Do you want the key to success?

How we communicate, how we construct our messages and how we deliver them have a major influence on the success of our outcomes, both short and long term.

We are all born equal – two arms, two legs, two ears, one mouth, etc. However, we certainly don’t end up equal in our careers or businesses. What is the difference between the people who succeed and those who struggle through work and life? Many people will respond with answers such as lack of education, upbringing, personal circumstances, economic circumstances, physical or mental disadvantages; the list could go on and on.

There are people in this world who have been incredibly successful in rising to the top of corporations, building massive companies that started from a small business in a shed, or becoming famous entertainers or sports people, who have all experienced one or many of the circumstances that hold most people back. On the other hand, there are many who have thought of taking a leap of faith and pursuing their dream of entrepreneurship, or going all in and committing to their concept or idea, yet they never take that first and most important step.

Mastering your communication skills and deciding to take that first step will change your life and your outcomes.

Communication truly determines your destination. Your words and how you deliver them can change the world. Don’t believe me? Think about some of the greatest speeches in history, from Martin Luther King, John F Kennedy or perhaps Gough Whitlam. Words, presented in the right format to the right audience, have the power to start and finish wars, to bring down a government or simply to start a new life together as a couple.

COMMUNICATION OVERLOAD

The biggest challenge we face in our everyday lives is how to communicate effectively in a noisy world. How can we ensure our message is heard and how can we be more effective every time we communicate?

Information overload is everywhere: over 2 million blog posts are written every day, we receive on average 120 emails during the working day, spend over 90 minutes a day on social media, and a staggering eight billion videos are viewed on Facebook alone every day. News is available within minutes of an event occurring and there is a camera everywhere with mobile devices constantly capturing newsworthy moments.

FACE-TO-FACE COMMUNICATION

In a recent survey involving over 7,000 working people in the United States, the response to the question ‘What do you do?’ showed that a massive 80 per cent of ALL employees are spending over 40 per cent of their time in non-sales selling. That is 24 minutes of every hour spent moving people or persuading and influencing them to make a change. This includes getting a project across the line, convincing others of the results that have been achieved, raising a student from poor to good grades, or obtaining a pay rise or promotion. To read more about this survey go to Daniel H. Pink’s bookTo Sell is Human.

With an abundance of information now available online, we can access almost everything with the tapping of a few keys on our laptops or a voice command on our mobile devices (yes, Siri). Everyone has an opinion, everyone can be a news reporter, everyone can be a food critic, everyone can be a customer service critic, and they can all reach millions of people in a very short period of time. However, nothing can be a substitute for face-to-face communication.

From the moment we are born, we crave human interaction and communication; we are wired for interacting with others. In business, we attend seminars and conferences knowing that the information that will be presented is already available online. Why? Because we love interacting with like-minded people. We enjoy feeling part of the tribe or community and can relate to people who are just like us. We crave the sense of belonging that comes when we communicate with others in person. Proximity builds a deeper connection.

All consumers, clients and potential clients can discover everything they want to know about a product or service simply by spending some time researching it on the internet. Walk into any shopping centre and you can see this happening – shoppers taking photos of items and their price tags then searching online stores for the same products. With the abundance of information available to all, the power is no longer with the seller or marketer of a product or service; the consumer has just as much knowledge. Once upon a time the consumer relied on the information delivered by the salesperson – not anymore. Often now the consumer knows more.

To move potential customers from researchers to clients for life requires the product seller or service provider to add value and build a relationship. This can be best achieved through face-to-face communication.

How can you understand a potential customer’s emotion or feeling via an email enquiry? How can you read pitch or tone into an email? Face-to-face communication enables you to build a full understanding of your client’s needs by responding to their questions, asking your own questions and interpreting the customer’s response through their non- verbal communication as well as their words.