How to Sell Your Organization        

By:  

Johnson Cook Peach New Media 

  David Schnurman  Lawline.com 

  

             

   

Presented at: ACLEA 47th Mid‐Year Meeting 

January 22 ‐ 25, 2011   San Francisco, California  

Johnson Cook Peach New Media 

Smyrna, GA    Johnson Cook  is  the Co‐founder and Chief Operating Officer of Peach New Media, an online  learning management  company  that  believes  knowledge  transfer makes  us  better  people. Mr.  Cook  founded Atlanta, GA‐based Impact Media Solutions in 2002 immediately upon graduating from Georgia Institute of Technology with his bachelor’s degree in Management. In 2009, Impact Media Solutions merged with Boston, MA‐based Boston Conferencing and relaunched the new company as Peach New Media (PNM).   PNM  provides webinars,  live webcasting,  online  CLE,  on‐location  production,  and  now  offers  Simple Learning Management ‐ a do‐it‐yourself platform for content providers on a budget  looking to sell rich media content online. Mr. Cook  is a past co‐chair of the ACLEA Technology SIG and has presented at 6 past ACLEA  conferences  and  is  an  active member  of  the American  Society  of Association  Executives (ASAE) and the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA). He currently  lives  in Peachtree City, GA with his wife Margaret and has his hands full chasing his two boys: Michael (4) and Max (2). 

  

David Schnurman Lawline.com New York, NY   

David Schnurman  is President of Lawline.com, a  leading provider of Online Continuing Legal education since 1999.  In addition to David's many years of experience  in the CLE  industry, he  is the founder of a network for NY entrepreneurs called TrueNYC. He frequently speaks at events and interviews successful entrepreneurs about their businesses. David  is a graduate of George Washington University, where he earned a B.A. and received a  J.D.  from New York Law School. He  is currently an attorney  in New York State.   David also has a  love for adventure and discovery. He trained to solo Paraglide  in the Colorado Mountains, learned to skydive, and has taken flying lessons. David grew up in Park Slope, Brooklyn and currently lives in midtown Manhattan with his wife Kelli. 

HOW TO SELL YOUR

ORGANIZATION

David Schnurman, CEO Lawline.com

Johnson Cook, Peach New Media

Sell it Internally First ................................................................................................. 1

Culture Blog ............................................................................................................... 2

Samples of the Culture Blog ................................................................................... 2

Culture Book ............................................................................................................12

Excerpts from the Lawline Culture Book .............................................................12

Selling it to Applicants– What is your Passion? .....................................................14

Selling to Faculty .....................................................................................................16

Selling to Customers: The Inevitable Results of Company Culture ........................18

Sell it Internally First Before we sell Lawline to our customers, we must first sell it to our employees. We firmly

believe that employees treat customers they way that they are treated by their employers. Further,

employees will portray the internal culture in every interaction with customers. Thus, our utmost

concern is creating an enjoyable, innovative, and team-oriented culture that can form the

foundation for a successful business.

We “sell” Lawline to our employees and potential employees through truly practicing what is

preached. We have company events, celebrations for achievements, team-building activities, and

impromptu get-togethers and social engagements.

Culture Blog

What’s more is that we document all these events. Why? Because we value teamwork and social

interaction to the point we want to market it to one another within the company and to

prospective employees. We developed a company Culture Blog, which serves as the company’s

expression of its internal atmosphere. Here, any employee is free to post information regarding

team events, internal musings, outside talents/interests, books reports, or anything else that

employees would like to share.

Our typical posts fall under the following categories:

Awards

Company Activities

Customer Service

Deep Thoughts

Lawline Learning

Book Reviews

Interviews

Outside the Office

Talent

Below is a sample of a few of the categories and articles, and how each add to the positive cycle

of cultural development.

AWARDS

Here we categorize posts relating to company achievements. The goal is that everyone in the

company feels a part of the award and can share in the success of the company. By posting it on

our Culture Blog, it presents a shared, internal pride for the award.

Lawline.com Ranked Among Elite in Crain’s Best Places to

Work 2010 Posted December 6, 2010 by Jeff

Lawline.com is proud to announce its listing in Crain’s New York Business as the No. 21 Best

Place to Work in New York City. Crain’s officially released the

rankings publicly earlier today.

Lawline.com’s focus has always been on its customers. The

company-wide goal is to go above and beyond in every

customer interaction, provide a “Wow” experience and

genuinely attempt to make the customer’s day one notch more pleasant. Lawline also believes

that employees treat customers the same way they are treated at the workplace. This promotes

a virtuous cycle of efficiency, thoroughness, and kindness.

We’re of the belief that it all starts with the hiring process, where attitude stands alone as the

most significant trait a candidate can possess. Although skill, education, and experience are all

pillars that make up an ideal employee, one’s contributions to the positive team environment is

first and foremost.

We also believe that self-improvement is an every day process. One of Lawline.com’s

recognized programs is the “1% Challenge”, which is a program intended to create incentive for

self-education through reading and subsequently presenting the material to the department.

The challenge is akin to the Japanese notion of kaizen, where the belief is that continual and

daily self-improvement compounds over time to create a drastic increase in productivity and

efficiency over the long haul.

In the end, what matters is the fulfillment each individual employee receives from his or her

days. At Lawline, we are proud to offer the opportunity and the platform to continuously learn,

excel, and achieve.

Click here to read more from the Crain’s Best Companies feature story

Posted in: Awards, Company Activities, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Permalink: http://careers.lawline.com/2010/12/06/lawline-com-ranked-among-elite-in-

crains-best-places-to-work-2010/

Customer Service

Because customer service is so vital to our business model, we promote it

within by providing a space for employees to give feedback on good and bad

customer service practices they experience. It also serves as a log for

recognition of excellent customer service our employees provide.

Customer Service Conquers Blizzard 2010 Posted December 28, 2010 by frank

December is one of our busiest times of the year. So when the snow started falling on Sunday, I

started worrying we would not be able to get to the office to handle inbound Customer Service

calls. Below is my account of Sunday night and Monday during Blizzard 2010, from a Customer

Service point of view.

On Sunday night I really thought I would make it into the office at the regular time, until I went

outside to shovel at about 10pm and saw the snow was coming down faster than I could move

it. I was on the phone with Jake, one of our salespeople, and he was on a 7 hour journey from

the Poconos to Brooklyn in the blizzard. I offered to have him stay at my house in NJ because

he was going past it but he had already gone too far so there was no turning back. He wound

up getting back at 4am, shoveled his car into his driveway, then got a text from me at 6am not

to come into the office.

I called Michael, Head of Accreditation, at 3pm yesterday and

said we need our key guys in

the office tomorrow because who knows how many people

will be able to get in, in case we needed more Customer

Service people. He took the initiative by sleeping by his

sisters house just down the street from the 61 offices and

played a key role in our CS today.

I woke up at 5am to find out no trains, buses, or subways were running. I then called our

Messaging Service to see if anyone was answering phones there. I waited for five minutes on

hold then emailed Christie, Head of Customer Service. She got the same thing. Not knowing

what exactly to do, Christie set up a “Blizzard” voice mail greeting telling everyone to to wait 5-

10 minutes and we would call them back. Perfect because we could not pick up calls directly

from home.

Micah, Director of Video & Content Production, texted me at 8am saying he was going to get to

the office or die trying. I told him he was nuts. But he texted me an hour and a half later

saying he made it!

Jake woke up around 10am and called every salesperson to tell them what was going on and to

get them on the phones. We gave access to the CRM and

Admin. Jake then forwarded all calls to people’s cell phones in

case they weren’t already.

Christie, Trisha (CS), Rich (CS), Dan (CPE) and Rob (Sales)

fielded the messages from home and got back to every

customer today within 10 minutes. Not to mention taking care

of all emails and live chats as well!

Monday was an epic day in Lawline history. To think we could have such a great day

considering everything that was against us is phenomenal. Thank everyone for doing their part

today and helping us to be successful. It is days like today that remind what a great company I

work for.

Posted in: Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Permalink: http://careers.lawline.com/2010/12/28/customer-service-conquers-blizard-2010/

COMPANY ACTIVITIES

In company activities, we post “lighter side” events and activites. Office leagues, parties, events

and related activities where our team works together outside of the office is posted. This helps

promote teamwork and unity in locations outside of the office setting.

Lawline Office Basketball League Posted December 22, 2010 by frank

Last month, the California Room had the inaugural Lawline Nerf Basketball Association (or

LNBA) tournament. A grueling season was played between Jake, Joey, Pat, and Training.

Standings went back and forth for most of the season, though during the last couple of weeks

Pat and Training pulled away (with Training locking up a first round bye), leaving Jake and Joey

to fight it out for the final playoff spot.

It came down to the lastgame of the year, a quintuple

overtime affair where both contenders missed their first 4

of 5 shots (“pulling a Shaq”, as Jake would breathlessly

saying with a shrug after the game concluded). Jake hit his

last shot, but Joey was not about to go home quietly,

hitting nothing but net and beginning overtime. Back and

forth they went, each hitting their next 4 shots. Jake then

bounced one off the rim, giving Joey the opening he

needed. In went his 5th straight shot, and out went Jake from the playoffs. When reached for

comment about how such a promising season went south so fast, all Jake could muster was

“We’re going to come back strong next year. I feel very strong about our draft prospects.

Training’s getting old, I don’t think he has it in him anymore, so you’ll be hearing from me

again soon”.

The first round of the playoffs featured Joey taking an early lead on Pat, but the big man from

the Hamptons dominated on his home court from then on and sent the scrappy young team

home, a Cinderella story with no glass slipper. A sweaty Joey

said “I have nothing to be embarrassed about. I left it all out

on the court, and I’m just going to come back and work twice

as hard next year”.

The finals were a match for the ages. Pat and Training stayed

close the whole way, but age came before beauty and soon Training “Training” Training was

crowned the first LNBA champ. The beaten down Pat had nothing to say, a single tear forming

in his eye, but the champ was downright chatty. “It was a hard fought battle. There was a lot of

controversy and a lot of doubt. A lot of people saw me and thought I was too old, I was too

slow, I was too dumb, and that it couldn’t be done. But I fought through all the adversity,

prevailed, and sit on top of the world. This one’s for all the doubters”.

Camp is just now beginning for Season 2, with a scrappy young team led by Jason “Drama” Dion

hoping to make some noise. Will he? Stay tuned to find out!

Joey is a Salesperson with Lawline.com. He is also a film critic. You can see some of his posts

at awardscircuit.com.

Posted in: Company Activities, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Permalink: http://careers.lawline.com/2010/12/22/lawline-office-basketball-league/

Book Reports

Through book reports, we encourage our philosophy of continuous learning. Employees can select

reading material from our library and create either written or video presentations reporting what they

learn.

The following is an example written report of “Talk Less, Say More”

How to “Talk Less, Say More” Posted December 20, 2010 by Jeff

Think of the conversations you’ve had recently. Was there anything you

wish you hadn’t said? Did you talk too much to convey an idea? Were one

or more of your ideas passed on without thought or conceptualization

from your audience?

Time and time again, we hear how communication is the key to increasing

business efficiency, but rarely is this meaning ever spelled out in

actionable steps. Between emails, Instant messaging, social media,

phone calls, and face to face conversations, the platforms for which we

communicate is much to keep track of. As a result, our time is greatly

limited as we dash from message to message. The importance to have

your words stand out from the clutter is more difficult than ever.

Author Connie Dieken, in her book, “Talk Less, Say More” discusses exactly how to have your

message heard, interpreted clearly, and followed directly. In her writing, she uses the 3 C’s of

communication – “connect, convey and convince,” to establish the grounds for her argument.

Connect

Have you ever have an idea, and got so excited you wanted everyone to jump on-board right

away and take action? You likely wanted to skip communicating, delegating, and just get right

to the point. You present your idea and think everyone will feel the same as you, but to your

surprise, your audience is disinterested. What happens here?

According to Dieken, this would be a failure to truly connect with your audience. Before you can

make others move and break through the inertia, you must connect with people. How does your

idea benefit them? Why should they be excited to take part? Answer these questions quickly,

and Dieken believes you will have completed step 1.

Convey

The second step is to convey your message. After you have connected with your audience, and

have their interest, you must clearly convey your message. As stated in the opening paragraph,

information overload has caused many of us to tune out what we deem as clutter. Thus, when

conveying a message, you must be succinct and to the point.

Have a plan here and do not “wing it”. If your message is important, whether it be in a

presentation, conversation, meeting, phone call, or email, know what your message is and how

you are going to convey it beforehand. Review your material before and think, “Is every piece of

information necessary? Does it add to my point? Could it be said more clearly?” Within this

section of the book, Dieken discusses further ways in which one can better convey their

message, which I will not detail here.

Convince

This final step is where you establish commitment. It’s the equivalent of closing a sale, and the

previous steps are wasted if your message is not followed through to the end. This is the step

where your audience believes they must take action and feels ownership transfer over to them.

If you have followed the previous steps and connected and conveyed your message, then

convincing others should be a result of your tone, body language, and enthusiasm. If you are

sincere in your message and decisive with your words, you will find others more often than not

“buying in”, rather than complying as a duty.

“”Talk Less, Say More” is an ideal book for anyone looking to improve their ability to get tasks

finished. In business, we tend to focus on our area of expertise exclusively; however,

communication is the most integral part of working within a team, regardless of our role.

Having a great idea is only half the battle, being able to attract others through communication

is the second half. I highly recommend this read for anyone looking to cut through the clutter

of today’s information overload and have their ideas heard.

DEEP THOUGHTS

Deep thoughts is a unique section in which employees are free to write or post nearly anything.

Below is a sample video posted to as a source of inspiration. Other common posts include

everything from unrelated philosophical thoughts unrelated to ways to increase productivity.

Motivational Football Coach Teaches How to Overcome Our

Limits!

Posted November 9, 2010 by David

Talk about inspirational. It makes me want to push harder each time I watch it. How about you?

This entry was posted in Deep Thoughts.

Outside the Office

Employees get together outside the office; it is a natural result of the culture. People want to be

around one another and engage in other activities. This part of the culture blog promotes such

activities, and acts as a platform to share events.

Braved The Cold Like Champs Posted December 11, 2010 by David

It was brisk and early but that could not stop 5 die hard Lawliners from meeting at Central Park

at 8am to complete a 5K this past Saturday. From all the people gathered around it was hard to

find each other but eventually we did. Of course Micah and Jeff were at the head of the pack,

but I am proud to say all 5 of us finished in the top ten. Some of the first fellow runners we

met were lawyers so of course we did not miss the opportunity to try and sign them up.

Looking forward to the next run as the team continues to grow.

Posted in: Company Activities, Outside the Office | Leave a comment

Permalink: http://careers.lawline.com/2010/12/11/braved-the-cold-like-champs/

Culture Book

Excerpts from the Lawline Culture Book

The following are excerpts from our Lawline “Culture Book”. The culture book captures the

essence of Lawline to each individual employee. We use this as a portrayal of our internal

culture as well as a way to “sell” our company to prospective employees. We want all our

employees to fit in and buy-in to our philosophies, goals, and atmosphere. The culture book

provides insight to potential employees and serves as a marketing tool to find those that may be a

great match and add to the culture.

Dan F.

Sales

What truly makes working here so enjoyable is that you are directly helping building a business.

You are not a cog in a giant machine; you can go home each day and think to yourself "I helped

grow Lawline today."

Micah B.

Production

Better yet, as roles and titles are always changing, one is encouraged to be constantly flexible

creatively. One day's producer is the next day's marketing guru. Evolution is the name of the

game. We're a team and we act like one.

Rob H.

Sales

The door to the President’s office is always open for those who have new ideas on how to grow

the Lawline name. Top to bottom everyone at Lawline feels that they are part of something big,

and the future knows no limits.

Michele R.

Production

Lawline is also different than other employers as you can truly feel a mutual sense of excitement

in all of its employees from the President to the college interns. Everyone is working to their

fullest potential, and at the same time constantly thinking of how they can create a better

product.

Christie L.

Customer Service

Once you become part of the Lawline team, you genuinely care about the success of the

company; this naturally fosters the growth of yourself as an employee. Other work environments

I've seen are just jobs, where employees haven't felt appreciated and came to work only hoping

for the day to end. At Lawline, there are not enough hours in the day because opportunities are

endless

FINDING EMPLOYEES - WHAT IS YOUR PASSION?

When hiring, we want to “sell” the company, but only to those who we feel will buy in to our

philosophy and culture. Again, our culture blog serves as one of our main ways to accomplish

this.

We have a “What is your Passion” field that potential employees must fill in before submitting

their resume to us. This gives us an early insight into their personality, and helps to decipher a

stand-out employee that may have the potential to better fit into our culture.

Though answers do not usually eliminate any candidates, a highly creative answer most certainly

helps to catch our eye in the application process.

Sample responses:

“I am passionate about people, interactions show

me how I can improve. I also love finding creative approaches to achieving goals.”

“Making money.”

“I pride myself on being a self-starter. Whether that means learning how to build computers, teaching myself the guitar, or just coming up with an alternate solution to a problem.”

“I have a need to work with people and in interactive environments that combine a challenging work environment with intellectual socialization.”

Selling it to Faculty

Our internal communication and culture is of our utmost priority, because once this is set, we

believe that our employees will treat our faculty and our customers in the same manner in which

they are treated. Thus, a positive and innovative atmosphere where employees listen to one

another and assist with problems will be the exact approach taken with customers.

We do this through a number of ways. First, we consistently reach out to faculty members and

provide feedback on the courses they create. We want them to learn as much about presenting

they give to others watching the program.

Thus, for each faculty member, we provide a 10 minute “How to be a better Online Presenter”

video, overviewing the keys to successful presentations.

We then provide feedback on user reviews, ratings, and comments from their courses. We work

one on one with them to enhance our relationships and our internal “learning” culture is brought

out.

Further, we provide such activities as an annual “Faculty Awards”, where we celebrate the

courses taught over the past year, the contributions faculty have made, and present awards to our

top presenters.

Below is the flyer we sent to our faculty.

Lawline Faculty event

Selling to Customers: The Inevitable Results

of Company Culture

Our entire business model centralized upon excelling in customer service. We strive to

differentiate ourselves in the responsive, positive, and innovative solutions we provide our

customers.

How can we bring innovation to Customer Service? The staff is encouraged to find a unique

solution to every problem. Though we have guidelines on how we treat each interaction, there

are few, if any, barriers to approaching a problem.

Thus, it creates an atmosphere in which we can truly establish a relationship with a customer. By

providing a unique solution for every incoming question, we send the message to the customer

“YOU ARE IMPORTANT TO US.”

Here is an actual email thread to a customer in financial difficulty and inquiring over scholarship

opportunities.

From: xxxxxxxxx Date: Tue, Aug 24, 2010 at 1:26 PM Subject: Re: UCLE access--Thank you! To: xxxxxxx Thank you so much to all of you at Lawline. It is you who have touched me and filled my heart with hope. I will share this wonderful gift from you with everyone I know. Please know that you people at Lawline will be in my prayers. God Bless, --- On Tue, 8/24/10, xxxxxxxxxx wrote: From: xxxxxxx

Subject: UCLE access To: xxxxxxxxx Date: Tuesday, August 24, 2010, 11:12 AM

Hello xxxxx,

This is xxx from Lawline Customer Service. We just received your touching letter. It warmed all of our hearts here in the office to hear how much you appreciated us and would like to help you continue your selfless work. It takes a special, driven, caring person to do the sort of work you do without financial motivation. We would like to help you continue with your work however we can. Next time you log into your account with us you will find you page has changed a little bit. You have unlimited access to our course catalog for the next two years. When you open the "AVAILABLE COURSES" page you will see the course catalog listed and the courses will be available for you to watch whenever is most convenient for you. If you have any problems or questions please don't hesitate to give me a call. We wish you all best!

Another important way we “sell” our company to customers is by listening. As noted, we heavily promote sharing information, listening, and taking action on innovative ideas internally. This foundation is carried over to customers, and when we receive positive feedback from customers, it is further engrained in our culture as our foundational business model.

It becomes a virtuous cycle of cooperation and teamwork.

Below is a testimonial from a customer regarding feedback to providing additional insight to expand upon one of our popular courses. As a result of the request, we filmed the course, tagged the customer’s profile, and sent a free link to watch the course once it aired.

From: xxxx Subject: Re: Updated CLE Program on the SEC Wow! You DO read the comments. Thanks for the update. I will watch the program you

recommend.

Regards,

From: xxxxx To: xxxxx

Subject: Updated CLE Program on the SEC Dear xxxxxxx, Thank you for your comment on the CLE program "The Securities & Exchange Commission: History & Status." We have developed an updated program on the SEC called "Being Practical with the SEC After the Meltdown." We have given you free access to the course, which can be taken for CLE credit. Please let us know if you have any further suggestions and THANK YOU for the feedback.