Note:  Jigsaw has published the Wood River TimeExchange Weekly Bulletin for six months to provide information to a broad audience about the concept and practice of Time Banking. We hope you have enjoyed learning about this form of alternative currency.  

At this point, we will be taking the Weekly Bulletin "internal," mailed only to TimeExchange members. That way, we can provide content immediately relevant to our particular Exchange and build stronger community.  Thanks to everyone for your interest!  Come join us at www.woodriver.timebanks.org. 

 ___________________________________________________

Greetings!  June was declared "Strategic Thinking Month" by Jigsaw, inspired by lunches with two guest speakers  who highlighted different aspects of strategically communicating the value proposition of your business. 

Dr. Michael Tomlin (Michael Tomlin Associates), our first lunch speaker, focused on the need for communicating EXACTLY what you want to say to your EXACT audience for an EXACT outcome. This means being precise, accurate (truthful), and testing for unexpected consequences. Precision is especially important. Consider the Associated Press headline: "University of Idaho will teach only evolution in science classes," more correctly elaborated in the article that "President White has forbidden anything other than evolution from being taught ....in science classes."  Such a small imprecision in a headline could easily create a firestorm for U of I.    

Tomlin quotes George Orwell's comment, "...if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought."  With this idea, business owners must be very careful to communicate words that shape the "right" thought in another person's mind for the "right" result. One must understand that others hear language through their own filters of personal beliefs, knowledge, experience, and emotion; it's up to business owners to anticipate these potentially distorting factors and avoid them. 

For example, if you want to reach out to mothers about childcare, don't use jargon, technical terms, and charts. Use informative but straightforward language. If you want to reach out to scientists, don't misquote or poorly describe data essential to your point. 

Rick Ritter (Idaho TechConnect), our second guest speaker, walked lunch guests through an exercise to prepare a great "elevator speech."  Entrepreneurs were asked to identify their most important customer group, the customers' quantified need for their service/product, the service/product's unique name and its category, the single most compelling (and quantified) benefit of the product/service, and how it differs from its competitor(s). 

These principle points can be strung together and then wordsmithed into an elevator pitch with a few innocuous connecting words (in bold below).  For example, you meet Bill Gates in an elevator.  He asks about your business. You reply, 'My business is for (male turtles) who (suffer from callouses that slow their mating hunt by 50%). The

(Turtle Sneak) is an (animal care product for turtles) that (enables 30% increased  mobility). Unlike the Turtle Shuffler, the Turtle Sneak is easily applied and has a one year warranty."  

Rick suggests sticking to the order of the phrases presented above for their opening emphasis on the customer and the closing emphasis on what discriminates your product/service from all others. 

Many thanks to these two speakers for sharing their ideas and experience with us!  

Until next week...Jima Rice 

P.S.  Anybody interested in buying some Turtle Sneaks?