In this episode of Build Momentum, we are joined by Dennis Welch. He was a former full-time musician and songwriter. Dennis has also worked at Gallup, a global analytics and advisory company based in Washington, D.C.
In January 2012, Dennis started Articulate, a company specializing in PR and communications for the book industry. He is currently the president and CEO.
Some Questions I Ask:
In This Episode, You Will Learn:
Quotes:
“This is a lot easier to do for somebody else than it is to do it for yourself, quite frankly, unless you're an egomaniac.”
“We have never advertised or done marketing of any kind. It is all word of mouth for 10 years. And that's such a blessing.”
“Every good thing happens in a dialogue.”
“I'm interested when people say, ‘You know what, this might change the lives of people in a way that could be transformational,’ and salt the culture a little bit and those kinds of things, you know, that piques my interest already. It makes my filters change for how I read their book or help them with the book.”
“I don't have to have [a big-name author like] Patrick Lencioni. To get some activity, some big activity, what I have to be able to explain quickly—to get your attention quickly—is why this matters. Create some urgency. And if I can do that, then you know what? Then anything is possible.”
“Everybody thinks they're going to write a book. But when you meet people who actually have written books, it's very cool. And I treat that like the gift that it is, because you spent a lot of hours in your room somewhere doing this—and it's important.”
Connect with Dennis Welch:
Articulate Website
Dennis Welch’s LinkedIn
dennis@bearticulate.com
Stay in touch with Sarah Williamson:
Free Case Study Guide
SWPR GROUP Website
LinkedIn
Stay in touch with Chad Bolser:
LinkedIn
About "The Secret to Transformational Leadership," which Sarah co-authored with Dr. Quintin Shepherd:
Transformational Leadership Secret website
Purchase the print or ebook
In this episode of Build Momentum, we are joined by Dennis Welch. He was a former full-time musician and songwriter. Dennis has also worked at Gallup, a global analytics and advisory company based in Washington, D.C.
In January 2012, Dennis started Articulate, a company specializing in PR and communications for the book industry. He is currently the president and CEO.
Some Questions I Ask:
In This Episode, You Will Learn:
Quotes:
“This is a lot easier to do for somebody else than it is to do it for yourself, quite frankly, unless you're an egomaniac.”
“We have never advertised or done marketing of any kind. It is all word of mouth for 10 years. And that's such a blessing.”
“Every good thing happens in a dialogue.”
“I'm interested when people say, ‘You know what, this might change the lives of people in a way that could be transformational,’ and salt the culture a little bit and those kinds of things, you know, that piques my interest already. It makes my filters change for how I read their book or help them with the book.”
“I don't have to have [a big-name author like] Patrick Lencioni. To get some activity, some big activity, what I have to be able to explain quickly—to get your attention quickly—is why this matters. Create some urgency. And if I can do that, then you know what? Then anything is possible.”
“Everybody thinks they're going to write a book. But when you meet people who actually have written books, it's very cool. And I treat that like the gift that it is, because you spent a lot of hours in your room somewhere doing this—and it's important.”
Connect with Dennis Welch:
Articulate Website
Dennis Welch’s LinkedIn
dennis@bearticulate.com
Stay in touch with Sarah Williamson:
Free Case Study Guide
SWPR GROUP Website
LinkedIn
Stay in touch with Chad Bolser:
LinkedIn
About "The Secret to Transformational Leadership," which Sarah co-authored with Dr. Quintin Shepherd:
Transformational Leadership Secret website
Purchase the print or ebook
Hello and welcome to Build Momentum where we help education organizations, blow past their competitors with strategies that make an impact. We think beyond traditional press releases and generic communication tactics, and seek out big, bold ideas to create meaningful results for our clients. I'm your host, Sarah Williamson. And I've spent more than 15 years in public relations for the education sector, where our team has learned what works, and what doesn't when it comes to PR, from launching groundbreaking new industry awards to landing sought after panels at the most prestigious shows. We absolutely love this stuff. But the best part is, we have an opportunity to interview some of the smartest people we know who share their knowledge and strategies or success right here on the show. If you enjoy what you hear, we would so appreciate if you please take a moment to drop us a review on whatever platform you listen. And if you want to learn more about us, visit swpr-group.com. Thanks so much for tuning in today. Let's dive into the show. Okay, and on today's episode, we have Dennis Welch with us. Dennis is the president and CEO of Articulate a company specializing in PR and communications for the book industry. Dennis, it's so great to have you. Welcome.
Dennis Welch:Thank you. It's great to be here. Thanks for having me on.
Sarah Williamson:Yes, absolutely. So I wanted to invite you because I obviously do PR and I know how to do PR and communications at our company SWPR group. But book public relations and book promoting is so different. So I'm curious, how did you find your way into this niche? Will you share with us your story?
Dennis Welch:Well, back in the day, when I was younger, I was a full time musician and songwriter and made records turned around until my kids were born and had a couple of sons. And I realized I couldn't do it anymore. I went out on tour with a band Billy Squier in a band called King sex and I lasted about three weeks. And that was all that was it, I couldn't do it. So I came home and I went to work for the Gallup organization, although I've continued to write, by the way songs through the years, and occasionally other people record them and actually have a new record that just came out here, September 1. So anyway, so I'll always gonna do it. I'm always hoping somebody else will sing these songs, I'm not going to get out and try to be a rock star. But anyway, I went to work for the Gallup organization, right when they were transitioning from being a not very profitable, but very well known polling company to the consulting sort of juggernaut they became and one of the elements of that change over where all of these huge books, you know, first break all the rules. Now discover your strengths, which is never left the bestseller list. And so in my 13 years there, I want to do a lot of things. I started Spanish interviewing there, because I speak some Spanish, I went back and got an MBA became a director of marketing. But my last year there was a special project, the CEO called me and said, Hey, I have this very special project, I want you to help me with it. And keep doing all your director marketing stuff. I was also a senior staff writer for the company, to keep doing all of that just helped me with this one project. Well, there was a book involved in that. And so I had never met the book publicist, I never met any book publicist, to be honest with you. And I met her and we started working together. I liked her so much. And she lived here in Texas, you live in Austin that was in Houston at the time. And so when I left Gallup, at the end of that year to go start my own thing, I wasn't even really sure what it was. And she called me and said, You know, I have a John Maxwell book. And I know you toured around with John last year, you know him well, and I'd like to buy a couple of days of your time. And so I did a couple of days for John. And at the end of day two of you know, book, PR, this new thing. She calls me at the end of day two, and she said, Okay, how do you know how to do this? Because you've gotten more for John in two days than we get in a month. How does that happen? And I said, Well, remember when I was a musician, and songwriter, I was my own publicist, and I was on TV and radio everywhere. And I did all kinds of big deals. The Houston newspaper ran a full page story when an album came out. And I was nobody, nobody really knew me. But I got all of this stuff. I said, this is a lot easier to do for somebody else than it is to do it for yourself, quite frankly, unless you're an egomaniac. And so anyway, so she said, Well, look, why don't you shutter your business, this brand new business you just started and just put it on hold for a little bit and come to work for me as my vice president, publicity director and really learn how to do this. Well, I did that and so I spent the next four and a half years working with all the top business authors and the CEO of Campbell's Soup, absolutely loved it. And then I went back out on my own again, with Barb's blessing, by the way, and I in January of 2012, I started this company, and that's, I've been doing it ever since. And here's the crazy part, Sarah, we have never advertised or done marketing of any kind, it is all word of mouth for 10 years. And so that's such a blessing, you know, you know how it is you get those, and those conversations are really warm, you're not having to sell stuff, you know. But I'm never gonna be any good at that. So that's how I got involved. That's a long answer. But
Sarah Williamson:it sounds like you're clearly a renaissance man. That's what I got from that.
Dennis Welch:I hope I am my wife thinks I am so that whatever she thinks is what matters. 41 years you know? Yeah, so it is a win. Yeah.
Sarah Williamson:Wow. That's a great story. Okay, so then you got into this industry? Tell us I'm very curious, because especially being in the PR world, how would you say promoting a book is different than promoting a business or a company or a product?
Dennis Welch:I think the primary difference is that books have a little tiny window of interest in the media, you know, it's about a month before the book comes out, and about three months after the book comes out. And that's it. And then sometimes, if you've got a real Juggernaut, you're going crazy, you can extend that for a month or two. But books have a shelf life with the media. And one of the things that I do to sort of extend that is I get involved early with people, and I start looking for places where we can like, I'll see an article about something, the PR business, let's say, in your business, and I'll say, You know what, I'll send them a note and the writer cause I can find them, I have this big database, you probably do, too, that I pay a lot of money every year for. And so I go find the writer and their email address, I'll send a note and say, you know, good morning, Sarah, read that great article this morning. You know, my client is also doing that kind of thing. She's actually working on a book about that, you know, if you're ever interested, let me put her on your radar screen. And so that kind of sort of plowing the fields way before the window opens, can really yield some big results, because then it's very easy if they respond. You know, my contention is that every, I guess it's our mantra that every good thing happens in a dialogue. And so here's what I know, I'm not going to have dialogues with everybody. But if I can have it with somebody, then I'm comfortable, then continuing that when we get closer to the time the book comes out, I can go back to this person, if they responded to me, and say, Hey, remember that book we talked about? So let you know about that. And so you're not starting from zero at that point. But I would say the biggest difference is just a small window of time that you have to get people's attention in the media, who some of them are, as you know, are getting 1000 pitches a day from people like us. And so it's got to be right, you know?
Sarah Williamson:Yeah. Okay. So let's say that's good advice. We're just we actually are thinking about kicking off a book. So what would your advice be for us? Besides reaching out early? Do you have any best practices that you'd suggest for our listeners?
Dennis Welch:Well, one of the things I do with a lot of authors, and it's happened, let me just say this, I'm not strategic enough, or maybe not even smart enough to figure out how we got to where we are now. It's just happened sort of organically. And one of the cool things is I get involved early, a lot of times while the book is still being written, or well, you know, let's consider it or can you help us with the title? That's a very interesting one. I had a oftentimes we find involved early, when it comes time to title a book. You know, most people are terrible at titles. I mean, I'll just tell you a quick story. I had a guy a few years ago, he interviewed all of these Texas business people who were servant leaders, okay. And he came to me and said, Hey, man, I got the title. You ready? Big hats. Big hearts. Yikes. Okay. You know how you hear stuff and you have to try to find some silver lining. I couldn't find one. Okay. And so I said, Well, you know, that's really good. Tom, let me think about that. Okay. And then are you open to other suggestions? Oh, yes. I'm wide open to other suggestions like Hallo Frick and Lujah. Okay, so a few weeks later, after, you know, I've read through everything that we're doing. I already know what he's doing. And so I know big hats and big hearts is not good idea. So we convene the team and before we convene, I go to Roget's Thesaurus. And I tried to find a word single word for special okay, I believe the word was special that I was thinking of that these are There's nobody like these people right they stand alone. So the word is peerless p e e r l e s s, you know, peerless. So when we got in our little huddle, I said, Hey, Tom, I got a title for you ready? Peerless? And I said because it's one word. I said the subtitle needs to be a triad. It needs to b e musical da-da-da-da da-da-da-da da-da-da-da. And I said, You know what, just think about it. He was like, wow, that's a lot better than big hats, big hearts. Well, no kidding. So we had real success with that campaign in large part, because you know, we chose the right title. I mean, there's things you can do to sort of, you don't want to change somebody's art to fit what the media is going to, like, quite honestly, I'm not a fan of that. As an artist myself, I don't really want to craft it so that somebody out there will say, Oh, yeah, that's really good. No, I want it to come from your heart and be what you want to say. But in the context of that, you can tweak and if you're in early enough, you can start thinking about, okay, you know what, that's great. But when we go to pitch this, this might be a problem, or this might be a roadblock, or just a speed, bump, whatever. And you can start fixing some of that stuff. So that when you get ready to really go, it has this very elegant chance of being noticed. And that's and that is, you know, that's all you're trying to do, if you can get somebody noticed, and somebody cares enough to reach back out to me, that's probably 80%, that there's going to be some good stuff happen there.
Sarah Williamson:Yeah. Oh, that really does. So when you get involved early, you're looking at the title, what else are you looking for? When you look at that book?
Dennis Welch:This is gonna sound kind of crazy, but it's all very mystical to me. Because you know, when I have a conversation with somebody, like people always want to send me we turned down a lot of business because I don't fill slots, okay. And I'm not ever going to do that. And we set out in the beginning to not do it. And later on, I'm going to tell you a story about my first client that I got when I started this business, and you'll see what I'm talking about. So what happens is people want to send me their manuscripts, let me send you this is awesome. Okay. It's like, okay, I know, I'm sure it is. But that's not where I start. I want to hear you talk about it. I want to hear you. Okay. And when I hear you, you know, Paul McCartney said one time recently, he said, You know, I don't read music, I see music. I don't know how to read music, but I see it. And you know what, nobody can explain what he just said. But he knows what he's talking about. And that's what this is. So when I'm in a conversation with somebody, in my soul, I know, this is omebody I need to be helping hat we need to be working with his person. They may say no, ut we should at least offer to elp them with this. And as they alk about their book, if all hey talk about is bestsellers, nd I want to raise my speaking ees, and all this stuff, I have ero interest in that, quite onestly, you know, I'm nterested in when people say, ou know what, this might change he lives of people in a way hat could be transformational, nd, you know, salt the culture little bit and those kinds of hings, you know, that piques my nterest already, it makes my ilters change for how I read heir book, or help them with he book or whatever happens. So he conversation is the whole hing for me. And then the other art is, once I get the book fter I have the conversation, 0 or 30 pages into the book, if t's already written, I know I ee it. It's like, it just comes p on my screen and goes, Oh, ere's the hooks in this. Here's he messaging and it starts oming. And if it doesn't do hat, my answer is no. No matter ow many checkbooks they have pen, I just say no. And because e have to do what we think is ight here.
Sarah Williamson:Yeah, definitely. I love that answer. It's kind of what we do in my business, too. I mean, if we feel like a company is not going to be a good fit, it doesn't matter how much you pitch it. It's just,
Dennis Welch:Yeah, It's not worth it
Sarah Williamson:it's not gonna be successful. Yeah, exactly. There's a magic to it. There's definitely a magic and a mystical energy to what we're doing
Dennis Welch:There is and you know, Don Clifton, the man who invented the strengths finder, and help right now discover your strengths. And I mean, the grandfather of positive psychology, he worked for the Gallup organization. And one time we were sitting outside standing outside of a meeting room, and it was never just me and him. It was always a crowd, you know, but all of a sudden, it was just me and him. And so he was probably about 80 at the time. And I said Don Clifton, I said, You know what, it's just me and you. I said, So tell me the most profound thing you can tell me in two minutes before you walk in, and he got a big smile on his face. And he held up his finger like this. And he said his index finger any said, Dennis, every single person on the planet can do at least one thing better than 10,000 other people. That's the good news. He said, I'm talking everybody. The guy on the park bench, the person sweeping the floors, they can do at least one thing better than 10,000 other people. He said that's the good news. The bad news is most people have no idea what that one thing is. Only 20% of us by our own admission, Sarah, say yes to the statement at work, I get to do what I do best every day. That's one person in five that's 80% of people just out there doing stuff. And so what I would say is is that you and I should count our blessings. Because the fact that we have we are sitting in a place like this, where we get we know what we're doing, you know Chuck Noll, the coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, I just read this quote recently. He said the only time you should worry about pressures if you don't know what you're doing, and you know, and so but when you're in that place that you're supposed to be, you know, I never feel freaked out about how much work I have, or what are we going to do? Or that I just No, uh, no, I feel like I know what's next. And that sounds arrogant, but it shouldn't sound arrogant. It's just, it's what I do best. And so it's what you do best. And when you talk about when you just said that, you know what, I get it. We're both we're lucky.
Sarah Williamson:We're so lucky.
Dennis Welch:We're the 20%, you know,
Sarah Williamson:We are very, very lucky every day. I feel luckier and luckier.
Dennis Welch:Yeah, me too.
Sarah Williamson:Yeah, my team is growing. And it's just a wonderful time to be in education technology. I'll tell you that. It's fun. Okay, somy next question is, would you tell us a story about one of your greatest successes, or where you just totally landed it out of the park for one of your clients, I want to hear one of those stories.
Dennis Welch:So my favorite story is the first client we got when we left. When I left Barbara and I put my shingle out, you know, this has happened to me a lot where I leave. You know, when I left the Gallup organization, I left a paycheck every two weeks. And when I left I had I didn't have any have a customer, like, but I knew in my heart and my wife and I both knew it was time to move on. And it's like, okay, where are we going? The answer is, I don't know. We got to figure it out. So when I left Barbara Hendricks has same deal. lf they're getting a paycheck every two weeks, all of a sudden, now I've got a company that doors open, and I'll have any customers. I mean, my light company really likes for me to pay him every month, right? So I get a call almost immediately from this guy and Austin author. His book was about starting a business, how to start a business kind of like a startup kind of book, I might have even been called Startup. And his publisher was up until right then was a medical publisher. And their big book The year before was about your pulmonary system. I mean, what did that sell five copies. And so they started a business book division, and this guy was their first author. So anyway, he sent the book over, I read it, it was really good. He's very smart. But I was thinking, you know, this was probably written five times last week how to start a business. So I need to tell him, no, but I need to see him, I'm not going to just call him up and say, we're not interested. I'm going to do this the right way from the very beginning. So we meet across town at this Starbucks. And this dude, he sat down, and his hair was all spring down. And he hadn't shaved in a few days. And he was just stipulating kind of wildly and talking about electric cars and like a little bit of crazy. And so I sat and watched him for a little bit. And I changed my mind while I was watching him. I said, Kevin, do you know that you're the mad scientist of entrepreneurs? Did you know this? And he got a big smile on his face. He goes, Wow, I love that. I said, I love it, too. I said, so look, here's what you're going to do, we're going to work together. And I said, you're going to be my first client, okay? And I said, here's what I want you to do. Go back to your office and get on your whiteboard and do a bunch of square roots and formulas and stuff. And then have somebody take your picture right now the way you look right now and have your picture taken in front of that. And I said, are you okay? With me pitching you, as the mad scientist of entrepreneurs. He lives in Austin, who knew this, right? And so I said, That's what I want to do. And he was giddy about it. So we go to work. And I'm pitch my pitch, Sarah is, you know, I just wan a let you know, I found the m d scientists of entrepreneurs. e lives in Austin, Texas, in th t something, you know, and so t was kind of a wild thing. It s like, we almost didn't ev n really talk about the book. B t I would say, you know, he s written a book about starting a business, he's really kind of a genius, I think you should l t him contribute. Well, here s what happened. A couple of wee s goes by it was really quiet. A d you know how this business i, if you don't like quiet, y u shouldn't be doing it. So a couple of weeks goes by, and I m thinking, whoops, I hope this s working. And one night at arou d nine o'clock, my email ligh s up, and it's an editor at T e Wall Street Journal. And s e goes, Hey, Dennis, you think t e mad scientist of entrepreneu s who uses my language, would e interested in being interview d for a story about starting a business? I said, Dear, that's a rhetorical question. Of cours, he would tell us where and whe, right? You know, it's this ki d of thing happens. It's lik, just tell us where we'll e there. So he does the intervie. And he's so brilliant that a week or so later, I get an ema l from somebody. I wasn't ev n pitching at the Wall Stre t Journal. And she said, He, Dennis, you know, the m d scientist. mompreneurs is o awesome. You think he'd e interested in writing a sto y for us? Again? That's a rhetorical question. Of cour e he would. And so he writes th s fabulous story for The Wa l Street Journal. Well Th t afternoon, I get a call from h s publisher, the guy who owns t e company in New York. And e goes, Dennis, he goes, What t e hell is in the water in Austi, Texas. He goes, I think I ju t courier a book over to the Wa l Street Journal. What are y u doing down there? How are y u making this happen? I'm lik, You know what, I don't kno. It's all coming to me as we g. Just stay with us. Okay. Wel, eventually, that guy became a regular contributor to Forbe, and nobody knew his name. Y u know, nobody, only his fami y basically, in me knew his na e before we started this campaig. And all of a sudden, he's n expert on starting a busines. And so you know what that di? Sarah, that was a great way o start my business. Yeah. Becau e here's what he told me. Numb r one, is I don't have to ha e Patrick Lencioni. To get so e activity, some big activity, I don't, what I have to have is a have to be able to expla n quickly and get your attenti n quickly why this matters a d create some urgency. And if I can do that, then you know wha, then anything is possible. A d over these 10 years, you kno, I've never had a Patri k Lencioni I've never had a sta. But anyway, he wrote a bo k called Z economy, grea, terrific book, I'll think of h s name probably in the middle f the night or something. B t anyway, you know, he's kind of a star. And I wouldn't say it w s any easier to get him notice. And it was to get somebody y u never heard of noticed? Becau e and that's part of why that ki d of meticulous attention o messaging detail, is why I can t have a lot of customers, I can t have a lot of clients. Becau e there's no way if you've go, you know, so many clients, y u can't stop and think that it s like that might be great f r your banker, but it's terrib e for those people. And I can t look at those people and sa, Well, you know, we just couldn t figure out exactly what we' e doing here. No, you know, t e answer is we won't take it if e think that so yeah, but here s the deal. If you do that, if y u take the time, take a walk, o for a bike ride, or whatever y u need to do to get your he d clear, and start writing the r song, if you can do that. A d it's really good. People a e gonna respond, and they're gon a think, well, I have to p y attention to this. And that s the grand slam right there. I mean, I've had other stori s like his mad scientists f entrepreneurs, but his is t e one that just I'm always thi k of first I think that was such a cool moment for him. Especiall. That's amazing. And you almo t told him no, almost holding n. Yeah, almost missed. That wou d be terribl
Sarah Williamson:I would have been terrible. So okay, Dennis, this has been so great. I think you're gonna have a lot of people just get their arms around how book promoting is quite different than pursuing other avenues of public relations or outreach. So would you tell our listeners where they can find out more about you
Dennis Welch:Sure. They can come to www.bearticulate b e articulate.com. Be articulate. It's not bear ticulate I have people all the time say is that bearticulate? Like you can't call me if you think it's bearticulate. Okay. It's a I never thought that that's because you are articulate. Anyway, I'm kidding. But anyway, bearticulate.com. And they can even email me if they want to. I don't mind it's Dennis@ bearticulate.com. And I love this stuff. You can see that just like you do. You haven't stop smiling the whole time we've been doing this. And obviously it's a joy to get to do it. And I love talking to people about what they're doing. This is important work when people you know how it is. Everybody thinks they're going to write a book. But when you meet people who actually have written books, it's very cool. And I treat that like the gift that it is because like you spent a lot of hours in your room somewhere doing this and it's important.
Sarah Williamson:That's amazing. Well, thank you, Dennis, really wonderful to have you on the show. I hope you get some outreach with people interested in working with you.
Dennis Welch:Thank you. That would be great. Thank you for having me on. I appreciate it.
Sarah Williamson:Yeah, have a wonderful week.
Dennis Welch:You too.
Sarah Williamson:Thanks so much for tuning in today. If you enjoyed the show, if you wouldn't mind leaving a review, we'd be so grateful. This helps other listeners find and learn about our show. And please reach out if you're interested in learning more about how we can elevate the leaders of your organization with our PR services if you'd like you can even shoot me a direct email at Sarah sarah@swpr-group.com. I look forward to hearing from you and we will see you next time.