Thursday, May 27, 2010

Executive Presence: What Is it?

When you see a stranger coming into your company, at a meeting elsewhere, or even in a nice restaurant, what tells you that he or she is an executive? Is it well tailored and expensive clothes, elegant accessories, posture, diction, a commanding tone of voice, something else, or a combination of these?

Business Speech Improvement is conducting an informal survey of readers. Please answer the question and share your ideas!

Business Speech Improvement (www.BusinessSpeechImprovement.com) provides intensive, customized training in executive communication skills, accent modification, professional diction, sales communication, presentation skills and more! Both group and individual coaching are available.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Hate talking to strangers at a meeting or party?

Memorial Day is coming up! Have you been invited to a social event? Or maybe you are going to a professional meeting. In either case, you will get more out of it if you talk to strangers there.

Here are two tips to get you started successfully. Before going to the event, start by deciding what you and any other person there have in common. Then craft 2 sets of statements + follow-up questions relating to that commonality. For example, "This is a wonderful party! How do you know (the people who are giving the party)?" Another option is "I saw you at the X session at the conference. What did you think of the speaker?"

Listen for "free" information and follow it up with questions. If the other person says, "From my perspective as a resident of X neighborhood, this plan doesn't make sense, " ask about how the person likes living in that community.

Many more practical tips to start, continue and gracefully end a conversation can be found in "Small Talk: Connecting with Others" at http://businessspeechimprovement.com/enabler/scripts/category.pl?EBooks.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Following Up: Establishing Trust

As professional persuaders, one of your most important skills is establishing trust with prospects, employees, and internal/external customers. After all, as one wag phrased it, "I don't care how much you know, if I don't know much you care." One way to establish that caring is by following up on your promises to get back to them on time, especially in the beginning. After all, why destroy a promising relationship that has barely begun?

If getting back to people on time is tough, write reminders to yourself on your planner or scheduler. You can also write notes on the back of their business cards about precisely what you promised to do.

Business Speech Improvement (www.BusinessSpeechImprovement.com) provides intensive coaching on sales and executive communication skills. Individual and group classes can be scheduled on request, and can include training for the "organizationally challenged".

Friday, May 21, 2010

Cultural Sensitivity: From the Other Side

It was a rare experience. Yesterday, in my own community, I was in the midst of a large group of people from many countries, and the mono-lingual English speakers were in a minority.
As people from other countries explored our cultural differences with representatives from local agencies and businesses, I heard an American voice saying, "They speak Spanish so fast! If only they would slow down so I could understand them!"

Do you work with people from other countries who have moved here? Do you want to help them feel more comfortable with our customs? "Coming to the USA: American Cultural Differences" is an e-book that may be perfect for your new employees! They can read it before they arrive here and be more prepared for their new communities. Find it at http://businessspeechimprovement.com/enabler/scripts/category.pl?EBooks .

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

How to Leave Clearer Telephone Messages

Do you worry that your telephone messages are not reflecting your professionalism and may be hard to understand?

Start by saying your name clearly, and spelling it with keywords if you are not known to the listener. For example, say "Smith - S as in Sam, M as in Mary," etc. Many letters can be easily misunderstood on the telephone, so keywords are helpful. Say your telephone number slowly, so the listener can write it down. Give the message clearly, possibly starting with the major benefit or essential point. For example, "Please confirm you can come to the sales meeting at 3:00 today in the conference room so you will know the team's new sales strategy and your role in it." Then end by giving your phone number again.

Individual speech coaching, and group seminars in sales and executive communication are available from Business Speech Improvement, www.http://businessspeechimprovement.com/enabler/scripts/category.pl?Classes .

Friday, May 14, 2010

Business Speech : Persuasion

Whether your job title is manager, CEO, recruiter, therapist, or something else, you may do a lot of persuading in your job. How successful you are depends in part on two skills.

The first is your grasp of what someone terms "radio station WIIFM", or "what's in it for me".
Do you emphasize the benefits that will appeal to the other person first? For example, if you are recruiting someone, do you ask "what are you looking for in a position?" and then mention those benefits first? If you are persuading your boss, do you consider his priorities, whether increased speed or decreased costs?

The second skill is your ability to do what you say you will do, when you say you will do it. If you set a deadline of getting back to someone by 4 PM on Wednesday, do you do it, or call the person to explain the problem and set a new deadline? Ignoring your own promises teaches others not to trust your word.

Business Speech Improvement provides Executive Communication Coaching and Sales Communication Training. Both are available for groups and individuals. More information is available at http://businessspeechimprovement.com/enabler/scripts/category.pl?Classes.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Communication secrets for better customer service

Communication is a crucial aspect of customer service. Think about all that can be done to make the service more convenient and effective from the customer's viewpoint.

Here are four techniques to use. First, never ask the customer to call back when someone is available. Always offer to take a message and make sure it gets to the right person. Do not have an outgoing message that promises to return all calls - unless you really mean ALL calls. If you promise to get back to the caller at a specific time or date, actually do so, because the caller may be waiting. Answer the phone in a cheerful tone of voice, and make sure your greeting consistently has clear diction so it can be clearly understood by the other party - even if you answer calls all day long. (After all, each caller usually only calls once on a given day.) How well does your staff do on each of these skills?

Business Speech Improvement (www.BusinessSpeechImprovement.com) provides targeted communication improvement services through group and individual coaching, as well as e-books. Services include training in diction, accent modification, presentation skills, small talk, and more.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Rate of speech: way too fast!

A common complaint about some speakers is that they talk too fast. Listeners are left lying in the dust, figuratively, trying to understand these speakers. By the time the listeners figure out the speakers' message, the speakers are two topics ahead.

Speech rates varies in different parts of the US. New York City, for example, has a very fast rate of speech, while in some parts of the Deep South, it is much slower. A telephone customer service agent in NYC would be well-advised to slow his rate when speaking to a customer from many places in Mississippi or Georgia, for example.

Speech rate also varies with urgency, or in some cases, self-confidence. A person with low self-confidence may be worried someone else will not have patience to listen to him, so the speaker will talk faster.

A slower speech rate should be used when the subject is technical or complicated, such as when an engineer is explaining a complex problem to a customer who is in another field of expertise.

Speech rate can be overly fast due to certain speech or neurological disorders, and may be the first or most obvious symptom of them.

Easy things a listener can do to help a fast speaker are to show he has the interest and patience to listen. Sit down and give the fast speaker your full attention. If that is not enough, speak slowly yourself, to give the fast speaker a non-verbal signal to slow down. (Speaking slowly on an outgoing message for a phone often is very effective at slowing incoming speakers' rates, so you can understand them!) Lastly, you can directly ask the speaker to slow down, and explain whatever you did not understand.

Business Speech Improvement (www.businessspeechimprovement.com) provides intensive training in slowing speech rates..It also publishes an e-book, "How to speak slower in six simple steps", available at http://businessspeechimprovement.com/enabler/scripts ./category.pl?EBooks .

Speech improvement: How to pronounce American English clearly

Many highly qualified professionals from other countries live in the USA. Although they speak English, they have difficulty with our pronunciation, especially when under stress or in a hurry.
Listeners look at them quizzically, wondering what they said, and the speakers worry about limited chances for promotion because of their pronunciation. To make matters worse, Americans do not want to offend them by offering to help them improve!

To help resolve this, Business Speech Improvement provides intensive, professional training in American English pronunciation - in only three days of "immersion-style" training! Many companies agree to pay for this training and send their employees. Upcoming open enrollment classes of Pronunciation Improvement for Non-native Professionals are June 16 - 18, 2010 and July 2 - 4, 2010. The June class is perfect for those starting new jobs July 1st, or who need help as soon as possible. The July class is great for employees who do not want to miss work to attend!
Enrollment is limited, so visit http://businessspeechimprovement.com/enabler/scripts/category.pl?Classes .