Communication
Posted by Stan Schroeder on Mon, Jan 23, 2012 @ 08:08 AM
Communication between human beings is an interesting thing. It is critical to our success personally and professionally. It is critical to developing and maintaining good relationships. However, there are so many obstacles to effective communication that we continually need to be students of how to communicate better.
Since we have added voicemail, email and texting to our daily repertoire of communicating, in my mind the challenges have only become greater. Remember that what is convenient is not always the best way (how many gourmet restaurants microwave their food).
We all have heard that “perception” is reality. In other words, it does not matter what we are trying to communicate. What matters is how the other person perceives our communication and interprets what we are saying. As we all experience, we often believe we are being very clear in our communication, but we become frustrated that the other person does not understand or “get” what we are saying.
Have you ever dealt with someone who seemed to be a completely different person if you communicated with them voice to voice versus email or texting? How many times have you been a part of an email chain that grew legs and got out of control, and it probably took much longer to fix the issues it created than should have ever happened?
Email and texting are convenient. And we all know people who rarely answer their phones any more without screening who they are talking to with caller ID. And we can do email at any time from almost anywhere these days.
People take action based on emotion as long as they can justify it logically. There is always the element of “What is in it For Them” – even if it is altruistic feelings they get from volunteering for something. If you hinder the emotional impact of communication, you limit your effectiveness in getting someone to take action.
Consider a sales person or manager that spends hours preparing for and then delivering a communication. They spend time preparing the presentation, learning about the audience, learning about the competition or barriers they are up against and practicing their presentation.
During the presentation they have several goals usually involving: building trust and credibility, getting the other person to share their thoughts and concerns, uncovering needs and challenges, helping the other person see why the proposed solution provides benefits and advantages, and uncovering and dealing with any obstacles or objections, and closing for action.
Then when it comes time to follow up, we send an email or call them to follow-up and ask if they have made a decision about our product or have implemented the ideas. Without recreating the emotion, trust, getting them excited and reminding them why they should take action… All that initial work is shortchanged.
I am equally guilty of this. I have to remind myself that there are no shortcuts and that just because we communicated something one time, it was not necessarily perceived how we wanted nor do they still have the emotion. They have had 15 things happen since we talked to them and some of those are probably equally important in their world. You always have to bring your project back to the forefront, and that is very difficult to do without effective follow-up.
Have a great week. Put as much time and energy in your follow-up and watch your results soar.
Remember the definition of insanity is doing things the same way and expecting different results. What are you doing differently in 2012?
Rob Bahna
Vice President of Sales
Resuscitation International