Better Business Communication Day: January 26, 2015

Better Business Communication Day: January 26, 2015

Think about the last time you did business with a company and thought "That was pretty negative!" (For me, it was as recent as today.) What kind of experience do your internal or external customers have?

Better Business Communication Day is a day to focus on better communication. Here are three actions you can implement, either for yourself, to improve your skills, or for your organization.

Start with non-verbal communication. Smile at two people today as you walk down the hall. Give someone your undivided attention, away from laptops, etc, making him or her feel valued and really heard.

Answer the telephone enthusiastically, each and every time. When you smile as you say "hello", the smile alters your mouth shape and the different resonance pattern can be heard. 

You can make a contest out of this. In Japan, this is a national event, the All-Japan Telephone Answering Contest

Thank someone, preferably in writing, for something specific he or she has recently done for you. When was the last time you received such a specific thank you?  Make the note more powerful by e-mailing it to the person's supervisor, with a bcc: to the person.

If you have difficulty being clearly understood due to a strong accent, try speaking slower. Also write down the words that are hard for others to understand. See if you can use synonyms for them, if needed. An online dictionary with a pronunciation button could help you say the words.
Consider getting a "mystery shopper" to act as a prospective customer, and rate his or her experience with your company's communication. He would start by rating how positive the first telephone greeting of "hello" sounded, through dealing with any phone trees,  enthusiasm and listening skills of the sales staff to answer questions and take an order, to the final good-bye. Another option is to send a pretend order through the system, to see where the bottlenecks are in the process. Often these are due in part to poor communication. The results of this mystery shopping could be ear-opening!

Business Speech Improvement offers intensive, customized speech coaching for individuals and small groups. Use Better Business Communication Day to jump-start your communication improvement!

The State of the Union (SOTU) Address: Tips for You as a Public Speaker

Regardless of how you feel about the current political situation in the USA, the State of the Union (SOTU) address is a wonderful learning opportunity that shouldn't be missed. Think of it as an educational or political experience, as theater, or whatever- but think of it!

President Obama's speaking skills are widely regarded as excellent. What should you look for in tonight's address? If it follows the same pattern as previous ones, here's what to expect.

 1. Excellent body language: great posture, gestures that seem natural, and eye contact to all sides of the audience. His facial expressions will show sincerity, enthusiasm and caring about what he is saying.

2. Stories about real people: President Obama is a master at having real people and their stories illustrate his talks. The stories are short but powerful.

3. Metaphors and alliteration are usually included in his powerful presentations. Awesome alliterations and magnificent metaphors help make his speeches memorable.

4. Powerful wording: The speeches usually have some words that are powerful enough to make people take notice. The words are not necessarily long words, but rather are words that are not used often enough to be taken for granted. (Such words can often be found in synonym dictionaries online.)

5. Precise timing: President Obama knows how long to allow people to clap, to laugh, or to think about an idea he has just presented. The more complex the idea, the longer people need to consider it and its' implications. (Congressional representatives most likely consider the ideas in terms of their committee responsibilities and the impacts they will have on their constituencies. Ordinary citizens consider the ideas by how they will affect them.)

6. Expert knowledge of the speech so he does not need to look at notes.

Yes, there is probably a tele-prompter somewhere out of sight of the cameras, but President Obama does not seem to need to use it. He knows his speeches!

(We don't see the many, many hours of preparation that go into writing and practicing those speeches, to  make them so good.)

Tonight, as you settle on the couch to watch the State of the Union address, take this list and see how many of these techniques you can spot! Tomorrow, you can add them to your speech-giving strategies!

3 Ways to Improve Your Communication Skills in 2015

Have you ever heard of a business encounter without some form of communication, whether written, verbal or even sign language?

Neither have I.

Clear communication is vital for business. Studies show that soft skills are highly valued by employers!  Here are three tips to help you improve your communication. Write them down and post them where you will see them, to improve your chances of carrying them out.

First, listen carefully to both the message and to the speaker's emotions.

It is especially easy to do this when listening to someone answer the telephone, in what I call "the hello test". Does the speaker sound friendly, brusque, tired or something else? If it's a business transaction and the speaker does not sound friendly, the rest of the transaction is not likely to go well; see if there is a better time for you to call.

Second, when calling a stranger on the telephone, speak a little slower and more clearly. The person could be in a noisy place, have a hearing loss, be distracted or speak English as a second language, and need a little help understanding you. This is especially true when leaving your telephone number and spelling your name on a voice mail; say them twice.

Third, when speaking, watch the listener's face to see if you are understood clearly, or if the other person is puzzled. If you are not being understood, you can repeat yourself, more slowly, use other words, or ask what part of the message was unclear. Maybe you are using technical jargon the other person does not understand, you have used an idiomatic expression (such as "get over it"), a regional expression (such as "mash the light"), you have a strong regional or foreign accent, a speech impairment, or the listener has a hearing loss. It is your responsibility as a speaker to make the message clear.

If you are making a presentation, make sure to look at the faces in the audience. This is one reason why you want to avoid reading your presentation. Looking at the audience helps establish a bond between you and them.  The audience wants you to do well; who wants to listen to a boring speech? They are usually very supportive; looking at them should not be scary.

If any of these skills above are difficult, get speech coaching! Business Speech Improvement offers intensive coaching, and hourly coaching (including online in some cases). Inexpensive concise e-books on communciation improvement are available as well,  for people who need help immediately and prefer to be "do-it-yourselfers".

In the USA, many companies will pay for speech coaching, especially if the employee requests it. Requesting this help indicates self-motivation to improve.

Try out these tips now, and if necessary, get the help you deserve. 2015 can be a better year for you!