Professional Documents
Culture Documents
By Tony Jeary
How effective are your communications? It's a question you may never have
considered before, but one that is absolutely crucial to your success. Most people are
unintentional about the way they communicate. They communicate verbally and
through their body language without preparing and without honing the skills required
to make each encounter an extraordinary one. But what if there were a better way?
Look at your own communication skills. How many prospects do you have to tap in
order to make a profitable connection? Are you able to successfully make contact
with everyone you want, or do you play the numbers game, making dozens of calls
and sending out dozens of mailings and messages in the hopes of getting just one or
two responses?
Is it easy for you to get "in," either over the phone, through email, or in person, to
someone you want to pitch your products, services, or ideas to, or do you often find
yourself faced with impenetrable barriers (or simply ignored by not getting a call
back)?
Do you get things done faster and more easily with email and voicemail, or have
they added yet another layer of complication and frustration to your life?
But then there are the rare few who are able to maximize virtually all of the
communication opportunities they engage in. When they make a call, it gets returned
fast. When they share an idea, people respond to it immediately. When they set their
sights on a client, they get the client on the first try. When they make a speech, the
audience is captivated. Their communications get results, and people take their
desired action.
There have been thousands of entrepreneurs over the years with incredible products,
ideas, and services that never realized success. The difference between them and the
greats — people like Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Sam Walton, Warren Buffett, and
Steve Jobs — is that the greats know how to effectively convince people to do what
they want. They can marshal customers, partners, investors, employees, friends,
family, and often entire markets to work collectively toward their success.
They are Communication Masters, and even though their individual communication
styles may vary, they have one common trait: Their communications are
presentations!
That word may conjure up an image of a conference room full of people, a slide
projector, coffee, and bagels. But a presentation encompasses much more than just
speechmaking. A presentation is, at its essence, the act of working to impact,
change, or reinforce the content and state of another person's mind and actions.
When you "present" instead of just communicate, you make a deep, nuanced,
profound connection with people — whether it's through an email, on the phone, in a
mailing or marketing piece, at a meeting, or in front of an audience. You present
your message with intentionality, power, and clarity, and get a completely different
outcome.
It's the difference between sending an email, letter, or voicemail that gets
misinterpreted, ignored, or deleted and one that makes the recipient get back to you
quickly, with exactly the response you want.
Communication Mastery is the difference that makes all the difference in the world
toward achieving your goals — in just about every situation you can think of.
Communication Mastery is a level few people operate at. Yet it's something that's
actually quite easy to achieve. The difference is in the way the message is prepared
and received, and it can be achieved by integrating three simple principles into your
daily communications:
Ordinary communicators whip off an email, leave a quick voicemail, or rush into a
meeting with their minds on something else.
Communication Masters, on the other hand, imagine each and every communication
event down the line to its ideal conclusion before they ever start typing, talking, or
walking into a conference room. And they do it by asking — and answering — four
questions:
Articulate to yourself exactly what the goal of your presentation is, and exactly what
the recipient has to do in order for that goal to be achieved. You may even want to
write down the objective in either a short sentence or short list of bullets and then
keep that list handy and top of mind during the presentation.
We all know The Golden Rule: Do unto others as you'd have them do unto you. This
is good advice, but those who communicate effectively use the Platinum Rule: Do
unto others as they want to be done unto. Communicate the way others want to
receive your message — not the way you like to be communicated to!
Everyone receives and processes information differently. Once you realize this
distinction about human nature, your power and communication effectiveness will be
enhanced. Master Communicators are flexible. They rarely make the same
presentation twice because they know each recipient is different. They learn the
composition of the person or people they're presenting to before the presentation
begins, then adjust accordingly.
The best way to determine how people want to receive your message is to take a
look at how they communicate their own messages to you. The more your
communications are able to mirror back to the recipients their own likes and
preferences, the more likely they are to respond quickly and positively to your
message. If they use email, you use email. If they always call you, use the phone.
(See Match your Recipient's Communication Style.)
You can utilize the Platinum Rule even if you've never met the person you are
making a presentation to. Imagine, for example, that your goal is to create a joint
venture between your organization and XYZ Industries, and in order to do it, you
need to get your proposal to the president—someone you've never met. What does
XYZ Industries' website look like? Do they have a public persona, a "vibe" they want
to convey? How does the president dress — conservatively, casually, or with an
edge? Are there any articles about him or her or interviews that you can read? Does
the corporate literature contain any letters-from-the-president — type content that
might offer some insights into his or her personality, likes, and dislikes, or do you
have any shared acquaintances who may be able to give you insight?
All of this information will enable you to shape your presentation in a way that will
resonate with your prospect on a deep personal level. For example, if the president is
young and the XYZ is a web company, you might send an audio postcard via email. If
the company is a manufacturing company without a website, you might infer that a
personal letter is best.
Most people, excited about the opportunity to sell their idea, product, or service,
spend so much time talking about what excites them about the opportunity and the
need they think it solves for their prospect, they never take the time to truly dig into
the recipient's pains or objectives. And, this is why most presentations fail. It has
nothing to do with the opportunity; the failure is in the delivery because the "So
what?" factor was never addressed, and the recipient never made the connection
between the needs in his life and the opportunity presented.
You're already doing the work of communicating: You're having the conversations,
writing the emails, making the phone calls, giving the speeches. Simply by
integrating these three principles into all of those efforts, you will transform them
from mere communications into presentations ... and in so doing, multiply their
effectiveness exponentially. You will accomplish more through your communications
than you ever knew you could, and you'll do it in less time and with less effort than
you will believe.
Presentation Power Tips
Here are four tips to turn everyday communication into effective presentations:
Be prepared to reach your prospect's assistant. Executive assistants are the front line
of executive communication, and your entire opportunity could be lost or hindered by
an ineffective or disorganized communication. Prepare for this presentation as you
would for any other, utilizing the three principles of Communication Mastery.
If possible, learn the environment before you have to present. Walk the room, sit in
some of the chairs, walk the stage. This will give you a mental "ownership" of the
space, which will translate into a greater sense of comfort, confidence, and authority.
Match Your Recipient's Communication Style
Master Communicators know how their recipients want to receive information and
adjust their communication styles to match.
Be Task-Oriented
If your recipient has a "bottom line" mentality, gets to the point, and doesn't linger in
conversations, your communications need to be task-oriented. Keep your emails
efficient; use short concise phrases. Connect highly action-oriented tasks to clear
benefits.
Practice all these tips, put them in your presentation arsenal and you've got a great
start to becoming a communication master! And remember, life is a seri
Charisma is easy to spot. And at the same time it’s not so easy to put your finger on
exactly what it is about a person that makes him or her charismatic. It’s an
attractiveness that goes beyond good looks, an appeal that can’t be labeled as
intellectual brilliance or a terrific sense of humor. Most people see it as something
elusive and unachievable—a kind of magical, mysterious magnetism that you’re
either born with or not. And the fact is that nothing could be further from the truth!
Relationship expert Dr. Tony Alessandra wanted to demystify charisma and reduce
this characteristic to its foundation. Tony spent years researching the lives,
behaviors, and characteristics of charismatic people from all walks of life in order to
discover the qualities they all shared. In the process, he made a fascinating
discovery.
Charisma is not based on genetics, IQ, social position, or luck. It’s actually a skill.
And anyone can learn and master it.
Once he debunked the myth of charisma, Tony set out to create a simple, step-by-
step system that would enable anybody to develop it. In his latest audio program,
The 10 Qualities of Charismatic People, Tony offers a complete how-to guide to
accessing and developing the kind of powerful personal magnetism that will draw
people to you, make them feel comfortable with you, and compel them to help you
achieve your personal goals.
You might think of these qualities as 10 glasses. The more developed a particular
quality is, the fuller that glass is. Right now, some of your glasses may be filled
almost to the brim, while others are only slightly full.
A royal example of the power of learned charisma and what it can do!
A classic example of someone who learned charisma and used it to flourish is the late
Princess Diana. When she first arrived on the public scene as young Diana Spencer,
she was a shy, awkward girl, with no presence at all.
But by learning how to maximize the aspects of her personality that had the most
potential, she blossomed from "Shy Di" into an international icon. Beloved by millions
around the world, the power of her presence went much deeper than her beauty,
confidence, or title … and it enabled her to gain tremendous financial and media
support for the humanitarian causes most important to her.
In this program, you’ll discover all the tools you need to experience this same kind of
profound personal transformation in your own life.
• How many animals of each SPECIES did Moses take onto the ark?
• Some months have 31 days; some have 30 days. How many have 28 days?
• You go into a log cabin with one match in a matchbox. In the cabin is a wood-
burning stove, a paraffin lamp and a candle. Which do you light first for
maximum WARMTH?
• Before Mount Everest was discovered, what was the highest mountain on
Earth?
• How far can a three-legged tiger run into the woods?
How many opportunities do you have in your life to make a difference with your
power of communication? Thousands! Dealing with your family, your friends, your
business colleagues, suppliers, doctors, dentists — the list is endless. When you can
communicate your messages to these people powerfully, persuasively, and
passionately, your success by any definition will be assured.
In more than 30 years of research into communication, fascination with the subject,
and practical application in my own life, I've discovered that all great communicators
share certain distinct secrets in common. Begin using these secrets today and your
communications will take on a degree of power and effectiveness that will absolutely
amaze you. One secret is Dynamic Listening.
Studies have shown that it is the great listeners who get the raises, promotions, and
perks in life, not necessarily the great talkers.
The purpose of the quiz at the start of this article was to illustrate this. If you have
not figured them out already, here are the answers:
Any surprises? That's because in most of those questions I was using a technique
that I call "sleight of voice."
You've probably seen a stage magician, perhaps on TV, use sleight of hand to
misdirect your attention. The same technique can apply to spoken or written
communication. For example, when you looked at the emboldened word SPECIES,
perhaps you didn't notice the name Moses quite as much as you might have if the
word hadn't been highlighted.
This confusion or misdirection often occurs in everyday speech, sometimes
deliberately, but usually the speaker is simply unaware of the effect of his or her
words. Unfortunately, it is often the listener who is at fault, by engaging the "filters"
in the brain and consequently mishearing what is said. Those filters are the
paradigms through which they hear the world.
One of the simplest and best methods for keeping your filters in check and improving
your listening skills is called Rapid Repeat. It works like this: When someone talks to
you, simply repeat what he or she says in your mind, as the person is talking. You'll
hear a slight echo of the words, but in the sound of your own voice.
This has a number of benefits. Some scientists claim that every 11 seconds we
engage in self-talk. It's no wonder that we don't always hear what someone else is
saying. When you use Rapid Repeat, you give your mind something to do. It doesn't
need to wander off thinking about next year's vacation or whether you put the cat
out before going to work.
You'll also find when you use this technique that your level of concentration increases
and your recall of information improves dramatically.
Just imagine having a conversation with a group of people at 7:30 a.m. and then
meeting up with them again at 11:30 p.m. and being able to use their names and
refer specifically to the detail of the conversation you had earlier. Wow! Rapid Repeat
will do that for you, and a lot more.
• How many animals of each SPECIES did Moses take onto the ark?
• Some months have 31 days; some have 30 days. How many have 28 days?
• You go into a log cabin with one match in a matchbox. In the cabin is a wood-
burning stove, a paraffin lamp and a candle. Which do you light first for
maximum WARMTH?
• Before Mount Everest was discovered, what was the highest mountain on
Earth?
• How far can a three-legged tiger run into the woods?
In more than 30 years of research into communication, fascination with the subject,
and practical application in my own life, I've discovered that all great communicators
share certain distinct secrets in common. Begin using these secrets today and your
communications will take on a degree of power and effectiveness that will absolutely
amaze you. One secret is Dynamic Listening.
Studies have shown that it is the great listeners who get the raises, promotions, and
perks in life, not necessarily the great talkers.
The purpose of the quiz at the start of this article was to illustrate this. If you have
not figured them out already, here are the answers:
Any surprises? That's because in most of those questions I was using a technique
that I call "sleight of voice."
You've probably seen a stage magician, perhaps on TV, use sleight of hand to
misdirect your attention. The same technique can apply to spoken or written
communication. For example, when you looked at the emboldened word SPECIES,
perhaps you didn't notice the name Moses quite as much as you might have if the
word hadn't been highlighted.
One of the simplest and best methods for keeping your filters in check and improving
your listening skills is called Rapid Repeat. It works like this: When someone talks to
you, simply repeat what he or she says in your mind, as the person is talking. You'll
hear a slight echo of the words, but in the sound of your own voice.
This has a number of benefits. Some scientists claim that every 11 seconds we
engage in self-talk. It's no wonder that we don't always hear what someone else is
saying. When you use Rapid Repeat, you give your mind something to do. It doesn't
need to wander off thinking about next year's vacation or whether you put the cat
out before going to work.
You'll also find when you use this technique that your level of concentration increases
and your recall of information improves dramatically.
Just imagine having a conversation with a group of people at 7:30 a.m. and then
meeting up with them again at 11:30 p.m. and being able to use their names and
refer specifically to the detail of the conversation you had earlier. Wow! Rapid Repeat
will do that for you, and a lot more.