Invest in Professional Development for Better Service
Investing in professional development and continuing education is critical for professionals who want to enhance their skills. It’s also a necessity for better client service. This belief reminds me of a favorite and well-known quotation from poet William Butler Yeats: “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” To me, this quotation captures that education isn’t static. It’s not something that stops when school ends. Education is a life-long effort and one that requires ongoing work. As professionals, we have a variety of professional development and educational opportunities available to us, especially in the form of professional certifications. Whether working at an agency and serving clients externally or in-house and collaborating with internal stakeholders, professional certifications showcase your commitment to your profession and demonstrate that you continue to hone and refine your craft, which in turn benefits internal and external clients.
Negotiation is a valuable business and communication skill for any professional. Negotiating with someone else doesn’t just happen in an office or a boardroom sitting across a table from someone else. We are constantly negotiating as we navigate our daily lives at work and home. Sure, different situations require distinct negotiation and communication tactics and the stakes vary widely from one negotiation to the next, but the core principles of the best negotiators stay the same. That’s one of the key lessons learned last week at the annual conference of the Society of Marketing Professional Services’ Virginia Chapter. There were a number of insightful presentations with great takeaways, but the one that stood out the most was “The Cartography of Negotiation” by Scott Wayne of The Frontier Project. Scott outlined tools and tips to enhance your negotiating skills. Here are my three biggest lessons:
It’s only February and 2017 has already been a wild year for marketing professionals! From fake news to ongoing disruptions in how people consume information, the communications landscape remains challenging. Despite the many hurdles, opportunities abound and there are exciting new ways to reach your target audience in an engaging manner. But, what really works and how do you manage it?
Last week, Orlando became the hub of the home design and residential real estate industry. The National Association of Home Builder’s annual joint convention — in conjunction with the national association of the kitchen and bath industry — attracted over 80,000 attendees to the Orange County Convention Center. This year’s International Builders’ Show highlighted the latest in new home design and development. Although the building sector is in the midst of a nice upswing, there remains a great deal of disruption, primarily from demographic shifts and new technology that impacts how homes are built and bought. The International Builders’ Show offered a week of education sessions, networking, and a sneak peak at the latest home design and construction trends. The show offered a great deal of insights for any professional or company connected to the new home, multifamily, and 55+ sectors. Here are our top five takeaways from the show:
More and more home buyers are using the Internet and social media to help them make decisions throughout the buying process. Looking for new ways to connect with buyers, home builders and even new home developer should take advantage of the most popular visual social platform: 
When the term crisis is used, one thinks almost immediately of a negative situation or scenario. An oil spill, fraud, and internal scandals are all good examples of crises. As many PR and communications professionals understand, a crisis calls for a specific and unique plan. Whether in the pre-crisis, crisis, or post-crisis phase, there are targeted strategies that organizations rely on. The Institute for Public Relations has one of the best primers on 