More than 100 children will celebrate the Miracle of Hanukkah at the JAFCO (Jewish Adoption and Foster Care Options) Village on December 6, 2010. They even get to climb up mountains of snow and throw snowballs.

Julie and Howard Talenfeld always look forward to the holiday season and all the joy it brings.  But they recognize that not everyone is fortunate to experience holiday cheer – or even basic necessities like food, shelter and clothing.  For the fifth consecutive year, the couple will sponsor JAFCO’s Hanukkah party – so the dozens of foster children who live in the residences at the Sunrise Village and out in the community get to celebrate the holiday and enjoy its many traditions.

“When I think of the miracle of Hanukkah I believe an even greater miracle occurs when JAFCO’s wonderful staff and supporters do their part to make a big difference in these children’s lives,” said Julie Talenfeld, President of Boardroom Communications, a PR agency in Plantation.

“As a young child, Hanukkah was my favorite part of the winter holiday season. My family always had a huge party every year with all of our relatives and friends, and today my husband Howard and I continue this tradition in our own home for our children, family and friends to enjoy.”

The annual party for the children and families of JAFCO will be held on December 6 and will feature dreidels, traditional jelly doughnuts and even snow.

Join us on December 10, 2010 and enjoy great wine for a great cause. Guests can enter to win a bejeweled Lexus IS featuring a $12,500 diamond necklace. Click on the image below for more information.

From a great seminar I attended a week ago (hosted by Howard Shore): When it comes to customer service and meeting client expectations: “Satisfied just doesn’t cut it anymore.” The moral of the story is that we must uncover hidden or perceived client needs and hit it out of the park — so when they receive your monthly invoice or are in the middle of budgeting for 2011, they happily issue the check and slot you into next year’s plans.

Law firm marketers have a hefty job—not only do they have to help attorneys engage clients and secure new business, they also make sure their attorneys are actually listening to what their clients want. Joyce Smiley, a client interview specialist with JKS Company, recently wrote an article dealing with attorneys and how they listen and respond to their clients’ needs. In the article, she noted that attorneys sometimes view their jobs as interpreting what their clients want and need, rather than listening to the clients’ direct request.

Here’s the point—make sure your attorneys listen to their clients preferences and react accordingly. Even if they think they are doing the right thing by the client, if it isn’t what the client wants that’s what the client will remember when evaluating the relationship.

Here’s the article:

When clients tell your attorneys how they prefer to have their legal services delivered, how do your attorneys respond?

Reporting on a judicial conference panel discussion, last month The Am Law Daily told of a large law firm managing partner saying that believed that law schools should turn out project managers. He and his clients really need attorneys to be project managers because front-line opportunities-such as trials for litigators-are disappearing.

However, another panelist, a general counsel of a Fortune 100 company, disagreed: “I don’t hire lawyers to be project managers. I want their best judgments and special skills.”

According to The Am Law Daily, the partner rebutted, saying that perhaps the GC didn’t really know what he wanted or needed. That partner needs to start listening to clients.

Some clients would agree with that managing partner. For example, in Strategic Client Interviews:

• The president of a national auto parts company talked about an IP attorney who was the point man: “He comes in here and we meet face-to-face every other month. Because IP is such a complex area, he brings his lists of to-dos, where we are on projects, and who’s got the ball. That works out well.”
• The general counsel of a health care services company complained that he didn’t get the same kind of reporting from other attorneys as he has from a particular litigator. “They are not on top of the cases,” he added.

Some clients, however, would disagree with that managing partner. The first one is the client representative on the panel.

The point is: Deliver service however each client prefers. The only way to find out a client’s preference is to ask and to listen, one client at a time. “Other firms should do this, too,” said the president of a health care management company in a Strategic Client Interview. “None of the other firms we used to use were listening to us. I would think your services for a law firm would be invaluable.

“Last year we spent $1.5 million in legal fees, which were our average fees at our previous firm. They did our deals and other types of work. But they wouldn’t listen to me, so they lost us.”

For more information on Strategic Client Interviews, contact Joyce K. Smiley at 561-775-9755, or jsmiley@jkscompany.com. On the web at jkscompany.com.

The Miami Herald ran a Business Monday story by Tasha Cunningham in her BizBites column entitled “Five Free Do-It Yourself PR strategies to Generate Buzz.” The story outlined ways in which small businesses can utilize web-based tools to do their own PR work, spending little time and money for the effort. All of her ideas had merit, but require consistent, proactive effort to generate media placements in all of the right places.

We could all use the latest software to do our own income taxes, or repair our cars. . . .   but aren’t we better off handing that to an expert to ensure it gets done right? Isn’t your time better spent doing what you do best? There’s no doubt the Internet has made it easier than ever before to be your own publicist, SEO expert or social media guru, but there is still plenty of value in hiring a well connected PR agency or online marketing consultant to maximize media output and search engine optimization (SEO).

A good PR firm already has solid media contacts and relationships, so there’s no learning curve. And like any business, relationships go a long way. PR professionals make it their business to study which reporters are covering what topics and understand their likes and dislikes. Just keeping track of reporter movements and beat changes is a full time job. Sending your story pitch to the wrong people can be a big waste of time.

PR professionals have a trained eye to tell the difference between items of news value versus something that is purely self-promotional. Quite often, business owners are way too close to the subject to be objective and tend to focus on themselves or their products as opposed to news. A good PR professional can help develop the right news angle on the story to have a better chance of obtaining coverage in newspapers, television, radio and in strategic blogs and online news portals.

(more…)

In the November issue of Las Olas Lifestyle Magazine, Boardroom Communication’s founder and president, Julie Talenfeld, offers advice on what to do in the event of a crisis.

“Bad things happen to good people, executives and companies,” says Julie “How you respond can make the difference between being dragged through the mud or emerging from the crisis with as little long-term damage as possible.”

Julie explains that crisis communications is a process that requires skill in handling news stemming from a bad situation. Trying to spin bad news into a good situation is not the right approach. You have to gather all the available information, formulate a plan, prepare a statement, and then stick to your message. The key is to have a plan with a strong message, but let it be flexible enough to evolve as the situation changes.

For more tips, click on the image below to read the full article