Remove Kid Gloves – Incite Consumer Action

Melanie Wine Tolan, New York

How can we convince our client’s customers to take action and engage?  Maybe we can learn from the guys at Bare Knuckle People Management.  

PICTURED: Melanie Wine Tolan, EVP, Consumer Brands, New York with authors John Kulisek and Sean O’Neil

Bare Knuckle People Management is a book written for middle managers, designed to help these individuals get the most out of the people who report to them.  “Because people by their very nature are so complex, what works for one employee will not likely work for another.” - BKPM

Many of the authors’ tips for management success make sense as we think about getting consumers to act on behalf of the brands we represent.  Following are some of the Bare Knuckle People Principles – with a few thoughts on how we can apply these ideas to spark consumer action and make meaningful impact.

People Principle #1 “Team-Wide Rules Suck” – Rules rarely shape behavior for an entire population; and we can’t talk to disparate groups in the same voice. We usually counsel our clients to deliver a consistent message – but we need to make sure it can be heard and understood by the different people to whom we are talking.

People Principle #4 “Talk Often about Large Pink Elephants” – So often our clients try to avoid the negative. But, if we don’t talk about the negative perceptions surrounding a brand – you can bet someone else will be shouting those negatives somewhere on the airwaves. The more open a brand can be, the more consumer trust they will gain.

People Principle #5 “Weigh Words and Tone Carefully” – I’m weighing my words here and refraining from redundancy. Think this says it all.

People Principle #7 “Apologize Well...and Then Move On!” – If we make mistakes as we navigate the new communications environment we will serve our clients well by recommending that they apologize (and mean it.)

Author Sean O’Neil says, “I don’t have the answers for you.  I don’t even have the answers for myself.  I just have my eyes wide open looking for them.  And in the process of looking, I sometimes stumble across an insight or an event that caused me to reconsider how I view a small portion of my world.  Maybe such an insight or event is useful to you.”

Sean’s eyes wide open behavior is a way we can best serve and counsel our clients as we navigate the complex communications landscape.  We need to keep our eyes wide open and listen for change.  Visit www.bareknucklepeoplemanagement.com for articles and tips on how to manage teams (and maybe even our clients) more effectively in order to incite remarkable action.