The Ideas Blog

By Jim Connolly
Communication plays a key role in every area of business. For a company to grow and prosper, it has to be able to communicate effectively with its employees, its clients and also its prospective or future clients. It needs to be able to communicate effectively with its bank and accountant and all its suppliers etc. In this guide, I am going to share one of the secrets of successful communication with you.

Of course, in marketing, communication is perhaps the most important tool we have. When I started out in this profession, over 20 years ago, I remember hearing Jim Rohn say that the secret to great communication was to;
“have something worth saying - and say it well!”

It’s a fact
No matter how good your service is, no matter how dedicated you are, no matter how committed you are to customer service, NONE of this will be fully rewarded if you cannot communicate it effectively!

Why?
Because if you don’t have an effective way to ask for referrals (from those clients you look after so well) - you won’t get them! If you do get some, it’s going to be a fraction of what you COULD have got. If you provide a great service but you don’t communicate it effectively in your marketing - you won’t get the sales you deserve!

Sales will always suffer if you are ‘the best kept secret’ in your industry, town or city!

Communication is a BIG subject. In this blog post I am going to focus on just one element of communication: - WORDS

Words
Words are tremendously powerful. The right words will open doors for us; the wrong words can slam them same doors in our faces! The right words will make someone feel ‘like a million dollars’; the wrong words can crush someone’s dreams.

The spoken word
However, what is often overlooked, is the importance of how you USE words in our verbal communications. The way you deliver words can totally change the message you want to get across. Being as the way you communicate is so fundamental to everything you do in business (and life), I thought you might like to take a closer look at the hidden messages we can give, often unaware, when we speak.

The exercise below perfectly demonstrates how the way you say something can dramatically alter the way that the message is received by the listener. There have been versions of this kicking around for years - this one is by personal favourite!

In this exercise, I want you to accentuate the one word in the sentences below that is in CAPITAL LETTERS. Just put extra emphasis on that one word as you read out loud. Each sentence is exactly the same, but watch what happens when you place emphasis on the different words!

‘I’ didn’t say she stole the money. (Someone else said it)
I ‘DIDN’T’ say she stole the money. (I flatly deny saying it)
I didn’t ‘SAY’ she stole the money. (I implied it though)
I didn’t say ‘SHE’ stole the money. (Someone else stole it; not her)
I didn’t say she ‘STOLE’ the money. (Embezzled it perhaps?)
I didn’t say she stole the ‘MONEY’. (She stole something else though)

The 7 word sentence above can be interpreted in 6 different ways. Now, if that one, small sentence is so open to interpretation or misinterpretation, just think of how EASY it is to write an email to someone, for example, which is taken TOTALLY the wrong way!

Whenever possible, particularly if you are writing something important, get a trusted second (or third) opinion before you send it. Ask them what they thought your point was and what tone the message was in; friendly, official, humorous etc.

It’s a great way to avoid written communication problems and to ensure your messages are clear and easy to understand! The secret is out (all about the power of a good headline)

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If you fond this useful, there are dozens of other free articles, guides and even a free audio program on my main website: www.jimconnolly.com