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APRIL 15, 2021 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home
Mind Y
ur Business
Debra Jasper: Doing Business in a Virtual World By Yitzchok Saftlas
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his column features business insights from a recent “Mind Your Business with Yitzchok Saftlas” radio show. The weekly “Mind Your Business” show – broadcasting since 2015 – features interviews with Fortune 500 executives, business leaders and marketing gurus. Prominent guests include: John Sculley, former CEO of Apple and Pepsi; Dick Schulze, founder and Chairman Emeritus of Best Buy; Beth Comstock, former Vice Chair of GE; among over 400+ senior-level executives and business celebrities. Yitzchok Saftlas, President of Bottom Line Marketing Group, hosts the weekly “Mind Your Business” show, which airs at 10pm every Sunday night on 710 WOR and throughout America on the iHeartRadio Network.
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n a recent 710 WOR “Mind Your Business” broadcast, Yitzchok Saftlas (YS) spoke with guest Debra Jasper (DJ), founder and CEO of Mindset Digital. Debra works with Fortune 100 leaders around the world to connect in a fast forward world while communicating with clarity and impact in today’s virtual age. Debra is one of the top “Winning Women” entrepreneurs in North America. *** Let’s start with communication in a virtual world. Is communicating virtually the next critical skill to have? I do think we talk a lot about virtual as the new reality, and it’s dramatically changing how we do business. The world changed overnight. We’ve all changed with it. And we’re not going back to what we were doing. So, what are the skills for doing business and creating impact in a virtual world where so much of what we know and love has just gone away, at least for now? I’m not saying it’s not coming back, but even
when it does, we’ll be communicating on small screens and we’re going to have to learn how to make a big impact on a small screen. What are the three or four key points, key tips, that people should keep in mind when they’re communicating virtually? Well, let’s talk about these client relationships we all have and how we get and sustain them. The first thing is, of course, you’re trying to get a meeting or build a connection and you’re not playing golf anymore and not running into people the way that you used to. So, what do you do? People are looking you up right now and making a quick decision about whether to take your phone call or meeting. And so, you have to have a fully optimized online presence. That’s step one. Step two is, let’s say they do take the meeting with you. You really have to know how to lead a great Zoom call. And if you’re doing a presentation, virtually, you have to know how to create a great presentation over a small screen. So, what’s
a powerful opening? What’s a powerful ending? How do you communicate effectively when the screens are much smaller and your audience is not just distant and distracted, they’re distressed? And thirdly, you have to know how to follow up with people and reach out to them through email or other approaches in a way that’s short, organized, and skimmable, because people have very short attention spans – eight seconds on average. Debra, beyond the online presence, what else do you need to be doing today to communicate in this new virtual world? A lot of it is better understanding what it means to have a virtual audience. As I mentioned, they’re not just distant and distracted, they’re also distressed. Let’s talk about the brain science of distress for just a moment. We know how much is coming at us. There are days where we all just think we have to turn off the news. We cannot take it anymore. We’re overwhelmed and overwrought. When trying to communi-
cate with clients who are distressed and distant, the brain science shows that it’s harder for them to listen, learn, and remember what you told them. That’s why visual storytelling is going to be more powerful. Most of the information we take in is through our eyes, and we’re seven times more likely to remember visual information. So, when you’re delivering those virtual presentations, they’re going to have to be highly visual if you have any hope that your client is going to remember what you told them. Can you share some tips on small things people can do to improve their LinkedIn profile? Here’s two quick tips for listeners. If your profile starts with, you know, Bob has been in business for twenty-five years…no one cares about the history. Do not start with the history. I always say I would never go up to you and say, “Hi, my name is Debra. Debra is a dynamic leader.” We don’t talk that way and can’t talk that way on LinkedIn. The other quick tip is, if nothing
