By ANN HINCH
Assistant Editor

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Learning to use social media and lower-cost alternatives to just advertising was a big point at the Indiana Cooperative Summit in Indianapolis earlier this month. Another was focusing on the best ways to communicate, both in writing and in person.

To that end, the Indiana Cooperative Development Center (ICDC) enlisted Susie Hinkle to give co-op managers and employees attending the basics of the kind of corporate communications training she provides companies through her Bloomington-based firm, Direkt Approach.

Hinkle concentrated on how those promoting co-ops might best address people they want to join as members, especially if talking with them in-person. It helps, she said, to view yourself as a servant to the people with whom you want to communicate.
“It matters very little what I say,” she pointed out.

“It matters a whole lot more what you walk away thinking.”
The first time she was introduced to the concept of a food co-op, she said because of the way it was spelled, it put her in mind of a “chicken coop” instead – which confused her, because why would she want to be part of a chicken coop? The pitch that interested her, however, she said, boiled down to “do you want to be part owner in a grocery store?”

When communicating, Hinkle advised focusing on the outcome you want – to do that, think of what the listener or reader will get out of it, not solely what you want to say.

If there’s a way to combine a message with something visual or tactile, people will pick up on it faster; also, she pointed out the easiest way to find out if a recipient understood your message is simply to ask them.

Listening, not just talking, is a huge part of communicating well. Use a listener’s feedback, she said, to fix your speech (this also applies to written materials). You cannot demand that someone understand what you’re saying if they just don’t.

“We have forgotten what it is to not know what we know,” she said, explaining the problem many people have in trying to succinctly describe their work – in this case, what a co-op is so that a newcomer will understand the basics.

Also, Hinkle said the more you talk to someone about your goods or service, the more confusing your message gets. She suggested writing out what you want to say, looking for the main point, and saying that first; that will stick out the most in your listener’s mind.
What you’re going for in promotion, she explained, is a “mental bumper sticker” – for the short message that sticks to be the one a listener or reader remembers (such as “do you want to be part owner in a grocery store?”). Hinkle explained the importance of enunciating clearly when talking about your co-op business, and not being overly emotional; it’s okay to be passionate, she said, just not out of control of your emotions.

When it comes to communicating, she said there are speakers and writers who don’t want to do much preparation because of the time involved. She explained, however, that it takes much less effort to try to be clear and prepare for questions at the outset, than it does to “clean up” the results of a poorly-conveyed message. Drill down to the central point, and don’t be afraid to repeat the part of the message you want people to understand most.

Finally, she said, tailor your message to the method of communication you’ll be using and audience needs – for example, if you’re giving a speech to a local club about your co-op, you’ll probably present the same message in a different (perhaps longer) way than if you’re making phone calls to potential members/customers in several states.

“Don’t take the situation and stuff it into the method you like,” she said – instead, adapt to the method that will work best in reaching those you want to recruit.

More co-op education

In the vein of trying to get more people to understand how co-ops may benefit them, more than one speaker at the summit lamented that the co-op business model doesn’t seem to be taught to students with the same regularity as other models, including IDC-USA President and CEO Jack Bailey.

Bailey, an Indiana University graduate who won this year’s ICDC Cooperator Hall of Fame Award, said he didn’t know much about co-ops when he was first contacted to provide legal advice for Indianapolis-based IDC-USA in 1990. Since then, he’s traveled the world and has seen the co-op working well elsewhere.
“Everywhere I go around the world, I see where the cooperative model is a solution,” he said.

His co-op is in industrial parts and works with members to supply factories in their communities, so he promotes it as helping mom-and-pop distributorships “fight the big boxes (chain companies).” He half-joked that he told IDC-USA’s board in 2008 that the co-op was “not (going) to participate in the recession” – and it didn’t.
IDC-USDA Vice President Todd Carroll (who introduced Bailey for his award speech) said since then, the co-op has nearly doubled its inventory value, and in the last six years, has allocated $4.5 million back to the member-owners.

“He’s always been a very big advocate of the cooperative business model,” he said of Bailey.

Bailey, who has been going to China regularly for business for 14 years, said in that time he’s seen the citizenry go from Communism toward a more capitalistic society, which is creating friction with the government – he described it as a “train wreck waiting to occur.” If co-ops were more widespread, he said he believes it would be a “common platform” for citizens who want the benefits of capitalism and allow the government to maintain a form of socialism.

He told a story about being in China on business in April 2001, when an American Navy spy plane was forced to land on Chinese soil after colliding with a Chinese plane. As a U.S. citizen, he was advised by the U.S. Department of State to not go out and about immediately after it happened; however, he said he went to the factory he was there to visit, anyway.

Once there and negotiating with the plant manager, Bailey said he asked if there was a problem between them because he was American. The manager assured him there was no problem and that they were business partners, which had nothing to do with disputes between governments.

“Global commerce can work toward world peace,” Bailey explained.