Don't Shout at Me

When it comes to marketing it’s not how loud you shout it’s how well you make the connection.

I’m spending a week helping out with my 3 year and 3 month old grandkids and I realize the same is true in influencing people in our personal lives. I forgot the morning fights I had when my kids were 3, you know waking them up, what they will or won’t wear to school, how full the cereal bowl has to be, etc. It would be easy to shout and demand they do what I want but to what end. In a book about parenting to inspire values titled, Children Learn What They Live, the focus is the way things are said. If you shout one day how much louder will you need to shout the next to be heard. Any of us who have raised children know eventually they will tune us out completely. The ideal way, listen and understand the motives for the behavior and gently but clearly motivate.

Motivating clients is very much the same. First you have to understand your marketplace and find meaningful connections. Next you need to be consistent in your message. And last remember we live in a media cluttered world, delivering communications with simplicity and clarity makes all the difference.

–Ann Byne, Principal, The Byne Group

Calmness, a Goal at the Workplace

When was the last time you thought of yourself as being calm. For most of us these are anything but tranquil times. We’re inundated with information, overwhelmed with daily tasks and asked to keep pace with technology that keeps moving faster and faster. Personally I can’t tell you how often I have responded to email from clients without thinking through the correctness of my answer and even worse the flippant way I might have handled an issue with staff saying words that can never be taken back (if anyone reading this ever felt bruised, I'm really trying to do better).

A favorite quote of mine by James Allen an English poet from the early 1900s said it well. “The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good.”

What to do! A possible suggestion, lets continue to have the conversations, (either on- or offline) but lets give ourselves some breathing room before and after. Take time to take stock, breathe and yes be calm!

Any ideas on how you find calmness during your workday, please share.

-Ann Byne, Principal, The Byne Group

Adventures of The Byne Group Intern

Hi everyone,

Guess what? I'm a finalist in the Chiquita Banana new label contest! The contest was to design a new fun label that will be featured on the bananas, without using any text. So I made the top 50… although the designs won't be officially posted on eatachiquita.com until August 23, 2010.


When it's up I am going to need everyone to vote for me. Top 18 designs get to be printed on the bananas!!!

–Dana Tandoi, Intern, The Byne Group