Nothing blows peoples minds more that turning down their business. We’ve actually had to do this.

I’m a fairly straight shooter as you might have perceived from my first blog. In this vein, sometimes I’m forced to tell a client that their approach just won’t work or that a request or expectation is unreasonable.

I know this will sound like bragging, but we have a considerable track record of achievement on behalf of our clients. While we always try to maintain an open mind, generally, we know what will – or won’t work.

Earlier in my PR career, I made the mistake of working with clients who demanded the impossible. Despite advocating for a more realistic approach to no avail, the inevitable recriminations occurred when reality intervened. Since then, in the spirit of Nancy Regan, we’ve learned to “just say no.”

Some silly but real examples:

We were once driving home on a Thursday evening (the end of the work week in Israel) when Amy received a call on her cell phone. I heard her say “you’re kidding, right?” The caller wanted us to provide trade show support and would only pay if we guaranteed many meetings for them with key media outlets. The punch line: The show started Monday. Yes, the coming Monday, as in 84 hours. Despite patiently explaining that the journalists he wanted were booked weeks ago I could actually hear him yelling “what do you mean…” When asked when he knew he’d be exhibiting at this show, he told her “three or four months ago.” She wished him luck and invited him to contact us at least two to three months in advance of his next show.

Another potential client tried to have his finance person half the agreed upon fee after a lengthy negotiation. When we contacted the original person again, he feigned innocence and told us to agree to it anyway. Nope, sorry. The underlying message: We deal with you in good faith, you have to reciprocate on some level. This will not be a winning situation.

Yet another client, totally unknown in his industry, wanted a feature article in a major journal, with our fee contingent on publication, and refusing to pay for the necessary groundwork to generate interest. Nope, sorry, we don’t allow ourselves to get set up for failure.

Ultimately, I’d rather not risk our reputation to appease either unrealistic expectations or a lack of respect. Sometimes, it’s best to “just say no.”

Before providing PR and marketing services for the last several years, I spent 20 years in practice as a psychotherapist. Besides being a conversation killer at parties (since of course I really didn’t want to just chat and enjoy my beverage, I really did want to analyze everyone I met), I was privileged to eavesdrop on the lives of many types of people. This taught me that “messaging” totally depends on the “audience” and gave me a broad perspective on the cycles of life.

Yes, just about everything occurs in cycles, including patterns of markets and economies. The current crisis, too, will pass. The question is: Will your company be active and ready or in hibernation?

Right now, for many people, life sucks. The global economic meltdown is being felt strongly in Israel. Many fine companies with excellent technologies can’t secure adequate financing and have cut the majority of their staff. Others are living with the uncertainty of whether the axe will fall on them next or if their company will fail.

Opting to lay off almost everyone except their R&D team, some managers pin all their hopes on a buyout, even if at fire sale prices or appearing with Superwidget 12.0 after six to twelve months of absence from your sector’s key market outlets. They will not be met with enthusiastic buyers nor will the media jump to celebrate their reemergence.

It is absolutely vital to your long-term interests to maintain market presence during down periods. With K2 as your PR/marcom partner, you can be poised to strike at every opportunity.

Statistics demonstrate that companies with good market exposure are three times as likely to be considered for financing. Your worst case scenario is to be met with a “oh, are you still around?”

We were recently contacted by an analyst we had been courting for a client (the desired result, they seek the client out as an expert). Unfortunately, we had to tell him that the client would be in touch with them “sometime in the fall.” The unspoken part was that they decided to cut PR and focus on “sales,” with this becoming the responsibility of the CEO. Having heard this line often enough, the analyst just replied “yeah, sure, good luck to you.”

Where will your company be in 3, 6, 12, or 24 months? Will it be scraping by or relegated to the scrapheap of good ideas that didn’t make it? Contact us today to protect your company’s survival.

The usual background information:
K2 is a leading Israeli boutique marketing, communications and public relations company. We’re both originally from the U.S. – I’m from NY and Amy is from Texas and Kansas City, Mo. We’ve been in Israel for 6.5 and 6 years respectively. We run our business from a quiet, little suburban community just east of the bustling metropolis of Kfar Saba (and yes, I can be a bit sarcastic on occasion).

I practiced psychotherapy and psychoanalysis for more than 20 years before Amy twisted my arm and forced me to start K2 with her some five years ago. Amy’s entire 17-year career has been in marketing and public relations. She taught me this business, and I hope to one day forgive her for this. Since then, we have provided services to a variety of mid- and hi-tech companies across Israel.

We coined the “Right from the StartTM” process to insure that our clients benefit from thoroughly integrated PR and marketing messaging. I knew from some consulting experiences in NY that even in small organizations, people from different – or even within – departments are often not on the same page. One of our services is providing a total marketing package to ensure that the people in your organization all present unified messages.

We provide a full range of services, from writing copy for websites, brochures, press releases, case studies, and white papers, to media relations, blogging, analyst relations, and trade show support.

Israel is second only to Silicon Valley in technology patents. Because of this, we’ve gotten to work with some brilliant, creative people, true visionaries in their fields. The other side of the coin is that we’ve come in contact with some people who don’t grasp the big picture, and we’ve watched as some viable companies with sound technologies have floundered or failed. We enjoy making the difference in a company’s success. It’s very gratifying to receive an email saying that a large sale was made because of a well-written, strategically placed press release.

We’ll be sounding off about a wide range of issues in this space. We look forward to your responses.