5 Great Tips To Improve Your Communication Skills
Jill Simpson is a trainer and coach from DEVA Training in Kilmarnock. She helps clients communicate their message to customers, colleagues and others by helping to remove the barriers to communication and improve their verbal communication skills.
GreatCommunication skills are important in every aspect of our daily lives and it is also true for our business lives. So without further ado here are Jill Simpson’s 5 Top Tips for great business communication.
One. This might surprise you but shut up and listen. It has often
been pointed out that we have two ears and one mouth for a good reason: by really listening you start to understand
the other person’s point of view, and when you understand you are far better
placed to put across your own position. Listening helps you communicate more
effectively whether you are selling to customers, managing your staff or
negotiating with a supplier.
Two. Asking open questions will help you develop this understanding: open
questions begin with How, When, Where, What, Why. Good verbal communication is
a two way street so avoid interrupting after asking your question: you might
miss a vital piece of information that you will find useful in understanding
the real issue, to strengthen your case or to combat an objection.
Three. Learn to be assertive: be clear about what it is that you want
the outcome of the conversation to be; check your own thinking for hidden
agendas – are you being honest in your communication? Ask for what you want. If
you have really listened to the other person, you can often propose a win-win
solution. After all, what is communication if not an opportunity to influence
the outcome?
Four. Help people to trust you. If you can build rapport with the person
you are talking to you will be more successful in getting your point across. A
smile, nodding in agreement and mild praise can go a long way in getting people
to like you. Make eye-contact, mirror their body language and emphasis your
similarities to help create a bond and build understanding. Learn to do this in
a natural way; it shouldn’t be false. As actor George Burns once joked "The
secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that you've got it made."
Five. Hold back from making instant judgements. It’s all too easy to
judge others or their motivation from their appearance, their accent, or even
based on our own mood of the moment. Approach every communication with an open
mind and you will often be pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to make a
real connection.
Links
to further help improve your communication skills.
University
of Kent career service: http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/sk/communicating.htmBBC Skillswise: http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/topic/communication-skills
For more top tips for small business visit the Tosh Lubek Channel on YouTube, where you can also leave a comment and subscribe.
The
video Communication Skills and how to use
verbal communication to boost your leadership skills can be viewed here: http://youtu.be/nAMgV1PSVb4
