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Don’t let your messages fall from all those ears

by Rick Baker
On Sep 16, 2010
When you speak to another person a number of things can happen:
  1. The message is heard, listened to, understood, remembered, and influences that person’s future action
  2. The message is heard, listened to, understood, remembered, and ignored
  3. The message is heard, listened to, understood, and forgotten
  4. The message is heard, not fully listened to, and not understood
  5. The message is heard but not listened to
  6. The message is not heard
I suppose there could be other things but the short list above captures most of things that can happen when you speak to another person [or a group of people].
 
Of course, you can perform tests to understand where your message ‘sits’ with the other person…but that’s a topic for another day.
 
When the message is important to you it makes sense to aim for the first result: your message is heard, listened to, understood, remembered, and influences future action by the person or people whom received your message.
 
How might you increase the likelihood your messages will receive #1 treatment?
 
According to brothers Chip and Dan Heath, the answer is: you need to make your messages more sticky.
 
Here is a summary of how the Heath brothers say you can go about making your ideas stick…
 
A Process for Making Your Ideas Stickier
  1. Identify the central message you need to communicate - find the core
  2. Figure out what is counterintuitive about the message, ie, what are the unexpected implications of your core message? Why isn't it already happening naturally?
  3. Communicate your message in a way that breaks your audience's guessing machines along the critical counterintuitive dimension. Then, once their guessing machines have failed, help them refine their machines. Common sense is the enemy of sticky messages. It's your job to help them understand uncommon sense.
I have given quite a bit of thought to item #1. Finding the core – finding the essence - is a common starting point taught by creative-thinking experts. But, again, that’s a topic for another day.
 
In business, Making Your Ideas Stickieris something that should be high on your list of priorities because success in communication impacts in all areas of business:
  • Employee supervision, management, and relations
  • Project team success
  • Marketing & Sales
  • R&D
  • Every other aspect of business
More about Sticky Ideas and Messages in future thought posts…

Tags:

Communication: Improving Communication

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Sales Tweet #44

by Rick Baker
On Sep 16, 2010
Sales Tweet #44 You make embarrassing, little 'human' mistakes: share a personal story with a buyer today.
 
The Thinking Behind the Sales Tweet
Obviously, judgment and discretion is required…and we shouldn’t overdo it. But, don’t be uncomfortable sharing some personal things with buyers. Most people like stories and many people like the personal touch. Be careful not to be too personal too quickly. And, pay attention to reactions. Does the Buyer 'clam up'...letting you know you better ease off? Does the Buyer reciprocate, sharing his or her stories with you?

Tags:

Communication: Improving Communication | Sales | Thought Tweets

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Sales Tweet #22

by Rick Baker
On Aug 17, 2010
Sales Tweet #22 Google the words "how to listen better". Millions of ideas! Just pick 2 or 3. Start trying them today.
 
The Thinking Behind the Sales Tweet:
When we asked the LinkedIn question 'What does it take to be a good sales person?' the #1 answer was - 'Be a good listener.' So, from time to time, our Sales Tweets will contain messages about How to Listen Better.

Tags:

Communication: Improving Communication | Thought Tweets

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How to Give a Damn Good Speech

by Rick Baker
On Aug 5, 2010
‘How to Give a Damn Good Speech’…that’s the name of a book written by Philip R. Theibert.
 
When I find books like this, I like to create summaries so I can look at them when I am preparing a presentation. I find it helpful to look at different perspectives.
 
Here is a summary of some of the points made by the author
 
The Basics of a Good Speech
  1. Identify your topic and goal
  2. Write your opening line
  3. Identify a few key points
  4. Support your key thoughts
  5. Wrap it up with a summarizing conclusion
Beyond Basic – To a Damn Good Speech!
  1. Acknowledge your audience
  2. Take a moment to define your terms!
  3. Clarify your qualifications
  4. Address audience biases
  5. Tell them what you are going to talk about!
  6. Tell the audience why they should care
  7. Back up your points with stories
  8. Back up your points with facts
  9. Back up your points with history
  10. Build strong transitions
  11. Wrap it up
  12. Include a call to action
  13. Conclude with the beginning
A couple of thoughts..
 
Take a moment to define your terms! and Address audience biases: these are interesting facets. Under Take a moment to define your terms! we need to avoid industry jargon and keep our words simpler/straightforward. We can not assume others understand ‘our world’ or our train of thought. On the other hand we can excel if we are able to accurately discover and understand then Address audience biases.
 
We need to understand the audience…that takes preparation.
 
We need to do what we can to make sure the audience understands us…that takes preparation.
 
More on speeches and presentations in future blogs…

Tags:

Communication: Improving Communication | Influencing | Leaders' Thoughts

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Sales Tweet #8

by Rick Baker
On Jul 28, 2010
Sales Tweet #8 Today. Measure meeting talk. Talk no more than 30%, Listen at least 70%…especially, when trying to sell.
 
The Thinking Behind the Sales Tweet
David Sandler taught this to his sales students. It applies not just to sales but to all conversation. Limiting the amount we talk is closely linked to Listening. It is also closely linked to our ability to keep our emotions in balance.

Tags:

Communication: Improving Communication | Sales | Thought Tweets

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Sales Tweet #1

by Rick Baker
On Jul 19, 2010
Sales Tweet #1 if you want to sell then Learn to Listen...that's the #1 message I am receiving today...see my LinkedIn Q&A.
 
The Thinking Behind the Sales Tweet
LinkedIn is a valuable tool. We can use it to discover what other people think about topics. I asked some of my LinkedIn friends the Question: What does it take to succeed at sales? And, the most repeated piece of advice was - Listen Better.

Tags:

Communication: Improving Communication | Questions?: The Art of Asking Good Questions | Sales | Thought Tweets

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