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BETTER COMMUNICATION.  BETTER PERFORMANCE.  BETTER SUCCESS.

Can you pass The Grandma Test?  Would your Grandma understand what you do, quickly and easily after hearing your elevator pitch? Your capabilities presentation? Reading your website? And so forth? You know what you do and why you do it. Do your stakeholders (e.g., prospects, customers, and employees) know and appreciate your value? Do they REALLY care about your corporation, your products, and your services?

Our specialties are helping individuals, teams, and corporations simplify the complex and communicate effectively when the stakes are high. We ensure your written, spoken, and social media communications relate and resonate with your stakeholders. That your stakeholders do care about you.

21
years in business
30
industries served
657
happy customers
197887
slides worked on

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION IS CRITICAL

In today’s fast-paced on-line society, effective communication for corporations is more important than ever. Audiences follow, audiences swipe, audiences like. Do they pay attention? Really pay attention? Ira Koretsky, The Chief Storyteller ®, has been a communicator his entire life. It started in high school, some 30 years ago, when he was in debate. His coach, Mr. Height, helped him understand the power of effective communication and understand the power of effective delivery–they went hand-in-hand.

30 years later, NOTHING has fundamentally changed.
To be successful, we will always need effective communication…between people.

Ira has been consulting, speaking/training, and coaching to corporations for sales and marketing in more than a dozen countries (testimonials, customers, success stories, video clips). He performed improvisational comedy with ComedySportz San Jose and ComedySportz DC for over 10 years. Also, he teaches public speaking, storytelling, and communication at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business.

He founded The Chief Storyteller ® in 2002, with the mission of “helping individuals, teams, and corporations, to become your own Chief Storyteller ®” (read more in About). Today, we are a different kind of company, offering a different approach to messaging and marketing communication for corporations.

CUSTOMIZED SERVICES

Below are accordion/windows listing the various services. Press [+] to expand and [-] to close the boxes.

The Success Framework TM (TSFTM) is the foundation to our mutual success. Based on more than 25 years of global experience, TSFTM was developed to be a highly customizable framework, blending assessments, coaching, workshops/training, and consulting.

TSFTM fosters a “Deliberate Communication” culture in corporations. TSFTM ensures you synchronize the right messages to the right services to the right stakeholders at the right times (e.g., staff, partners, vendors, prospects, primes, subs, and clients).

Part-Time CMO / Outsourced CMO / Strategic Marketing / Strategic Communication

  • Strategic Marketing Advisor/Coach
  • Part-Time CMO Services — hands-on & strategic
  • Strategic Communication Plan
  • Strategic Marketing Plan
  • Messaging/Positioning
  • Value Proposition – Elevator Pitch
  • SWOT Analysis
  • Competitive Intelligence/Perceptual Map

Marketing Communication

  • Success Story / Past Performance Library including interviewing and template design
  • Presentation – See Presentation Support
  • Brochures
  • Proposals – See Proposal Support
  • Recommendations & Testimonials including interviewing
  • Personal bios – Executive team
  • Personal bios – Thought leaders & Key persons
  • Content Marketing – See Social Media
  • Messaging Gap Analysis
  • We-You Analysis
  • Marketing Materials/Collateral Review
  • Video – Interviews, Speaker Reels, About Us
  • Press Releases
  • Webinars for prospecting
  • Demonstrations – Product & Services
  • Trade show support

Sales Support

  • Value proposition – Elevator pitch
  • Telephone script
  • Outreach emails
  • Customer testimonial development including interviews
  • Case study development
  • Networking + Relationship building
  • Success story development
  • Personal business storytelling for impact
  • Presentation – see Presentation Support
  • Prospect engagement process/Buyer journey & Buyer personas
  • Proposal – see Proposal Support
  • Storytelling for Sales
  • Workshops/Training
  • Public Speaking Coach
  • Storytelling Coach

Presentation Support

  • Analysis of audience
  • Message map & inspiring title
  • Storyboarding
  • Success stories
  • Storytelling for impact
  • Data Storytelling
  • Content development (words on slides)
  • Slide design (graphs, charts, images, photography)
  • Public speaking delivery and practice (body language, vocal variety, presence, Q&A, multiple speakers)
  • Presentation script
  • Graphic design services (cover page, slide template, individual slides)

We offer a comprehensive set of services and coaching for presentation and public speaking support under our Inspire Action Public Speaking FrameworkTM.

Federal Marketing Support

  • Elevator Pitch / Elevator Speech
  • Capabilities Statement
  • Capabilities Presentation
  • Orals Support
  • Past Performance Success Stories

Business Storytelling

  • Organization story (Elevator Pitch)
  • Past performance success stories
  • Storytelling for Thought Leaders
  • Biographies (leadership, thought leaders, experts, board)
  • Culture stories: Founder’s, Symbol, etc.
  • Storytelling for Leaders
  • Storytelling for recruiting and retention
  • Storytelling for Internal Communication
  • Storytelling Coach
  • Storytelling for Sales

Proposal Support

  • Win themes based on value proposition / brand message
  • Messaged headings and sub-headings as well as action captions for all media
  • Media (e.g., pictures, graphs, tables, call-outs, and testimonial boxes)
  • Past performance success stories
  • Compelling resumes / biographies
  • Orals practice (body language, vocal variety, presence, Q&A, team presenting)
  • Content that is engaging and compelling

Social Media - LinkedIn

  • LinkedIn Profile Makeover Services
  • Company page content and graphic design
  • Showcase pages content and graphic design
  • Updates, Posts, Articles
    • Write articles and post on LinkedIn Pulse, Company Pages, and Showcase Pages
    • Write updates for individual profiles (executives, rising stars, thought leaders)
    • Write updates for Company Pages and Showcase pages

Building Community -- Social Media & Content

  • Editorial Calendar
  • Content development & content writing
  • Content curation
  • LinkedIn updates & articles
  • Blog planning & writing posts
  • Newsletter development & writing articles
  • Twitter profile & tweeting
  • Facebook profile & posts
  • YouTube profile and videos including planning, scripting, shooting, editing, and posting
  • Instagram profile & posts

Investor Presentations

We offer a comprehensive set of services and coaching for investor presentation development and public speaking support under our Inspire Action Public Speaking SystemTM.

Facilitation

  • All-hands meetings
  • Town Halls
  • Annual meetings
  • Holiday parties
  • Retreats
  • Board meetings
  • Team building events
  • Strategic off-sites

Website Design & Marketing Materials Design

The Chief Storyteller® drives the messaging, positioning, and content. Through partners, we assist with the website design, brand design, and marketing material design and development.

Contact us and we can talk further about your goals.

Market Entry Services

We offer a comprehensive suite of Market Entry Services (click here).

Thought Leadership / Industry Influencer

  • Thought Leadership Plan
  • Identify partners – key decision makers at prospect organizations
  • Identify key information sources and sites (blog, LinkedIn, Magazines, Twitter, Industry sites)
  • Personal brand development (biography, LinkedIn profile)
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Content development (articles, blogs, social media updates)
  • Public Speaking Coach
  • Storytelling Coach
  • Professional Speaking Coach

Better Meeting Services

We offer creative, practical services to improve the effectiveness and enjoyment of your most important meetings such as all-hands, annual, holiday party, and strategic retreats.

  • Theme development
  • Draft agenda and select speakers
  • Work back schedule/Run of the Show Schedule
  • Developing workplace stories matched to the theme and participants (Storytelling Coach)
  • Presentation design / graphic design
  • Speaker / Presenter Coaching
  • Day before and Day of logistics and speaker management

WHY US? KEY DIFFERENTIATORS

  1. Emphasize storytelling, the oldest and most effective form of communication for corporations
  2. Ira Koretsky, our CEO, is an adjunct professor of public speaking and storytelling at the University of Maryland, since 2015
  3. Blend marketing, sales, messaging, strategic planning, and advertising with business storytelling to create a different approach to communication
  4. Synchronize service, sales/outreach, and marketing communication at EVERY step in your customer’s “experience journey”
  5. Include a rich set of tools and learning materials that are easy-to-implement and easy-to-use
  6. Transform technical and complex information into conversational and easily understood language
  7. Use improvisational humor like television’s Whose Line Is It Anyway? in our services to improve information retention, participant enjoyment, and impact
  8. Encourage your teams and participants to put ideas into action with interactive and experiential Smart Exercises TM

Never before in our six years of being in business has the entire management team agreed to a new business story. The Chief Storyteller’s approach helped solidify our direction, identify our story in our customer’s eyes, differentiators, and most importantly, the value that customers appreciated and desired. Their approach was the lynch pin in our winning a $94 million dollar multi-year contract.

John ScarcellaExecutive Vice President, IT Professional Services Firm

They quadrupled our revenue in just 6 months.

Michael WhitecarCEO, The Chief Information Group

For the first time in our 22-year history, we have one easily understood and unifying message.

Allan KullenCEO, Americans All®

I have had a lot of “sales” training in my career. There is something very powerful about storytelling and networking that has helped me take relationship building to a whole new level. As an example, I invited one of my favorite clients to be my guest at a notable event. I made a number of warm intro’s on his behalf. At the end of the evening, he said “Lisa, you weren’t just my ad rep tonight—you were my business matchmaker. Thank you for taking care of me.” These are words that I feel very proud of. They are a real reflection of some of the key ideas and theories that I have picked up from The Chief Storyteller®.

Lisa FeldnerSenior Account Manager, SmartCEO Magazine

We knew after the first week that this would be the best investment we ever made. We have been in business 10 years and The Chief Storyteller did more in terms of sales and marketing than any previous firm. Ira listened and tailored his Power Story Process to our business and our personality. Our new proposal design, sales process, and updated web site content are winning more business. Ira has shown us the tremendous value in telling OUR story.

Lisa LoperCOO, Database Specialists

You eat the lunches of the other communications training firms. I learned more hands-on and immediately applicable techniques than with the other guys—and I have been to several of them. Working with you has made a huge difference with our online events.

Wayne JacksonSenior Advisor, Charles Schwab

Ira is the best messaging guy on the planet. Period. His company, The Chief Storyteller, has helped me with three different startup company ideas. In just a few hours, he makes an impact. It’s what his company does over the long term that makes the real difference. They help with messaging of your company, products and services across all potential touch points for clients and prospects. I strongly encourage you to see how they can make a difference for you.

Daniel OdioChief Operating Officer, PointAbout

Ira’s process for telling vibrant stories is a revolution in business communication. My passion is helping leaders explore possible futures, and Ira has given me the tools to make sure my stories really stick with people. It’s inspiring to work with a master of his craft. He is helping me become my own "Chief Storyteller."

Eric GarlandAuthor of Future, Inc.: How Businesses Can Anticipate and Profit from What’s Next and Keynote Speaker, Competitive Futures | Published by Amacom

You are a genius. With over 200,000 employees worldwide, networking seemed nearly impossible. With your insights and suggestions, I identified the right people to build relationships with. Then, I spent time talking and meeting with colleagues inside and outside both my department and FedEx. Your advice in developing a specific plan to accomplish my goals made this process easier, manageable, and enjoyable. I cannot thank you enough!

Rajneesh JhaFedEx

Ira truly knows how to bring the best in people and organizations. He asked probing questions that got us thinking about our target audience, message and value proposition, and how to position ourselves to attract the right clients and partners for us. He’s fun to work with and is always thinking about ways to help us. We’ve recommended him to our clients and continue to seek out his help year after year. He’s the best!

Lisa ClaydonCEO, CK Marketing Solutions

Photography Sources:  Header from Deposit Photos
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