Good Communication Skills = Success




Understood— Improving communication skills to enhance sales Good communication Skills are critical to sales success; here’s how to improve them
	Question: My sales manager just told me that I need to improve my communication skills. I’m not sure what he meant. Can you help me? Answer: Whether you’re a salesperson, manager, spouse or a parent, communication skills are some of the most critical skills we can acquire and perfect. A professional organization recently contacted me to speak at a meeting. They said they wanted me to speak on communication skills. My response was, “What specific communication skill?” You should ask your manager the same question. What is communication? It's simply sending and receiving clear messages, whether written, verbal or non-verbal. You should think of communication skills as an umbrella that pertains to many specific skills. Here are some suggestions to improve communication. Avoid Vague Statements and Requests — I was reminded of this recently when I asked my children to have the house clean when I got home from work. I quickly realized that my definition of clean was significantly different from theirs! Keep It Simple — More words don't necessarily make a message better. Be concise, saying or writing exactly what you mean. Avoid terminology that is specific to your organization or industry, or words that are above an eighth grade reading level. (The average executive has between a 6th-8th grade comprehension level.) Listen Carefully — When someone is communicating with you, give them your attention. If you don't understand, ask for clarification. Don't guess, or you risk making assumptions that aren't true. And, if you really don't have time to listen then tell them so and schedule a time when you can. Paraphrase complex messages to make certain that you're clear by restating the meaning in your own words. Match the Other Person — If someone is speaking faster or slower than you, adjust your tone and pace of voice to match theirs. It will help make the other person comfortable with you. Match their stance. For example, if they're sitting forward, you sit forward also. This doesn't mean mimicking, so be careful that you don't overdo it!	Adjust Your Approach to The Behavioral Style of the Other Person — If you are communicating with someone who is direct, then be direct with them. If you are working with someone who likes a lot of details, then give them. Speak The Language Of The Receiver To Avoid Unneccesary Confusion. Last week I dropped a tape off at a neighbor's house that I wanted her to listen to. About a week later, she told me that she got through the tape, but wondered if the author had a book she could read instead. She's a visual. Visual communicators need to see. Put your requests in writing if you want to be effective. Auditories need to hear and kinesthetic communicators need to get a feel for what you mean. There are many clues to tell you what another person's language is, like eye movement and gestures. Or, why not simply ask, "How would you prefer that I get this information to you, via e-mail? Do you want a demonstration? Or would you prefer that I verbally explain it to you?” Now Here's Some Advice Specifically For Your Manager. Be careful about how you give feedback. Performance feedback is extremely important, otherwise your salespeople will be left in the great unknown. How you communicate the feedback is critical. What are the guiding principles for providing feedback? Let the other person save face. Be direct, address the behavior and the problems caused by it, not the person. For instance you may say, "We're losing sales because the frequency of contact with your accounts is not regular enough." Instead of "You don't call on your accounts enough." State it when you see it. For instance, if you noticed something specific about the salesperson's communication opportunities, you could have said, "When that customer asked you to send them information, it may have been a stall. Can you think of how you may have clarified that?" Simply telling your sales person that they need to improve their communication skills is too vague and is open for interpretation that may be way off base. State exactly what you saw and what the effect was. The Salesperson should be involved in the solution. Don't say, "Here's a problem and here's what I think would solve it." Get the salesperson involved by asking, "What can we do together", or "What do you think may have produced better results?" Avoid Loaded Words — i.e. — "You will need to." "I think you'd better." These tend to cause defensiveness and block reception of the message you intended. I recently addressed a situation with a salesperson that was spending too much on airfares. My emotional reaction was to say, "You spend money frivolously and don't seem to care about the impact on the organization." I'm glad I didn't state it that way! Make Sure Your Mutual Expectations Are Clear.

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