Update MARKETING & CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT

Please Pass the Diplomacy In high pressure, global business environments where good is not good enough, where differentiation from the competition is critical, and where egos are complex, protocol and diplomacy frequently makes the difference.

Corporate Hospitality – greetings, escorts, flags, flowers, food and bev., gifts, seating, – establishes respect, demonstrates understanding, and strategically shapes the customer experience, creating the optimal setting for business success.

Protocol understands power, lives adaptability, and creates distraction free environments where relationships are built and business goals met.

Daily, Protocol saves executives time, money and reputation: •  streamlines processes/clearly communicates logistics •  controls budget through vendor negotiations •  armed with research, advises on and oversees cultural exchanges – diminishing opportunity for social missteps.

To Become a Great Corporate Neighbor Socially responsible leaders creatively weave philanthropy throughout the business experience. Here more suggestions for a cause:

1.  Replace floral centerpieces with items that can be donated – STEM-related robots and microscopes for schools, children’s clothing for families of wounded warriors, etc. Use place cards to note the intent. Our guests appreciated being part of the gesture and wise investment.

2.  Make it clear … help charities to understand your priorities and direct their requests accordingly. Help them to allow you to help them!

3.  Make it easy for travelers to carry. Hotel toiletries, neck ties, accessories, and socks always are appreciated by shelters and work re-entry programs.

4.  Instead of speaker gifts, make a charitable donation in the name of all of your speakers.

5.  Make it easy for your team to get involved. If they can’t get out of the office, bring the opportunities to them and communicate well!

In 2016, at the company’s three-day, Senior Leaders Meeting, 40 ten-tops featured a dog bowl each, filled with toys and treats from the Hero Dogs wish list. These items were used to train and prepare therapy dogs for new homes with Wounded Warriors.

What do we live for if not to make life less

difficult for each other? -George Elliot

MOR E

CUSTOMER FIRST, here and abroad.

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MARKETING SALES

Internal Sales: Keeping Customers Top of Mind

Soft skills SMEs in hard skills businesses spend every day selling up and down the organization. Because smart people with great products can get lost in their solutions, protocol sells the bottom-line benefits of demonstrating respect and understanding.

Developing targeted cultural information and briefing instruction distributed over easy to use , well managed and maintained websites provides critical messaging at leaders’ fingertips.

The Reviews Are In…Kelly Receives Top Marks from Managers!

- One of the most valuable training experiences of my 10+ year career.

- This section was AWESOME! I thoroughly enjoyed the presentation and the hands on protocol luncheon was fun and educational. We were told we could have had a dinner with executive speaker, but I much preferred that we had the lunch with Kelly. She is very knowledgeable and an engaging presenter.

- Best ever!

- One of my favorite parts of the class!!! Fantastic speaker and teacher! Hugely entertaining speaker- really engaging and great use of props.

- An innovative way to teach, and I applaud Ms. Harris

Whether small talk, continental dining, customer engagement protocols, gifting (ideas and laws), presentations, or the Middle East 101, training became one of the best sales tools in my tool box. Not only was I able to effectively share information audiences remembered, I positioned myself and my fellow protocol SMEs as the go-to source for micro-customer relations. If customers were involved, so was this team – period.

Over nine years I trained over 5,000 leaders – CEOs, vice presidents, young rising star managers. Consistently a top-rated presenter, I repeatedly was asked to prepare our brilliant employees to… •  successfully engage with our customers, •  remind the team of the human beings on the other side of the negotiating table, •  and emphasize the value of placing the customer before our products and solutions.

In The Job Jar: Firefly Consulting, LLC Igniting Customer Experiences

ACE: Author / Contributor / Editor •  U.S. Government Orals (briefing) Primer; •  U.S. Military Customer Protocol and Customer Relations Briefs, •  U.S. and International cultural briefs • Customer Relations Handbook • Engagement Tactics • Protocol descriptions and overviews

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During the planning phase of your presentation, always remember, it’s not about you. It’s about them. -Carmine Gallo, The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs

If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough. -Albert Einstein

TRAINING THE PRO’S