About
Do you have lots of knowledge but no time or resources to raise your visibility? I can help with some Communications Windex.
I’ve spent the past 40 years working with senior executives to more clearly explain how their product or service uniquely solves client problems; teaching sales teams to ask better questions so they can understand the customer’s pain points; and developing templates that help them build strong partner relationships.
I believe companies sell more effectively when their executives publish well-researched, thoughtful articles that aren’t the same old pablum. I believe salespeople close more deals when they prepare effectively for client and prospect meetings and spend more time asking questions about what’s keeping executives awake at night than pounding their chests about how great they are.
Very few people have spent 40 years across business journalism, corporate communications, AND business development (Partner Management, Sales Enablement, and Marketing Operations) without the massive overhead of an agency structure. I can offer you that diversity of experience.
How Can I Help You?
I’m not a copywriter. I’m a ghostwriter who supports business leaders and owners who want to raise their corporate or personal visibility, improve their positioning, and explain their Differentiated Value. Most have an abundance of knowledge but a scarcity of time, resources, and, in a few cases, writing skills.
I’m not selling social media services (except maybe strategic advice to focus on one platform and do it well). I try to avoid sponsored content unless the client is committed to it being high quality. But I DO help clients build sales and negotiation tools (objection and preparation planners), case studies that are much more than testimonials, and long-form content for your website and outside media that will raise awareness and build trust.
We can start by identifying the questions your sales and service teams and executives get most often and assess whether they’re answered anywhere on your website. And then, we’ll create articles that answer those questions.
What's the benefit? According to Gartner, 75% of your prospects will wait until they've vetted you to reach out. That requires you to answer their questions proactively.
I sit down at the table with senior executives, ask great questions, and develop clear and compelling messaging that differentiates them from their competitors. I help them crystallize the pain their target customers feel and then wrap stories around data to help them raise their visibility and convince people to buy from them. I’m a translator who makes complex topics understandable to mainstream audiences.
You can see a few writing samples here and some of the tools I’ve created for clients here (ungated).
I help small-, medium- and startup businesses align their sales, marketing, communications, and service silos to ensure consistent messaging across the organization (although I am comfortable working with the communications and sales teams of big companies to do the same things). I produce thoughtful long-form content (op-eds, detailed case studies, RFP responses, articles, and website content that answers recurring customer questions).
An Eclectic Career Path
In the big picture, I ask great questions, thanks to my time as a business journalist and 20+ years at MBNA and Bank of America teaching the skill to account executives and using it myself managing collegiate card programs. My consulting tagline is Answer Their Questions, Close More Deals and my Frictionless newsletter helps subscribers ask better questions.
I started my career as an Army officer, which gave me a foundation for managing diverse people and bringing structure and discipline to projects.
After I left, I went back and forth between journalism and the corporate world.
I spent 15 years in business journalism, beginning as a reporter and editor on a startup/turnaround team tasked with beating the large dailies in the market and then running ads about being “Fast, Feisty, and First.”
As editor of the Delaware Business Times, we were named the nation’s most-improved business publication in 2020 by the Association of Area Business Publishers (AABP), 30 years after winning the same award for the Dallas Business Journal (there were 20 years in between at MBNA and Bank of America). AABP praised the in-depth, helpful stories we told (and the news we broke), the data nobody else in our market published, and the way we approached business and executive profiles.
Peter has always been one of the hardest working, most thorough and inquisitive reporters/writers/editors I've ever known. Under his leadership at the Delaware Business Times (DBT), Peter transformed a once-sleepy, "nice to read" publication with little original reporting into "THE must-read" business publication in the state. Covering a wide range of topics across a surprisingly diverse business sector, Peter has elevated the depth and quality of DBT's reporting, while adding insightful analysis that connects the Delaware business community to the wider marketplace.
— Jim Donahue, Managing Partner, NüPOINT Marketing
At MBNA, I led Media Relations, Internal Communications, and Business Development Communications and Education, creating sales and renewal templates that saved the bank tens of millions of dollars in annual compensation. I also led MBNA's $7B collegiate credit card sector and consolidated the marketing operations for 10 marketing sectors into one production unit.
I touched dozens of blue-chip brands directly or by helping executives customize their sales or conference presentations and negotiate credit card agreements, and handled media relations for our NASCAR partnership.
After a mass post-merger layoff, I was invited to return to Bank of America as a Communications Executive. In this role, I:
Worked on a cross-functional team that connected the bank's Corporate Communications digital strategy to business outcomes, aligning the pain points for customers and business partners with content as the solution. In this role, I prepared content that simply articulated the bank's emerging-payments, mobile-banking, and retail strategies and formatted them for use with multiple stakeholders.
Extended our traditional media strategy to social media, reducing response times, and mitigating headline risk. In my Chief Content Officer role, I focused on three primary areas: Thought Leadership (event-amplification, bylined articles for external blogs, Twitter chats), Risk Mitigation (crisis-management support for SM servicing teams), and Brand Support (daily tweets, storytelling).
Handled the crisis around the ill-fated introduction of a proposed debit fee, and managing local communications in Wilmington.
Peter’s legacy at MBNA will be the implementation and orchestration of a companwide negotiations strategy that enabled us to achieve solid, WIN-win resolutions while preserving long-term relationships. We have negotiated together numerous times, often under the glare of white-hot competition. These are the times that Peter is at his best: Employing a rigorous approach to preparation, role-playing, and deal rehearsal.
— Jake Frego, SVP (retired), Bank of America
At MBNA, I earned the nickname “Bulldog” because of my tenacity, persistence, and passion in getting things done. I brought business areas with different goals to the table (think Marketing, Sales, Compliance, and Legal) and got them to talk to each other. I avoided minefields by knowing who to call for help and giving others credit for their contributions.
A senior executive there also called me “Communications Windex” because I bring clarity to ambiguity and eliminate the sludge in the communications pipes.
I returned to Texas in 2014 for a few years to help Baylor’s independent alumni association deal with severe reputational challenges affecting members' feelings about the school. I re-energized the quarterly magazine by writing stories about real issues facing the school, created new products, and re-engaged lapsed members with great content and a simple tagline — Reminding Alumni Why They Love Baylor — that resonated.
Since leaving DBT during the pandemic, I have:
Helped resource-challenged PR agencies and nonprofits needing help with short-term, deadline-sensitive writing projects.
Managed production of large communications projects.
Worked with dozens of senior executives -- many of them older victims of corporate layoffs -- on their LinkedIn profiles, resumes, and professional bios.
Helped college students and recent graduates raise their visibility (for a discounted rate).
My clients have included:
A prominent HBCU on creating three annual reports, its strategic plan, and a successful application to be an Apple Distinguished School
A Washington, D.C.-based organization committed to bipartisan congressional governance
A leading biomedical research institution to develop media bios to raise its visibility with reporters;
A statewide economic development organization on website content;
A K-12 school district looking to streamline its communications,
Appfire, a global software company that provides digital solutions to help developers and teams solve challenges (I helped it with website user guides and blog posts.
A data analytics company that needed case studies and website content to demonstrate its expertise.
Peter partnered with us to help clarify our message and differentiate our GOBLIN enterprise data platform & other capabilities from those of other advanced analytics companies. He asked great questions about our business and worked quickly to deliver a great product. His work has had an immediate impact on helping potential partners better understand what we do through our LinkedIn presence, sales decks, and op-eds for target publications and our website. We have several other items we are working on together that will further deepen our relationship with our prospective partners and current family of customers.
— Stephen Hoops, CEO, Predictive Analytics Group
In Conclusion…
I try to be selective in who I work with because only Roy Kent can be here, there. and every f##ing where.
I prefer to work on a project or retainer basis, priced on the value that you’re receiving. Hourly rates often lead to trust issues and frankly, I work far faster than people who charge low hourly rates so my prices are in many cases less expensive than people with far less experience.
On the personal side, I’m a graduate of Syracuse University, a member of the #BillsMafia, and believe strongly in the Oxford comma, regardless of what the AP Stylebook says.
It’s a Family Affair
Abby Osborne is a senior at George Washington University majoring in Art History and Political Communication and graduating in May 2024. She has completed MarCom internships with the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and The Phillips Collection, with outstanding recommendations from her managers. She’s working on her Senior Honors Thesis on Identity Politics in 1990s Art. Her professional writing and research experience includes the Delaware Business Times (where she was one of the first reporters in the country to announce that Joe Biden was planning to run for president), the Delaware Prosperity Partnership, and Delaware Today magazine. And yes, I’m a proud father!