Sales Professionals: Are You Making This Crucial Communication Error?

The person walked into an office to purchase a service. The department manager, who was behind the computer in the office,  gave her a business card and said, "Email me with the details and I'll get back to you."

What happened? The prospective customer, who had been ready to buy, took the card and did not send the e-mail.

The office manager, who had the power to act immediately, was not pro-active. She did not take the prospective customer's name and contact information, or give her the desired information on the spot. She sounded disinterested in having a prospective new customer.
Instead, she expected the prospective customer to put forth more effort (by sending an e-mail) to request the service. She did not consider the number of competitors for that service that the customer passed regularly, or the other distractions competing for the person's attention.

This scenario also happens in another, more common, way. When a customer calls into an office, if he reaches the wrong person, that employee can either switch him to the correct person or can ask the customer to call back. The first way is pro-active, and shows great customer service. The second (reactive) way can lose a customer, or get him frustrated. How is this handled in your organization? Do all employees know how to locate the correct employee's name and phone extension, and do they get training in how to switch callers to the correct extension?

Every customer interaction counts, and communication is vital to all of them. Make the customer feel wanted through efficient, pro-active communication and sales techniques - by all of your employees who have internal or external customers!

Business Speech Improvement provides communication coaching and concise e-books. Check out your options now!

Business Communication: 3 Tips to Improve Communication with Your Boss

Do you wish communication with your boss was easier? It can be, with surprisingly little effort on your part.

In honor of Better Hearing and Speech Month, here are three tips to help you improve your communication skills.

First, observe your boss carefully the next time you see him or her talking to someone else. Does he or she express the main point first, and then give the details or reasons, or are the reasons/details given first, leading up to the main point? The first method, called deductive reasoning, is more common than the second, called inductive reasoning.

When you talk to your boss, use the same method (deductive or inductive) as he uses - with a difference. Instead of giving a lot of details, give a one sentence "executive summary" with one sentence of the most relevant detail or recommendation.

Second, note how quickly and enthusiastically your supervisor speaks, generally. If he speaks in a slow, low-key way, try to imitate that when you speak to him, when possible.

Third, notice what else seems important to him. For example, it might be timeliness, from arriving on time to planning ahead for an event. Maybe he prefers that people who bring him problems also suggest solutions. Whatever it is, try to do it. If you don't know what he likes, see if you can determine why he praises certain people's work or actions.

Business Speech Improvement provides individual speech coaching. An e-book on communication strategies in 18 crucial areas for leadership is also available. Great speech makes business sense!

9 Easy Ways to Improve Employee Retention of Your New Hires

What are you doing as an organization to actively encourage retention of your new hires for their first year? Communication here, in various forms, is crucial!

New hires are the people who have the least loyalty to your organization. They have not built up a retirement account or pension with you; they usually have no great long-term friendships among the other employees or appreciation for how the organization helped them when things were tough for them a few years ago.

New hires know how to find jobs, and have fresh contacts among recruiters and other influential people. They will have no difficulty leaving for a better job elsewhere, if they are unhappy with your company.

New hires need a lot of training, from technical skills to corporate culture. It is very expensive to train them and difficult to watch them leave if they are unhappy. New hires'  first impression of your company should be an impressive one, where  a supervisor, colleagues and trainers communicate enthusiasm about their new hire and have a coordinated plan to work with the person. If a group of people (including people currently in that job less than 2 years themselves) thinks ahead of time about what a newcomer needs to know, there will be fewer episodes of "you should know by now to _____" or "someone should have told you when you started to __________" when in fact orientation did not include that information (or maybe a formal orientation did not even happen).

Provide new hires with a dictionary of acronyms and jargon used at your company and in your industry. One new hire walked into a staff meeting her first day, and was handed an agenda filled with acronyms. In addition, the person leading the meeting used many more acronyms. The meeting leader was aware of all her new staff members sitting there confused, but did not explain what the terms meant. She was in effect providing a negative first impression of her organization and wasting the time of the new hires. If a dictionary of acronyms had been provided, or the acronyms had been explained, at least they would have understood the subjects being discussed, and felt that somebody had prepared for their arrival.

Avoid hitting new employees with a tsunami of new information the first days. Teach them the essentials then, and then bring them back for more on a frequent basis. How much can new employees be expected to understand in a day?  Clearly, all the information they are given is not equally important for their job. In many organizations, each department representative is asked to present the most important information new hires need to know about that department. This includes many forms and procedures.

Later, some of the many department heads and others who presented information to dazed and overwhelmed new employees  made comments  to the new employees similar to these:
When I talked to your group at your orientation, I told you you must never do X; don't you remember? (Clearly the department representatives had no idea of how many facts, procedures and forms the new employees heard that day from many representatives, or how many such facts a person can recall.)

When you teach new employees how to use software, be prepared to give them their user names and passwords immediately.  This is especially true when the company uses several types of software and the employee may get confused between them. As one frustrated trainer scolded a new employee, "You were taught on your first day how to use that software; even though you didn't get your password for 4 months, you should have remembered what you were taught!"Adult learning doesn't work that way; how much would you recall from a detailed-filled course that was given that long ago and not referred to since then?

Focus on your new hires! Meet with them at least quarterly, and preferably monthly, to review their progress.  Ask them simply, "How are you doing? How can I help you?" Then...simply listen to them. If they don't answer, maintain a 30 second pause until they hopefully say something.  At first they may be reticent, as you are their supervisor. Keep asking, that day and on future days, until they trust you enough to ask for your help. Frequently praise specific details of their performance, and let them know how they can climb the career ladder or otherwise achieve their career goals. If you can give them a small raise sometime during the year, it will make a big impact.

Find out as soon as employees are hired what matters most to them: career growth, continuing learning opportunities, job security, team work, travel if related to work, or something else. Use that knowledge as you work with them.

On the first day the employees are at your company, ask one of their colleagues to take them to lunch (on the company nickel) and get to know them as people. Have those colleagues mentor them for the first month or so, checking in with the person frequently to see how he is doing and if he has questions.  Help the new employees make more connections, possibly through being involved in cross-departmental  teams or working on projects with various employees. Friendships help an employee decide to stay at a company.

Make a photo gallery of all the employees in a given department or in a small organization. Underneath their photos, write their names and job titles. Post this where the new employees can see it; it will help them learn their colleagues names' faster, especially if the organization is large,  operates on 2 or 3 shifts, or has employees (such as sales or training staff) who are frequently in other locales. It will also help the other employees' learn the new ones' names.

The Gallup 12 questions, as they are known, are powerful ones. Use them when an employee is hired, and then regularly to assess progress and increase engagement.
 
It takes a lot of work for a new employee to fit into a corporate culture and learn all that is expected.
Work to retain the new employees, or you will be training their replacements soon! Show them that you value their prior experience and ideas they bring to your organization. Take time to ask them to tell you some things that other organizations do differently, and which may help your company. Their fresh observations may help you understand what potential employees (and maybe customers) may see when they look at your company. If you ask for this information on an anonymous basis (maybe through a checklist) soon after they are hired,  it is possible that they will be more willing to tell you helpful negatives as well as positives.

For many more tips on powerful communication and leadership, get the e-book Executive Communication Strategies, by Katie Schwartz of Business Speech Improvement.    

Business Speech Improvement offers seminars on communication strategies for leadership development. Check out the details (including the agenda) now!

Job/school interviews and your communication skills

It's that time of year again, and many people are interviewing for jobs. New grads, experienced managers, and many others are hoping to find a great position - and they know their communication skills count. In fact, "excellent verbal communication skills needed" appears on many job descriptions. Most likely, you already know about having great eye contact and a firm handshake. The part that likely worries you is answering the questions. Start by searching online for lists of questions often asked of people in your industry, or going to your type of college or grad school program. Then try to answer the most common questions, and record yourself. For starters, answer these 5 questions: 1. Why do you want to work for our company/go to our school? (This is a trick question to make sure you know enough about the company or school to have an intelligent answer. Make sure that you have researched the company/program thoroughly.) 2. Why do you think you would be a great fit for this company/program? (Start by researching the program's or company's mission statement, and think of 1-2 examples of when you have done something similar.) 3. What are your strengths? (Think ahead of 3-4 specific strengths that would help this organization. Team-work and communication skills fit into any scenario.) 4. What are your weaknesses? (Choose minor weaknesses, and stress how you are working to improve them.) 5.Do you have any questions for us? (After studying the information about the company online, think of 2 intelligent questions. One quesiton might be to ask the company representative about they would describe their ideal candidate for the job or program. Do NOT ask about salary, pay grade, when you would be paid, or anything similar. Focus on how you can give to the company, not how much you will get!) At the end, if the company rep does not mention it, stress that you are very interested in the job and ask when you might expect to hear from the company. Set yourself apart from the rest and write a thank-you note! Interviewers receive these very rarely, and appreciate your effort. Business Speech Improvement provides intensive coaching in many aspects of verbal communication. Individual coaching on preparing for job interviews is available on request.