Page 74 - The Voice of Authority

Hosting a hospitality suite at their next conference? Spon-
soring their speaker at your next event? Putting recipro-
cating links or banner ads on your Web sites?
You may have had the tree swing experience in your own
organization (see Figure 3.1). The situation would be
funny if it didn’t happen so frequently.
When semantics enters the conversation, the conversa-
tion is no longer about semantics. Choose the precise
word. Nail down the specifics.

Avoid the Template Tease

Templates save time and ensure consistency. But like a tai-
lor’s tacking on the hem of your pants, a template serves
as the starting point, not the finished product.
Organizations have tried
to turn everything into a
template: training, e-mail Templates save time and
responses to customers, ensure consistency. But
Help Desk responses, sales like a tailor’s tacking on
presentations, cafeteria the hem of your pants, a
menus, conference and template serves as the
trade show agendas. starting point, not the
Here’s the conversation I finished product.
had last week when I called
my cable company and fi-
nally got through to their Help Desk:
“How may I help you?”
“My Internet connection is down. I understand there’s
some problem in the neighborhood. Just as I pulled into
my driveway tonight, your cable van was sitting in front of
my house, and two service people were standing outside
on my lawn. They said they were waiting on a callback

62 The Voice of Authority