I KYA-ed and Wrapped My Head!

I see I am being picked often on LinkedIn to answer questions in articles that have to do with writing and public presentation to audiences.

In my response to the questions, I also find myself harping on KYA (Know Your Audience) over and over again.

KYA is important, simple!

If you have no idea of the class, pedigree, corporate level, etc., how would you tailor your materials and delivery to "railroad" them, for instance, into buying from you if you are making a pitch?

Let me buttress this with a story: sometime ago, I was proposing to a director in a government parastatal to buy into the L & D sessions we were selling to his ministry for their human capital. I was following up on a lead and got to get an appointment to meet with this director. I walked into his office that day and one look at me, I saw mild irritation and disapproval in his eyes and wondered why.

I was very properly dressed and well-turned out alright, so I was nonplussed about his reaction to me. I made my pitch, presented our proposal in a hard copy and he waved it away, asking that I pass it through his admin process.

Ooookay...!

As I stood up to leave after thanking him profusely, he couldn't help himself and just blurted out, 'Why are your nails all of different colours? Is that the reigning thing now?' These were his exact words. I lifted my hands and looked at my nails and boom...it all made sense. I'd painted all my finger nails in different colours; there was red and blue and a green on one of my my pinky nails, I think. I smiled uneasily and without actually apologising, sort of apologised that I was trying something out. He shrugged and asked me to drop the proposal at admin section.

The next time I went there, I did not only have all my finger nails painted in one VERY MUTED colour, I actually wore my hair in a demure head wrap!

As soon as I walked into his office, his hooded look gave me a once-over and rested on my hands and fingernails; then HE SMILED! That day, he actually offered me soft drinks, peanuts and biscuits, God is my witness. He called for our proposal and engaged me in a conversation on it, advising me on how to rewrite it so it will sail through.

I don't know if it was the uniformly coloured nails or the head wrap that did the magic, but bottomline, no one can ever go wrong by KYA-ing and following the unsaid and/or unwritten 'rules'. Sometimes, when you are not sure, play safe and be formal and modest. If you insist on dressing glamorously, be sedate and spare about it.

That's for sartorial skills; there are many other ways to apply KYA in writing or speaking to an audience or to the public.

I'll be back with more. Till then, please KYA!