IF YOU’RE IN PUBLIC RELATIONS: Let’s face it, you’re in the people business

Ok, I know it sounds insane to point out that as communications specialists we’re in the people business. Of course we are… but I honestly think, and especially with certain types of shops, that we often forget what our real assets are—people. Why is this the subject of a blog entry? Because everyday I have to remind myself of that fact.

So, who are the people? If you’re a communications practitioner you’re going to say the media, the clients, your employees and co-workers. And that’s 100% right. But there are also YOUR vendors, various cab drivers, the drycleaner, etc. Really? Well, think about it… running your own lifestyle PR business or just working in this industry can be HIGHLY stressful. All day long it’s our job to “convince” people to do things: write stories about our clients, trust our agency to give you good advice that you SHOULD take and NOW… this is stressful. It’s not always easy to convince anyone to do anything, just think about your own family and friends (how often do they do what you want them to do?). So what happens with all this stress? Well if you’re not a saint (and if you work with me you KNOW that I am not one to blithely pass things off to fate and lightly move on), then you might find that you are just a tad bit curt with your staff, not to mention the guy at the corner bodega.

So, here’s my point. Remember, you’re in it for the people. All that practicing you do, being polite when you’re irritated (yes, Mr. Cabdriver you really don’t need to jerk me all over the backseat) or holding your tongue when the super tells you that he can’t fix the toilet, will help you when your client refuses to take good advice (do magicians and diamonds really go together?) or when your employee screws up the call-in number for your new pitch (that you really need to sell in or you can’t hire that new person in LA). It all adds up in the end. Because if you do lifestyle PR and rep consumer brands like we do you might think it’s about the chocolate, but it’s really about the receptionist.