3 ELEMENTS OF COMMUNICATION

Did you know that your ability to communicate effectively with others will do more to make you successful than any other skill that you can develop?

Nearly 85% of what you accomplish in your career and in your personal life will be determined by how well you can get your message across, how capable you are of inspiring other people to take action on your ideas and recommendations.

Once you’re able to master the skill of powerful communication, you’ll be living a life full of unlimited happiness. Imagine being able to express yourself openly and honestly to the degree in which others are influenced to do something because of what you have to say and HOW you say it.

Even if you are limited in education, experience or intelligence, being able to communicate effectively with others is the most powerful, un-limiting success tool you could ever have.

Nearly 99% of all of the difficulties between human beings, and within organizations are caused by breakdowns in the communication process. Either people do not say what they mean clearly enough, or other people do not receive the message that was sent in the form in which it was intended.

The good news is that effective communication is a learned skill.

THE 3 ELEMENTS OF DIRECT COMMUNICATION

According to Albert Mehrabian of UCLA, there are 3 elements in any direct, face-to-face communication. They are the elements of words, tone of voice, and body language.

1. The Elements of WordsWords only account for 7% of any message. For an effective communication to take place, of course, all three parts of the message must be congruent and consistent with each other. If there isn’t any congruency, the receiver will be confused and will have a tendency to accept the predominant form of communication rather than the literal meaning or words.
    
2. Emphasis and Tone
   
   The emphasis and tone have the power to completely change the message that is being communicated. Often, you will say something to a person and they may become offended. When you express that the words you used were intended to be inoffensive, the other person will tell you that it was your tone of voice that was the issue.
    
3. Body Language
   
   You can dramatically increase the effect of your communication by leaning toward the speaker or shifting your weight forward onto the balls of your feet. If you can face the person directly and give them direct eye contact, combined with fully-focused attention, you double the impact of what you’re saying.

The more you can coordinate all 3 of these ingredients, the more impactful your message will be and the greater likelihood that the other person both understands and reacts the way you want them to.

The most important part of good communication is clarity. When you ask or say something clearly and then wait calmly and patiently for a complete answer, you will be amazed at how much more quickly the process of sending and receiving takes place.

The very best communicators are those who are the very best at asking for the things they want.

They ask questions to uncover the real needs and concerns of the other person. They ask questions to illuminate objections and problems that the other person might have with what they’re suggesting.

When you seek first to understand, by asking questions and listening carefully to the answers, and by presenting your viewpoint and your requests in such a way that they are consistent with the interests of the other person, you’ll become much more effective in getting the other person to act in a way that will be beneficial to both of you.

Once you can master the skill of effective communication, not only do you achieve incredible clarity in what you think, say and do, but you’ll also become known as a respected communicator everywhere you go.

SOLUTIONS SALES TODAY

When solution selling emerged decades ago, it was very straightforward. The product or service being sold was the solution. The client had a problem and buying the product or service resolved the issue. But solution selling has changed dramatically in the past decade. Simply explaining how the benefits of a product address a problem has little value to a buyer who can read that information on their smartphone. Solution selling today requires the expertise and insight of the seller to create value in the sales process itself. In many cases today, the solution emerges through the course of the sales process, in part due to the knowledge and proficiency of sales professionals who provide that added value. It’s important to understand why this critical sales approach is so different today than when 60-70% of sales people (depending on what statistics you believe), received their first training on the concept of selling solutions. After the Global Financial Crisis of 2009, two important factors fundamentally and permanently shifted the landscape for sales professionals:

First, companies experienced a major reduction in solution buyers. Because of cost cutting efforts during the Great Recession, the authority to authorize spending moved higher and higher up the chain of command. In some cases, the COO or CEO of a company was the only one authorized to approve expenses over $1,000, when just a few years earlier a front-line manager could do so. And while post-recession recovery and prosperity brought some of those solution buyers back, many budget standards remained in lock-down. Ask anyone in sales today. There is no question that fewer managers have the budgets or discretionary spending of years past. Solution buyers aren’t quite an endangered species in corporations. But close.

Second, the solution buyers who were left—mostly C-level execs or very senior managers—developed a higher level of expectations. If these buyers were going to pay a premium, they upped the ante on the value they expected. That meant the seller needed to produce solutions beyond the basics of the product or service combination they were selling. They needed to provide insight, value, and demonstrate how they could help the client’s business grow. Sales professionals needed to have a deeper understanding of the impact their solutions had on the client’s business to demonstrate ROI, highlight opportunities the client missed, and illustrate the unintended consequences of issues the client hadn’t considered.

If you want to sell solutions in today’s environment, you need to go beyond the original idea behind solution selling and the consultative approach. Today, solution selling requires a different mindset that allows you to develop peer level relationships. It requires new skills and competencies that enable you to identify and create value during the sales process. And of course, a radical departure from the cheesy closing techniques of the past in favor of joint agreements and mutual commitments that advance sales cycles.

LIFE: IS WHAT YOU MAKE IT

I want to recommend the joys of failure for a moment.
Several people responded to a recent post where I
mentioned that for many years I've read at least an hour a
day. They told me that seemed "impossible", or words to
that effect. Well.
Almost every day for the past 25 years, I've read for at
least an hour, and I try to do more than that. One of my
goals this year was to read a book a week, but so far, I'm
failing. I've fallen behind and may not catch up by
December 31st. We are in the 3rd week of the year, and so
far I've read only 1 book. I'm such a failure!
And yet, while I am "failing" to
reach my goal, I would claim my life, my business, my
skills and my world are richer. At this rate, I just may
"fail my way to success", and that's not too shabby!
Why all this focus on reading? Because I truly believe we
create our lives exactly the way we want them.
I know, in the rush of real life, it doesn't seem that way.
Stuff happens. The boss needs a report, the kids need a
ride to soccer. Someone has to fix dinner, That's reality for
most of us.
And yet, over time, we make choices and we create a life.
We gradually simplify, or we pile commitment on top of
commitment. We manage well, or we manage badly. We make a
thousand decisions and time passes, and slowly, over a five-
year period, we create our lives.
I chose that five year time-frame intentionally. I do not
want to suggest that our lives are created in an instant,
or that we should change them on a whim, because life
doesn't work that way. Life is a series of mid-course
corrections. We learn stuff. Times change. We change.
Life evolves.
And all those choices and changes are reflected in our
daily lives. A man with no time for exercise has a heart
attack, and suddenly finds the time. Someone with no time
for dating meets someone special, and priorities change. A
couple in debt for 20 years suddenly "get" the need to
save, and habits change.
We exercise, or we don't. We spend beyond our means, or we
save a little each month. We have time for romance, or
we're too tired. We read to our kids, or we don't.
One of my clients decided to change her priorities, her
activities and her life, and chose climbing the highest
peak in North America as her benchmark. She trained. She
saved. She got time off work, she became an expert
climber. And when the time came, storms kept everyone at
base camp, so she "failed". Yeah, right! With failures
like that on your bio, think where you could end up!
We create the lives we truly want. My challenge is for you
to clarify your major priorities, say them out loud and
write them down. Share them with friends and family, and
make sure the language is perfect. Then, through the weeks
and months, stay true to them. Come back to them. Keep
moving in the direction you want to go. And, if I fail,
and only read 45 or 50 books this year, you can celebrate
that even the Coach "failed".
So, how many books have you read this year?

HOW DO I START A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS?

There have never been so many opportunities to start and build a successful business than there is today. Have you ever thought about how many individuals other than you might share similar dreams of starting a new business?

You’re right. There are countless individuals and in fact, there are over one million new enterprises being launched each year, and that rate is accelerating. The opportunities for finding or developing a new business idea are all around you, and with proper preparation, the possibilities for your success are enormous.

No Better Time Than Today

As many as 80% of all the products and services in common use today at home, in business and in organizations large and small, will be obsolete in a few years. They'll be replaced by new and better products and services. The rapid development of new technology and the desire of people for new or better or cheaper products or services means that you can start your fortune easier today than at any other time in history.

Avoiding Failure, Assuring Success

However, we know that 80 to 90 percent of new businesses fail in the first three years due to a variety of factors. One of those factors is managerial incompetence. It is an inability to sell the product or an inability to control costs or both.

Another major reason for failure is offering the wrong product at the wrong price to the wrong market at the wrong time, or any combination of these. In which case, even the best marketing efforts and cost controls won't help you.

Determine the Need

The first principle with regard to selecting any new product or service is to determine that it fills a genuine, existing need, that it solves a problem of some kind for the customer, or that it makes the life or work of the customer better in some way. You must be very clear about this.

Sell a Quality Product or Service

The second principle for success with a new product or service is that it must be of good quality at a fair price. And if it is in competition with other similar products or services, it must have what is called a unique selling proposition. It must have some beneficial feature or attraction that makes it different from and superior to its competitors.

Your Area of Uniqueness

We call this difference its area of uniqueness. And it is central to success in business. No product or service can succeed unless it is somehow unique and superior to any other product or service like it. There is seldom any real opportunity in what is called a "me too" product - one that is just the same as all the others.

At the same time, the safest business strategy is to start off with an accepted product that you can improve. In other words, instead of trying to invent a whole new business or industry, start off with something that people are already doing, people are already buying and using, and find some way to improve it.

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action:

First, determine exactly what is different and special about your product or service that will cause people to buy it in competition with similar products or services. Build your entire sales and marketing around this unique selling proposition.

Second, investigate before you invest. Be prepared to look at a variety of different business opportunities until you find one that really excites you before you make a decision to get started.

SET IT FREE IN 2018!

It's  a New Year's, and everyone is busy, and most
of my readers may not even check email or look at this issue,
but for those who do, I want to send the most passionate
invitation I can to take ACTION this year! Plan wisely,
get great advice, do all the usual preparations and so
forth, but in the end, make it a year of ACTION!
People have heard me say, "nothing changes
until something changes", and I love that phrase. It
motivates me, it makes me smile, and it reminds me that to
make anything better, I must do SOMETHING. I must try
something. I must take ACTION.
It does not necessarily have to be brilliant action, or
even smart action, but nothing changes until I try
something new or different. The key is movement and
determined, focused, persistent activity.
There is always a bit of risk in suggesting specific
actions for other people. I'm not smart enough to always
choose the best course of action for my own life, so
recommending activities for other people is extremely
risky. Nevertheless, they say "fools rush in where angels
fear to tread", so here goes. In 2018 make a point to:
1. Read! Your future will look exactly like your past
except for the things you learn and the people you meet.
Read every day. Read biographies of people you admire.
Read self-help and motivational books to keep you going.
Read how-to books for information and solutions. Read
novels for fun, but read.
2. Listen to tapes and take courses! I am amazed at the
statistics on how little most people invest in themselves
and their quality of life. Spend a few dollars and a few
hours listening to the best information you can find. Go
to the seminars and workshops. Learn from the experts.
3. Sit still. I sit and write every morning, and it makes
a difference. That may not be your style, but find a way
to sit and reflect. Take time to sit and plan. Take time
to sit still and notice your own life.
4. Dream. Never permit anyone to make the phrase, "you're
a dreamer" anything less than a supreme compliment. Dream
big! Dream often! Dream in living color, in rich detail
and share your dreams with people who understand, and who
have even bigger dreams of their own. Dream every day.
5. Invest wisely. Invest time in yourself and in your
loved ones. Invest your money in education, in your
business and in your future. Time cannot be "managed", it
is merely invested in activities - invest wisely.
6. Plan carefully. Most people do not plan their lives,
and that is tragic. They may dream, and they may scheme,
but they fail to plan and then wonder why their dreams
never came true. Planning and strategy are key. Write
your plans on paper. Review them often. Adjust them when
necessary.
7. Live every day. This brings us back to ACTION. With
dreams and plans and education and great coaching, the only
missing ingredient is unrelenting, persistent, determined,
energetic ACTION! Make the calls. Do the work. Try a new
way, but keep moving forward UNTIL. There is no substitute
for living and working and moving every single day.
We cannot know all that will happen in the coming year.
What you can control are your attitudes and your actions,
so invest in yourself. Read and go to workshops. Take
classes, and take action. Set your goals, devise the best
plans you can, and then go forward. Take baby steps when
appropriate, even go backwards when you must, but never stop
moving. Your goals, and your life, are too important. In
2018, take action! Set it free in 2018!