Tweak Your Flash

By Thomas E. Beames, Jr.

You want a different perspective on old ideas. Youre open to a new way of thinking about your business, and youd like to be creatively provoked. Perhaps youve hit a roadblock in your communications, or you want something entertaining but relevant to help you see your career through another lens.
Tweak Your Flash is simply about perspective; viewing your surroundings from a different angle will uncover nuances that otherwise go unnoticed. Looking at how a bird approaches a landing, or why a day with a favorite uncle holds such fond memories, can be applied to your professional life and make you more effective and fulfilled in your work.
This is a book to be read and used over time; keep it handy, and reference it every now and then. Accepting for a moment that youre not as good at your job as youll ever be, use these ideas to ensure youre flashing the right message, at the right frequency, to the right people.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 7, 2012
• ISBN: 9781469190990

Thomas E. Beames, Jr.

Tom Beames has spent the full span of his twenty-five year career in the sales and marketing of financial services, specializing in the positioning and personal branding of client advisors and specialists. He has strengthened team dynamics, motivated sales and service professionals to greater productivity, and served as coach and mentor to individuals looking to improve their presence as well as their performance. He has developed product launches, communication strategies, and marketing materials, and created and facilitated training courses for both new and seasoned employees. He has been requested to speak at numerous conferences on such topics as leadership and personal branding, and "Tweak Your Flash" represents his unique perspectives on sales and relationship management, as well as an enjoyable lens through which to view them. In addition to enjoying time with his wife and two daughters, he pursues sailing, skiing, and cycling when he is not supporting his favorite charitable organizations or walking on the beach with his collie Tobey.

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Copyright © 2012 by Thomas E. Beames, Jr.

ISBN:          Softcover                                 978-1-4691-9098-3

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4691-9099-0

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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Xlibris Corporation

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Contents

Summary

Dedication

Chapter 1

Communication Clarity

Back to You in the Studio

Boston Was a BAND?

Comma’s, Apostrophe’s, and the Past Pluperfect Tense

Dial Tones and Mute Buttons

Lane Ends, Merge Right

Two Over Easy and A Side of Bacon

Was it a Thunk or a Thud?

Questions and Notes

Chapter 2

Planning

Border Pieces

Charts and Sandbars

Do Not Top Off

Sit Up Straight!

Questions and Notes

Chapter 3

Standout Service

12 Pictures and Your Birthday

At The Sound of the Beep

The Most Dangerous Tool

Nellybel

Shave and Haircut, 2 Bits

Socks

Questions and Notes

Chapter 4

Value, Not Price

I Don’t Look at my Bill Till the Cable Goes Out

A Small is a Small

Tip Jar

$12 and a Great Lesson

Questions and Notes

Chapter 5

Attitude

Clean The River

Lois Lane

Pop Tarts and Crunches

Questions and Notes

Chapter 6

Active Listening

The Malachi Crunch

What, How, and WHY

Skylines and Voiceovers

Questions and Notes

Chapter 7

Setting Expectations

But You PROMISED!

Vegetable SOAP?

Walkway Ends

Questions and Notes

Chapter 8

Personal Branding

Birds Don’t Miss

A Dog At Nathan’s With Uncle Louie

Your Password Doesn’t Match Our Records

We

Knob or Lever?

Menu on Other Side

Questions and Notes

Chapter 9

Comfort Zone

Bumpy Head

Middle C

Questions and Notes

Chapter 10

Relationship Building

Housekeeping!

Let It Snow!

Hey, That’s New

Questions and Notes

Chapter 11

Advising

That’s Just the Way We’ve Always Done It

Where The Heck Is Dunn, NC?

The Right Stuff

Our Specials This Evening

Questions and Notes

Chapter 12

Teamwork

It’s A Bird, It’s A Plane, It’s Superglue!

Humankind’s Greatest Invention

Mirrors

Cue Music, Roll Credits

Questions and Notes

A collection of thoughts and observations to help the team-based professional master a long-term sales process and create stronger relationships

Summary

Welcome to a few ideas on how to Tweak Your Flash. By extending everyday observations and translating them into the professional environment, I invite unique perspectives on key skills such as communications, branding, teamwork, and self-awareness, while at the same time being entertaining and motivational. While there are many books and lectures on networking, or maximizing the use of open-ended questions, this is more about looking at the business world a little differently. Less about technique, with not one word about closing skills or prospecting ideas, Tweak Your Flash is more about suggesting a way to think about what’s really going on out there and adapting to those different perspectives.

Dedication

To my wife Donna, who selflessly listened and dreamed bigger than I did, and To God, who gave me a gift to share and the courage to do so.

Chapter 1

Communication Clarity

Are you expressing yourself well? Do clients, prospects, and partners understand what you mean when you speak or write to them? Can you find ways to be clearer, more expressive, or more engaging? This chapter looks at some ways to more effectively convey your message, and offers some suggestions for approaching communication as a skilled responsibility, not a mere part in a conversation.

Back to You in the Studio

I turned on one of the cable news shows the other morning while I was pressing a shirt (AFTER it came back from the cleaners… . I hate that), and I could somehow tell that the woman talking on the screen was not the show’s anchor. I just knew, from the sound, tempo, tenor, and inflections of her voice, that she was reporting something from somewhere, even though over the blasts of steam from the iron, and the vast expanse of air in my little room, I couldn’t quite hear what her words were. I was right; she soon signed off.

You know what I’m talking about… . you can tell when someone is reading vs. talking. You know when someone is reporting information vs. conveying understanding. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that if all you had was the audio, you could tell if someone were truly singing or just doing karaoke. And so can your clients. There’s something natural about free flowing expression and the OCCASIONAL uh and ya know that make communication genuine. A speech or prepared statement can’t possibly carry that meaning, no matter how well delivered. And THAT is the difference between a private, personal, I’m speaking just to you now conversation with a client and a bulleted, read-off-the-screen, this is what I’m supposed to say verbal memo.

Your company can provide you with all the facts, figures, and stats you want. YOUR job is to understand those points and translate them into conclusions and a language that not only you can speak, but your audience can understand. I’d rather hear an honest I dunno than a stream of industry lingo; our challenge in this environment is to LEARN, not just know, what is happening so we can convey our thoughts and opinions in an advisory capacity. Anyone can look stuff up on the internet; what people need is the human touch to make it meaningful to them and their particular situation.

We have great capacity to create understanding, and your clients have great appetite for your opinion. And while your opinion must certainly be based on facts, it must also be conveyed to them with all of the flavor and intellect your experience carries. That is what they value, that is what they want, and that will keep them tuned in to you for as long as your show is on the air.

Boston Was a BAND?

I grew up listening and playing my tennis racket to bands like Chicago, Boston, and Kansas (do you think maybe the band Toto had at least one member that left the band Kansas? He’s not in Kansas anymore… . ha ha!). Now, in my early 40’s, my two ever-intellectually-expanding daughters and their friends are just realizing that these names represent more than distant places on a map… . they are in fact great bands that helped shape me into the detriment to societal excellence and community gallantry that sits before you today. C’mon, what does 25 or 6 to 4 really mean, anyway?

My wife’s car (we call it T-Rex) has one of those radios with a screen that displays the song and the artist. On the way in this morning (we switched cars today) I