business communication Archives - Motivational Speeches and books by Snowden McFall

How’s Your EQ?

The Key to More Effective Relationships at Home and Work

Oracle Vice President Meg Bear says empathy is the critical 21st century skill. In an article in Fortune Magazine, business experts cite emotional intelligence as one of the most needed business skillsets for the coming decades.

What is Emotional Intelligence?

It’s the ability to be aware of and manage the emotions of yourself and others, and constructively communicate as a good team member.

Those will poor self-awareness tend to be brusque, rude, narcissistic, critical and rigid . Those with poor self-management react strongly, yell, interrupt and disrespect others. Those with poor self-motivation procrastinate, blame others.

Increase Your Emotional Intelligence

• Become an excellent listener. Don’t interrupt, have open body language and
don’t check your cellphone while listening. Give full eye contact and attention. Summarize what they said and ask questions.

• Develop greater empathy. Show caring, even if you haven’t have the same experience. You can say things like “That sounds hard for you.” “I understand this is difficult.”

• Get to know yourself more. There are great books out like Strengths-Finder
and plenty of free personality tests on line. Discover your strengths and areas for improvement. Often work conflicts are the result of personality differences.

• Pay attention to the body language of others. What is not being verbally said?

• Be a source of positive encouragement to others. Find the good.

Those are just a quick start on how to improve. Put them into practice and watch your life get better.

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Smart Networking: Focus on Them

Ask Questions About Their Work & Interests

When you meet someone at a networking function, the temptation is to share all your latest new products and services. That’s the wrong move. What’s much more effective is to ask a series of questions that get them talking about themselves, such as:

1. How did you get into that line of work?

2. What do you like best about it?

3. What changes have you seen in your industry?

4. Please describe your ideal client…

5. What advice would you give to someone entering this field?

6. What do you see as upcoming trends in your industry?

These questions are suggested by my friend, author Bob Burg in his book Endless Referrals. If you spend your focus on the other person, learning as much as you can about them, referring them to others, introducing them to others, you are adding value first, and becoming much more memorable than any other people “selling” at those events.

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Fire Up Your Communication with Clarification

Minimize the Stress of Conflict with Better Communication

So often when colleagues are disagreeing with each other, they rarely listen to what the other is saying. In today’s world, we are all so busy, it’s rare that people give each other their undivided attention. To help diffuse a potentially volatile situation, do the following:

• turn off phones & beepers and give total eye contact to the other person

• be sure you understand exactly what the other person is saying. Rarely do we truly hear the message the first time. If you are unclear, own it. Say “I want to make sure I understand your perspective. Could you please restate it in another way for me?”

That action alone will disarm someone, because they realize you truly want to hear them. We all have that basic need. Most people are delighted to elaborate on their viewpoint.

• While listening, if you find yourself getting more and more agitated, stop the conversation and clarify again, respectfully, carefully. You could use phrases like: “Can you elaborate more on that? Please say more about____.”

Each time you do this, you honor the other person, you cool down and you actually clarify their viewpoint. You might also learn something new. And best of all, you have diffused a potentially volatile situation that might have led to unpleasant working relationships. Listening well is key to good communication.

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 ©2011 Snowden McFall All Rights Reserved. No duplication 
or reprinting without permission and author reference.

Fire Up Your Presentations

Whenever you stand up to speak, whether it’s for a 30 second self-introduction or a 2 hour sales presentation, remember to finish with Fired Up! enthusiasm. The close to your talk is critical.

Presentation Tip: Finish with Enthusiasm

Whenever you stand up to speak, whether it’s for a 30 second self-introduction or a 2 hour sales presentation, remember to finish with Fired Up! enthusiasm. The close to your talk is critical.

I recently watched a speaker do a nice job on their presentation, using props and true life stories. (Stories are an excellent way to grab an audience’s attention and share a message.)

At the end, however, their voice trailed off like they were tired and the audience missed their final point. They sounded like they no longer were interested.

You want to leave a positive impression on the listener; that’s what they’ll take with them. Finish with an upbeat, confident tone of voice and relevant story, quote or question. Close with some benefit to them, and do so sincerely and with energy. People never forget genuine Fired Up! enthusiasm; don’t let them forget you!

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 ©2011 Snowden McFall All Rights Reserved. No duplication 
or reprinting without permission and author reference.

Get Fired Up! About Social Media

Make the Most of Your Posts

If you are one of the of people who regularly use social media to share information, here are a few tips to fire up! your social media and relieve stress from posting. (Learned some of this from Dan Zarella at Hubspot- thanks Dan.)

1. Complete the bio section on each social media platform. Include a photo, background info- anything you are willing to make public. People trust more when they can learn about you and see your face.

2. Don’t overdo it and don’t crowd your content. Posting 5 times within an hour is a waste. It works much better to post once an hour during your heavily trafficked times. Find out what those are by using Tweriod.com.

3. Use keywords in your content to increase your search engine rankings.

4. Keep your article posts short and to the point without lots of flowery language and adjectives. The KISS method works best.

4. Always add value in your posts. Make it about your followers.

To sign up for Snowden’s ezine newsletter on stress, happiness, marketing and motivation, go to: https://firedupnow.com/firedupemailregister.html

 ©2011 Snowden McFall All Rights Reserved. No duplication 
or reprinting without permission and author reference.