When the “little
red light” went on… four times a show and sometimes three shows a day… I knew
what that meant. Time to be “on” and
time to deliver what we’d stirred up in a pre-show meeting about the day’s golf
or the day’s sporting stories. It was time to "SELL."
 |
| "Delivering" with Chamblee |
I’ll never
forget the time I was called in hours earlier than scheduled... to fill in on show at the last
minute. I was just off the golf course…
and the show was in less than 90 minutes.
That meant a real quick shower… a real quick drive in… and straight to
the make-up room. Handed a “rundown”
with no time to write a single script… I
remember telling talented analyst and good friend Brandel Chamblee… “well, we
won’t kill em’ with information today… but we sure can sell the entertainment
value!” We had to SELL! And you know what… we had our
best show of the week. All fun… kept it
light and really sold what we had with personality (insert joke here) and
energy. We still talk about that day. We "sold" that particular 30 minutes with everything we had.
In every job I’ve
held during my career, I’ve held
myself to four things.
* Give absolutely everything I had to the
job
* Do it with
passion and high energy
* Work to make
a difference... not just work
* Sell the product well and trumpet successes
Our communications
team at the LPGA hears me talk a lot about “merchandising.”
Probably more than they’d like... but I think it’s important to work hard
to deliver on key objectives or goals… and then work just as hard to showcase
the successes we’ve achieved.
 |
| Think "Big Picture" - Merchandise Your Work |
I don’t mean
brag. I mean celebrate your victories (in our case media or tour driven) and let people know that making a difference is worthy of notice. Seeing big results, motivates. Positive metrics move people in a positive direction. Television networks "merchandise" improved ratings. Companies "merchandise" improved profits.
We spend quite a
bit of time sorting through ideas and coming up with projects that we feel can
make a difference for the LPGA. As the
leader of our team, I think it’s important that everyone take “ownership” of
certain areas of our media and communication efforts. That means stories to
promote, events to promote, media groups to work for, and an overall platform
to build and grow. And each staff
meeting is a gathering of the team and a chance to look at our "scorecard" ... showcasing any key victories.
At the end of
the year… my goal is that we cross off things we needed to do to be better, but also to celebrate bigger accomplishments that truly helped the overall business. After all, who
isn’t asked for results on action items or key deliverables? And when we achieve something that people noticed... and amass a collection of successes... it's my belief that you then put it out there for people to rally around. It helps build momentum for your brand and creates "buy in" from others.
 |
| If It's Made a Difference - Show It |
Imagine that a "little red light" goes on for your team. The stage is yours to achieve success. Now, ask yourself
if YOU are working just as hard to merchandise your successes – especially those that make a
difference for the collective good of your entire team.
Thought for the Day: What we
do is very important. How we do what we
do is even more important. Are you working
to do something special?
Thanks as always for following this blog… and building the
audience month by month by sharing with others.
I welcome your thoughts and appreciate the comments… here and on
Twitter. You can follow me @KraigKann
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