Par Approach To Article-writing

Producing Tangible Sales Results for Law Firms:  Early-Career Sales Education for Associates  Sales Performance Improvement for Partners  Sales Management and Leadership www.salesresults.com

PAR: The Path to Articles With Greater Impact – In Less Time By Mike O’Horo and Pat Sweeney The power of editorial media is undeniable. They have access to the decision-makers and influencers who either don’t know us yet or don’t know us in the way we wish they did. Not only that, but among their subscribers, they are considered a trusted source, so merely appearing there conveys credibility to their audience. Yet, writing articles worthy of publication sometimes seems to take longer than it may be worth. Here are some guidelines to simplify this necessary task, and a structure that will accelerate the time from idea to submission while making your article more attractive to both editors and their audiences. First, understand that the purpose of your article is not to educate the audience but to position yourself among them in a differentiated way. This is marketing, not CLE. If you’re going to be in the education business, charge a course fee. Apart from legal journals read mostly by competitors, there is little demand for dense legal tracts with heavy citations. There is, however, steady demand for insight into business problems that have meaningful impact on the readers’ companies’ strategy and operations, finances, and the readers’ careers and lives. Your goal is not to tell everything you know on the subject in great functional detail, thus giving away the store, but to take a clear position on an issue of importance so that readers who are obligated to care about the problem can decide whether or not you are aligned with their views on the subject. Please note the absence of intent to persuade. We’re trying to make it easy for those who already agree with us – but may not previously have been aware that we agreed on this issue – to recognize that alignment and find us. This is why we advocate taking the PAR approach to writing articles: Problem, Action, Results.

Problem Simply, describe a business problem that a group of desirable clients-to-be face. Don’t equivocate. Take a strong, clear stand on a business problem that you believe afflicts the type of companies that match your optimal market profile. (If you don’t know your optimal profile, visit http://www.salesresults.com/rmarchive-item.cfm?mail_number=266 and go through the detailed planning process described there. Or, if you’re a ResultsPath program participant, call your coach for help.) Your intent is to stimulate a strong response, either positive or negative. We’re talking business problem, not legal problem. For example, “U.S. companies, accustomed to the luxury of a huge domestic market, are not even looking at opportunities in fast-growing Latin America, or are approaching it so tentatively that they’re moving dangerously slowly.” Everyone will not agree with your assessment of the opportunity or their negligence. However, those who are concerned about this issue will be motivated to pay attention to what you have to say. The simple declaration of the problem is an attention-getter and allows those not concerned to opt out, saving their time to read something else about a topic they do care about. Now, you’ve got to help them recognize their degree of investment in the problem by talking about the current consequences of the problem in strategic, operational, economic and personal terms. In our Latin American example, you © 2005 Sales Results, Inc. Reproduction or re-use without written permission is prohibited.

Producing Tangible Sales Results for Law Firms:  Early-Career Sales Education for Associates  Sales Performance Improvement for Partners  Sales Management and Leadership www.salesresults.com might cite how fledgling suppliers are using Latin America as a beachhead to establish strong strategic brands that will later serve as a launch platform in the U.S. (strategic consequence). You might talk about how the early adopters are locking up scarce materials, key suppliers, distributors, sales organizations, government relationships, etc., lengthening later arrivals’ time-to-market, relative cost (operational, economic impact). You get the idea. This is where people separate mere intellectual interest from “I’ve gotta act.”

Action Advocacy This is the shortest segment of the article. Here you speak only categorically, e.g., “So, begin and exercise and nutrition program today to avoid all the bad stuff I described in the Problem section.” In our example, “Take stock of your remaining growth potential in domestic markets to see if you’re being shortsighted, and give serious consideration to Latin American expansion.” The key is to describe what to do, but now how to do it. What-oriented advice is free. “How” to do the “what” within the context of a specific business is the expertise and judgment for which you charge fees. You’ll find that eliminating the detailed operational advice shortens the article a lot.

Results This should be the easiest and fastest section to write. It’s how the reader’s world will be positively affected if he follows your advice. It’s the direct opposite of the Problem section, with emphasis on direct. If you referenced fledgling suppliers using Latin America as a beachhead to establish strong strategic brands that later serve provide them a U.S. launch platform, here you’ll tell them that they’ll keep those suppliers busy defending their home turf, with fewer resources available to attack your U.S. position. Continuing the Latin America example we’ve used throughout this piece, you’d talk about protecting your access to scarce materials, key suppliers, distributors, sales organizations and government relationships. Close with a Call to Action: “Have your team review your U.S. growth prospects today to see whether or not a domestic-only approach is shortsighted in light of these trends, then seek the advice of someone familiar with Latin American opportunities.”

Applying the PAR Formula Draft a 600-word “core” argument around the most important business problem that serves as the Demand Trigger™ for your key strategic services. This size will let you quickly adjust to media opportunities that your marketing department or PR consultant brings you. To expand to 1000 words, develop the Problem section by citing subtle permutations of the problem or going into greater detail about the consequences. Be very careful not to add too much to the Action Advocacy section. To shorten, put all three sections on a word diet, eliminating complex sentences and prepositional phrases, reflexive verbs, etc. Remember that you can customize your message for any industry simply by using industry-specific language, situations and applications throughout.

© 2005 Sales Results, Inc. Reproduction or re-use without written permission is prohibited.

Producing Tangible Sales Results for Law Firms:  Early-Career Sales Education for Associates  Sales Performance Improvement for Partners  Sales Management and Leadership www.salesresults.com

Summary Problem: An industry-specific description of the business problem that serves as your Demand Trigger™, expressed in the context of the strategic, operational, economic and personal impact on the company and its stakeholders. Action: The categorical action that you think the reader should take to avoid, contain, alleviate or recover from the Problem. Result: Specifically, how the company and stakeholders will be positively affected by taking the action you recommend, expressed in the same strategic, operational, economic and personal impact language used to describe the Problem.

The authors are principals in Sales Results, Inc., trainers and coaches to more than 3500 law partners in firms of every size, geography and practice array. Their clients attribute more than $1.5 billion in new revenue to their ResultsPath™ sales methodology and coaching. Other sales articles and the ResultsMail tip archive are available at www.salesresults.com.

© 2005 Sales Results, Inc. Reproduction or re-use without written permission is prohibited.