Booher BanterYour Resource for the best ideas to improve communications skills.

You may have already heard this particular phrase several times today, or used it yourself:  "No problem."  What does it mean?  Is it an appropriate response to a question?  Is it a fitting substitute for "You’re welcome"?

I asked a member of the waitstaff at an above-average restaurant for a refill of my iced tea.  Her answer?  "No problem."  Since when does asking for a refill constitute a potential problem?  Those words immediately framed my request as a problem.  If you delve into the English language, the implications of "no problem" add a new dimension to the discussion.  The waitress was really implying this:  "The level of customer service you’re seeking will be provided.  But I would like to remind you that your request could easily be considered a problem because it means more work for me.  Even so, my boss tells me that I am here first and foremost to make your dining experience memorable, pleasant, and worthy of a return visit.  So I will go above and beyond, handle your problematic request, and refill your glass.  In other words, I’ll handle the problem and tell you it’s no problem…even though I’m a bit put out by it."

Gosh, I hate to go around town making a "problem" of myself. 

During a visit to my insurance agent’s office, I asked an administrative clerk to verify my policy number.  "Oh, that shouldn’t be a problem."  Inside my head I replied, "Well, I should hope NOT.  Am I imposing on you in some way?  This is an insurance office, correct?   Don’t I pay a small fortune for you to manage my policy?"  After she supplied the policy number, I gave her a warm, "Thank you."  Her response:  "No problem."

How about a pleasant "You’re welcome" packaged with a smile?  Is that asking too much?

Before using "no problem" as a generic fall-back response, try these tried-and-true favorites:  "You’re welcome."  "You’re very welcome."  "Absolutely!"  "It was my pleasure."  "I’m glad I was able to help." 

Those phrases close a conversation on a positive note rather than with the implication that the customer created a problem.

Posted at 8:40am in Communication—Oral | Permalink | Add Comment » |

The New York Post referenced one of my books, E-Writing, published by Simon & Schuster/Pocket Books, in the July 17 "@Work" section in Danielle Stein’s column, "Shooting the Messager."

My bullet point in the article reminds businesspeople that some issues are simply not appropriate for email—EVER.  Salary issues, critiques on colleagues, and reprimands are better presented in a face-to-face dialog, not in a written format that 1) adds more weight to the issue, and 2) allows another person to brood about an unintended message they read "between the lines."

As a matter of fact, on March 30, 2006, I used this space to list my version of "Ten Topics You Should Never Put in an Email."  The list included, among others:

Racial or gender slurs (Surely not in this century!)

Product or service liabilities  (Opponents can subpoena your emails as evidence that you were aware of problems and ignored warnings.)

Competitor untruths  (See you in court.)

Gossip about colleagues  (Even the most innocent “news” can strike people the wrong way.  If they want it told, they’ll tell it.)

Sloppy writing  (Clear writing reflects clear thinking. The opposite is also true.  Your image may depend on daily informal email more than on formal documents.)

Humor—particularly sarcasm and tongue-in-cheek

Click on "Email Hints" under my Categories section for the full article.

Posted at 10:27am in Communication—Written | Permalink | Add Comment » |

Dr. Gayle Carson at Entrepreneur Radio (WSRadio.com) interviewed me this week on the subject of the importance of communication skills for the entrepreneur.  We covered topics ranging from shaping your message to a targeted audience, creating winning proposals that close sales, and interviewing methods to determine the communication skills of a job applicant.

The recording should be available online within a few days.  Follow this link to hear the entire interview, and bookmark that page to hear more great content from the Women in Business interview library.

Posted at 12:45pm in General Communication | Permalink | Add Comment » |

If you’re in a sales slump, it may not be the product, prices, or the people that are the problem; it may be the paragraphing, punch lines, and parallelism—or lack thereof—in your emails or letters to customers.

Before hitting that email "Send" key to introduce yourself to a new client or to point out the benefits of a new service to an inactive account, consider these complaints from customers about the communication they receive from sales professionals:

• “Emails that start out with meaningless chit-chat rather than get to the point”
• “Long paragraphs that ramble on and on so that I have to dig for details that require action”
• “Typos and grammar errors that tell me how careless they are—how do I know they’ll handle my account any better?”
• “Vague subject lines”
• “Arrogant or blunt tone—they forget that I’m the customer”

To make sure that your writing doesn’t stand in the way of a good contact—and contract—keep these guidelines in mind when you write to your customers:

1)  Summarize your message and action up front:  Why are you writing?  Do you have a new service or product?  If so, what are the benefits?  What problems can it solve?  Do you want to meet with them?   Do you want to invite them to lunch or a tradeshow event?  When?  Do you want them to see a demonstration?  Say so. Don’t stammer and stutter in getting to the point.

2)  Make the details easily accessible with an easy-to-skim layout:  Use informative headings and white space.  Pay attention to paragraphing.  Use short paragraphs of no more than 7-10 lines maximum.  Shorter is better.  But don’t go to the other extreme with an email of one-sentence paragraphs—that will look like your grocery list.

3)  Run the spellchecker and check the grammar.  Bad grammar is like bad breath—even your best friends won’t tell you.  If you fear you don’t understand grammar well enough to write an error-free document, have a trusted colleague proofread your important documents before they leave your screen.  Better to be embarrassed in front of a friend than to lose a customer.

4)  Allow yourself a cool-off period.  Overnight is best; a couple of hours will do.  What sounds “matter of fact” to you may sound offensive, blunt, in-your-face to the reader.  And the best way to discover how you “come across” in writing is to ask someone else to read it and provide feedback.  Many a customer relationship has been saved by plopping an email into the “Draft” folder for a few hours while the sales professional cools down and asks for a tone check.

5)  Add an informative, actionable subject line.  Think newspaper headlines.  You don’t read a Washington Post headline that says “Weather.”  Instead, you read “Unexpected Snow Storm Paralyzes the Capital.”   Your clients should be able to skim their in-box, find your email, be tempted to open it and act immediately.  Help them.

Posted at 2:33pm in Communication—Written | Permalink | Add Comment » |