worded questionsand you have the Caliper test, which elicits the content of acandidate’scharacter in a host of very telling ways.It was Greenberg’s relatively accidental discovery of how to evokesuch information that led him out of academe into his own consultingfirm, which now profiles candidates in offices in more than ninecountries(U.S. 1, October 29, 1997).Greenberg grew up in Brooklyn and seemed destined for a scholarlycareer. At City College he earned a B.S. in psychology and sociologyand a master’s in clinical psychology. He earned his doctorate atNYU, and went on to teach at Texas Tech and then at Rutgers where,in 1960, an executive from the life insurance industry approachedhim about psychological testing. Some life insurance companies werefacing an appallingly expensive turnover rate among their salespersonneland thought pre-hiring screening would lead to better hires.”I examined the existing tests,” says Greenberg, “andfound them barely worth burning. Most of the `sales performance’ testswere incredibly fakeable. Any applicant could instinctively feed backto the tester what he wanted. But most of all, they lost sight ofwhat real selling dynamics were and tested only for relatedthings.”Frequently such tests searched only for vaguely related traits, suchas affability or sociability, rather than probing for a driving salesspirit.Joining with David Mayer, Greenberg set out to build and market thenewest and best sales screening test. And like so many newentrepreneurswith the newest and best product, they starved. At last, GeneralMotors’Buick division saved Mayer and Greenberg’s new business from totalcollapse by offering them a contract to screen their new sales force.Greenberg says the testing he and his partner did for Buick resultedin chart topping sales.Today Greenberg’s staff tests 400 candidates every day for sales andmanagement positions, and for slots on sports teams. They choosefinancialanalysts for Wall Street firms, executives for Japanese corporations,programmers for Swedish tech companies, and professionals formulti-nationals.Greenberg, Sweeney, and Harold Weinstein, Caliper’s chiefoperationsofficer, have written a sales training book, “How to Hire andDevelop Your Next Top Performer.””The whole trick,” says Greenberg, “is to find anindividualwith the right core strengths and competencies.” He insists thatemployers should separate these natural abilities from the teachableskills. Product knowledge, specific sales techniques, even dress andmannerisms, are important, but they can be taught to any personflexibleand willing to learn. Experience, interest, affability, and a glibtongue also can come in handy. But without the core of sellingstrengths,the individual is going nowhere. Your next top sales performer willhave:Ego drive. Somewhere within, the good salesperson feelsa hunger. She hungers for that “yes,” whether it is closingthe deal on a car, or just getting the customer to listen to her salespitch. More than the money, the seller must want to conquer this sale.She must find in its completion a fulfillment of herself.Empathy. A good seller must be able to read customersand see their hidden agendas. What is this person really seeking toget for himself with these buying dollars? The salesperson shouldbe able to probe with humor and get feedback. But in addition to justabsorbing feedback, she must know how to make a tool of thisinformationand use it in making the sale.Ego strength. “I consider myself a pretty goodsalesman,”laughs Greenberg. “But for every deal I close, at least two fallthrough. The greater your ability to toss off rejection, the greateryour potential.” He estimates that at least two-thirds of thepopulation responds to a first rejection in a given field by quittingand trying something else.Job chemistry. Not every salesperson fits every position,warns Greenberg. If your company is number seven in the marketplace,then you definitely need that seller with the killer instinct. Butthe number one company might be better advised to find more of aschmoozer,someone who can take orders with a bit of charm. Also certain fieldsrequire certain personalities. In the pharmaceutical business, thehigh pressure deal closer is woefully out of place. Instead, findinga person who can knowledgeably and smoothly talk with physicians willlead to better results.Workplace chemistry. “Some people need to be strokedfor going to the bathroom,” says Greenberg. “They needmanagementfeedback and praise all the time. Others squirm and scream aboutmicromanagementif so much as a word is uttered.” If your entire business is veryteam-oriented, the independent executive will neither last norachieve.Within its Princeton corporate headquarters, a team ofresearchersconstantly analyzes and adjusts the Caliper test, which interestinglyremains one-size-fits all. The test administered to the Los AngelesLakers’ basketball players and the Maryland Insurance Group’sexecutiveteam is the same. Greenberg regards this as rather elementary, sinceboth organizations are looking for the same traits in their potentialteammates. What is more surprising, however, is that virtually nochanges must be made from nation to nation. Japanese computersalespeople,notes Greenberg, “may express their empathy differently, withina distinct set of social customs.” But whether Japanese or German,Canadian or Israeli, every salesperson must have the same corestrengths.Thomas J. Byrnes, vice president of sales for Avis, a Caliperclient, noted recently: “We have found that one of every fourpeople in the general population has better potential for sales than50 percent of those already in the profession.” Perhaps, as MartinLuther King and Herb Greenberg suggest, it is time forget thesuperficialand to make judgments based on the content of a person’s character.— Bart JacksonTop Of PageUsing the Media to Market a BusinessWriters hoping to sell articles to newspapers andmagazinesare told — again, and again, and again — to study thepublications.The same advice applies to businesses that want to grab some ink.Getting the company’s name into print is not all that difficult forthose who follow the cardinal rule and learn which publications runwhat types of stories and when they run them.On Wednesday, March 20, at 7:30 a.m. at the Nassau Club, the PrincetonChamber presents “How to Best Market Your Business Through theMedia.” On hand to provide advice on placing stories are AnitaShaffer, business editor of the Times of Trenton; GeorgeTaber,founder of Business News New Jersey; Richard K. Rein, foundingeditor and publisher of U.S. 1 Newspaper; Arlene Schragger,ads Public Relations; Mark Feffer, Tramp Steamer Media; andThomas Lento, Sarnoff Corporation. Call 609-520-1776.No two newspapers or magazines are alike. Even within sub-categoriessuch as local news, national sports, women’s issues, each publicationhas a unique formula. Figure out the formula for each publicationin which you would like to see your story, and you have a much betterthan average chance of placing it there.There are magazines, for example, that publish articles on newrestaurants,or private schools, or continuing education at the same time eachyear. There are newspapers that write about events before they occur,and others that write about the same events after they have takenplace.Each publication covers a specific range of subjects in a designatedgeographic area. One covers municipal news, while another covers onlybusiness news. One publishes a lot of Trenton-based stories, and afair number of stories from eastern Pennsylvania, while another onlyrarely ventures that far south and west. Look carefully through notjust one but several issues of each of your target publications toturn up patterns.At the March 20 event U.S. 1’s Rein promises to offer participantssome specific examples of great, not-so-great, and just plain luckypublic relations campaigns. And, since journalism is all about specialcases, Rein will tailor his advice to the specific circumstances ofattendees.But U.S. 1 also offers some general guidelines that might help anyoneapproach any publication. Among the U.S. 1 tips to PR people:Send copy before an event. Help us tell our readers aboutsomething they can attend. It’s fun to contemplate attending an event,even if you don’t actually go to it. Rarely do we “cover”an event that has already happened.Let us know about your upcoming talk. You have a messageyou want to convey to the Princeton community? Schedule yourself togive a talk somewhere, then send us the three points you think aremost important. People are much more likely to attend a meeting orseminar when they know that you have something to say.We’re interested in where you work. We don’t care wherepeople live; we care where they work. So when you mention a name orcaption a photo, try to tell us where that person works (job title,business name, and business site).Tell us about yourself. Yes, tell us what you are doing,but also tell us who you are and why our readers need to know. Senda photo if you can. Be sure to include a caption and date on the back.Write your own story. Weigh in with your own viewpoint.We may be able to use it as an “op ed” piece or a long letterto the editor.Include all the information. Release information: Includewho, what, when, where, how, why, and your phone number (preferablyday and night). We rewrite the release, so try to give us plenty ofinformation to choose from. Send backup material if you can.Don’t call to check on every fax. If your fax machinehanded you a receipt, we almost certainly got your announcement. Whenit doubt, resend.Write a letter. Tell us about any errors. Remember thatletters to the editor may get more readership than the originalarticle.Give your news to editorial. Don’t give your informationto the ad salespeople and count on them to pass it on. Give it toeditorial.Be aware that we can not print everything. Don’t assumewe’ll print your release. Death, taxes, and advertising are the surethings.Think about deadlines. Deadlines: Send or fax a note assoon as you know the date. We may be hours away from a deadline thatyou don’t know about — the decision on what to use for a coverstory, for instance. For the U.S. 1 calendar, the deadline is lateNovember of the previous year.For the paper, delivered every Wednesday, the press release and photodeadline is at least one week before publication. But if you missthe deadline, just send it anyway. We may be able to squeeze it in.And do not assume that any one day of the week is any more relaxedthan any other for a weekly newspaper editor. On the morning of March20, for example, you might expect to find a chipper U.S. 1 editorat the Nassau Club. His Wednesday edition would have been sent tothe printer at 1 p.m. the day before and he would have had all Tuesdayafternoon and evening to contemplate the great issues of the Wednesdaymeeting.But not so quick: On Tuesday evening Rein and the U.S. 1 staff haveto deliver the final copy of the 2002-’03 Business Directory to theprinter. Expect at least one bleary-eyed editor at the breakfast.Final point of advice:Write neatly. Keep it simple. Make it easy for editorsto do what you want them to do.Top Of PageImmigration’s UnderworldIt sometimes seems that, if they could make the trip,the entire world would live and labor in America. This past decade,nearly 2 million people a year have made that trip, entering legally,while an estimated 5 million slipped in outside the law. This is twicethe number of new Americans who arrived back in the 1880’s duringthe hey day of Ellis Island. Yes, our national parks are lovely andour equally lofty freedoms are attractive, but most of these peoplecome here to work.The employer who seeks to import new workers and strives to find themsome permanent situation with his firm encounters an Immigration andNaturalization Service (INS) system both boggling and Byzantine. Tohelp thread this labyrinth, the New Jersey Bar Association’s Instituteof Continuing Legal Education (ICLE) presents its second annualimmigrationconference on Wednesday, March 20, at 9 a.m. at the Gateway Hiltonin Newark. Cost: $199. Call 732-214-8500.This roundtable offers a roster of speakers from several concernedagencies. Moderator Neil Dornbaum, partner in the Newark-basedlaw firm of Rubin Dornbaum, provides the employers’ point of view.William Yates, deputy executive associate commissioner of theINS, explains the federal government’s position, while AndreaQuarantillo,district director, INS, and Susan Raufer, New Jersey’s asylumdirector, cover state regulations. Paul Novak of the VermontService Center answers questions about the East Coast INS sector.Deloris DeHann, a Department of Labor certifications officer, andBetty Manfredonia, New Jersey’s alien certification officer,also speak. A substantial portion of the day-long roundtable addressesindividual questions.”Employers seeking to import talent have a lot more to worry aboutfrom this current recession than the events of 9/11,” notes20-yearimmigration attorney Dornbaum. With thousands of unemployed Americanprogrammers waiting tables to fight off foreclosure, offering thiscomputer job to a foreign national comes under heavy scrutiny. Canyou really prove that no American could do this work?This is but one hurdle in a process that can bog down the hiring ofa foreign-born candidate for up to two-and-a-half years. Dornbaumticks off a list of immigrant work requirements that would daunt anymythic hero trying to wend his way through the underworld.Cerebrus of Labor. First, the foreign candidate and hispotential employer must pass through the three-headed gate guardianof the Department of Labor. It demands three proofs. First, can youdemonstrate that your company or particular business is not restrictedfrom hiring individuals from this specific country? Second, does thesalary meet the proper regulations, making it comparable with Americanwages? Third, and most difficult, could the position offered be filledby absolutely no American-born worker?Within the Cave. Once you are inside the system, the INStakes a sharp look at of the employing firm. A series of forms andexaminations discerns if the individual can actually perform the workoffered. Also, can this employer pay, now and continually, the wageoffered? Here is where the illegal pipelines get discovered. Shellcompanies that import unqualified laborers in to work for a few weeksbefore releasing them jobless onto our streets are sometimes found,and shut down, at this juncture.Winning through the other side. Finally, the searchbroadensto the immigrant candidate’s homeland where, in coordination withlocal officials, his work capabilities and citizen status areexamined.Inquiries involving legal problems, labor records, family status,and political affiliations are made. The more extensive a nation’sdocumentation and communication system, the faster this step proceeds.Because of this exhaustive process, coupled with the fact ofsubstantialAmerican unemployment on the lower job levels, Dornbaum states that”it is virtually impossible for an employer to bring in unskilledlabor for his factory at this point. The whole goal of the INS systemis to encourage the hiring of only those top professionals whose workwill promote the hiring of more Americans.”Dornbaum, a native of New York City who took his law degree at TempleUniversity, has spent the past two decades guiding these veryprofessionalsin a host of fields into United States companies. “It has beenreally exciting to aid in the process of bringing some of the greatestmovers and shakers into our nation’s workforce,” he says. Dornbaumhas done work for major pharmaceutical companies seeking primeresearchersfor new drugs and by several agencies acquiring employees “inthe national interest.”It is Dornbaum’s job to ease their path through state laws, federallaws, and regulations of a number of government agencies. “Thereare 20 categories with over 75 options under which a person can bebrought in to work in the U.S.,” he says, “but basically,work visas fall into three time periods.”Shortest term, and comparatively the easiest to obtain, is thetemporarywork visa. Lasting to 180 days, this permit can take longer to procurethan its time of allowance. Even for this visa, a strong preferenceis given to professionals with specialized skills.This temporary visa — a foot in the door — can be extendedto three years, with one renewal, allowing a worker to stay on forsix years if he proves valuable. Under even the best of circumstances,application for this permit takes 15 to 90 days.The most difficult, but most gratifying, is the permanent visa,lasting20 years and up, demanding the ever-elusive green card. Obtainingone of these, even with expert help, takes two-and-a-half years. Theprocess provides work for approximately 7,000 U.S. immigrationattorneys,double the number practicing this specialty a decade ago.The INS, with its funding severely cut, labors to process a mountainof applications. “I am amazed at how well they do,” saysDornbaum,”but don’t count on the process ever galloping swiftly in theforeseeable future.”So if you have your eye on a genius from Syria who would turn yourproduct line around, take a tilt at the immigration process. But ifyou seek just a nice group of programmers, perhaps you had bettertake the Department of Labor’s patriotic suggestion and hire American.— Bart JacksonTop Of PageBusiness Crises: Expect No WarningFor most businesses, the question is not whether acrisiswill strike, but when! It is virtually inevitable that some kind ofcrisis will hit every type of business in the next few years.”So writes Virgil Scudder, a former sports and news broadcasterwho heads up a New York City-based media training and crisiscommunicationscompany.On Wednesday, March 20, at 11:30 a.m. he speaks on “Lessons fromEnron: How to Handle a Crisis and an Ethical Dilemma” at the NewJersey chapter of the Public Relations Society of America atHeadquartersPlaza in Morristown. Also speaking is Doug Fenichel, ethicsofficer for the organization. Call 973-984-6184.The terms “Enronitis” and “I’ve been Enronned” havealready entered the vernacular. According to Scudder, every companyhad better be prepared for an event that will take some explaining.In an article posted on his company’s website (www.vs-a.com), Scudderwrites: “Crises come in many forms — natural disasters,productfailures, fatal accidents, disabling strikes, and massive lawsuits,just to name a few. Some are predictable and avoidable, and many arenot. But the way the company reacts in the first hour or two candeterminehow the public perceives the business and its products for years,or decades, to come.”He suggests that every company prepare a crisis plan —immediately.There is a natural tendency to resist doing so, but, says Scudder,having a crisis plan is just plain good business, and not having oneis flirting with disaster.He offers a list of what the media — and its worldwide audience— wants to see after a business disaster.A prompt response.Top executives ready to be interviewed.Openness and candor.Proof that the company has been acting responsibly.An apology if one is appropriate.Prompt, effective corrective action.Spokespeople who speak with knowledge and authority.There is no excuse or explanation that will do if a companyis not prepared to respond in this manner. Tip-offs that a companywas caught unprepared, says Scudder, include top executives in hiding,slow response, little information about the event, defensive behavior,and an attempt to place blame elsewhere.Any company chilled by the thought of contracting Enronitis must beprepared to avoid the slightest appearance of stalling or fumblingfor words should the unthinkable — but all too predictable —crisis arise.Previous StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
