Personal interactions are the cornerstone of White House Marketing’s business. So if you walk into our office, chances are you’ll find quite a few strong speakers. Unfortunately, this skill doesn’t come naturally for everyone. So, we’ve identified these four tips that can help make you a more impactful speaker:

1. Before You Speak, Think About Your Audience: Before you say anything, you should be sure to understand your audience as well as you can. The best speeches and presentations are always tailored for the people listening to them. You can’t do this unless you first spending time analyzing those people. Be sure to ask yourself who they are and why they will be interested in what you have to say. From there, focus what you say on the parts that are most engaging for your audience.

1. Hook Your Audience From the First Word: This may seem obvious; and frankly, it is. However, it isn’t something you should take for granted. The first couple of minutes of your presentation are crucial. You should spend the most time considering your first few words to ensure that they will immediately make your audience interested in listening to the rest of your speech.

1. Always Include a Solution: In every speech or presentation, you should be addressing a problem that is relevant to your audience. Always make sure that you are offering a solution to that problem during your speech. This is the crux of persuasive speaking.

1. Ask Your Audience to do Something: Every presentation should include a call to action for your audience. If your speech has made an impact, they should be inspired to take some sort of action. However, if you neglect to tell them what you want them to do, you will be missing a significant opportunity.

At White House Marketing, we have repeatedly leveraged these public speaking habits to our benefit. Keep these four ideas in mind when you are writing your next speech or presentation. Hopefully you will find that you are far more impactful and persuasive.

The White House Marketing team is an extremely energetic group. One of our favorite topics of conversation around the office is productivity hacking. We have all tried a variety of different tips and tricks to get more done in a day; some of which have been very useful, others not as much. Interestingly the most universally effective productivity secret we have found is also one of the simplest: work on the most important tasks during your most productive hours.

This is based on the fact that everyone naturally has a certain period in the day when they are their most productive. When and how long this time is varies from person to person; but we all have that point in the day when we get the most done. It is only logical to focus on our highest-leverage tasks during this period. That way we can be super productive when working on more impactful work, and save the other stuff for the rest of the day.

Unfortunately, identifying that certain time of day is not the easiest thing to do. We’ve found that there are a few steps that you can take to efficiently map out your productivity flow throughout the day. The first trick to this process is choosing a relatively light day; if you try to identify your most productive hours on a day when you have no time to rest, you won’t have the necessary control over your schedule.

The next step is extremely simple: keep track of what you do in a day and how you feel while doing it. With that data in hand, start to analyze the patterns. You should begin noticing times when you feel in the groove and get a lot done. Once you’ve identified the best time, use them to accomplish your most important tasks for the day.

If you are still struggling to find you most productive hours, try asking others for their observations of your flow throughout the day; they may notice something that you haven’t. If you take advantage of these tricks, you can greatly increase your productivity each day.

White House Marketing, Inc., gives you the opportunity to learn by example. Here are the best tips from five successful CEOs for small businesses seeking growth and success.

1. Robert Reid of Intaccct Corporation: Hold People Accountable

Robert Reid recommends giving each team member quarterly goals consistent with the company mission. Check in, have meetings, and discuss these objectives to hold them accountable to these standards.

2. Shane Robison of Fusion-io: Dispose of Your Ego

Robison believes that micromanaging team members and working from a perception of self‑absorption fails miserably. The better way to approach your team is to respect their expertise and grant them discretion while also being there to provide guidance. Management is not about you. It is about encouraging a team to produce the best results.

3. Chau Nguyen of Campus Special: Hire Talent and Delegate to Them

Even as a CEO, you do not know everything. Nguyen recognizes the expertise of his talent and defers to them. Hire the best people and most of your work will already be done.

4. Keith Krach of DocuSign: Embrace Enthusiasm

Your product will not pass muster with the consumer market unless it excites you. Krach believes business owners and leaders must follow their passion and let their energy be contagious. Team members will believe in you and consumers will want to learn more about your product.

5. Anthony Bruce of APT: Hire Compatible People

Bruce recommends finding people who will work well in a team. Excellence can be overshadowed with negativity quickly if a team member does not get along with others.

Allow these tips to inspire you to find the best in your business today. The advice offered by these CEOs reminds you to put your business first. Doing so will enable you to hire the best people and maintain your passion for your objectives.

Removing yourself from behind the virtual wall of your digital network is often intimidating. However, White House Marketing, Inc., sees conferences as networking and learning tools you cannot replicate easily. Make conferences work for you with these four tips.

1. Define Objectives

Know what you want from the conference. This will be a big outlay of time and money and if you cannot define your objective, it may be worth skipping. Know your goals ahead of time whether it is to get a specific message across or network with a particular group of people.

2. Bring the Right People

Bring people with a vested interest in doing well at the conference. If you have team members who are simply not enthusiastic, let them stay home to run the office. People who are interested in attending and ready to make new connections are the best to accompany you and help spread your company’s message.

3. Design a System to Track Your Connections

Use a spreadsheet or other tool to track who you talk to and how to reach them. Add a few details so you can remember them better. You will like meet hundreds of people and you want a system to keep them all straight.

4. Follow Up After the Event

Send thank you notes to participants. Ask to connect through social media, whether that is LinkedIn or Facebook; keep the momentum of the connection going and help it evolve to something more significant for your career.

With a good plan, a conference can be very productive if you can avoid social pitfalls. Attend that conference with specific goals and be prepared to meet new people. That winning formula will make the time and money a good investment.