Communication Tip of the Day: Talk About Facts and Statistics to Those Who Think Analytically. Some people don’t buy cereal without figuring out the cost per ounce. Even if they are persuaded by emotion, they’ll ask for the supporting evidence so as not to be embarrassed should anyone ask the reason for their breakfast choices. [...]
Communication Tip of the Day: Talk About Rewards and Incentives to Those People Who Think in Terms of Payoffs. Some people wake up every morning looking for ways to make their life better: how to save time, how to save money, how to move ahead in their careers, how to be better managers, how to [...]
Communication Tip of the Day: Make a Conscious Decision About Whether to Present All Sides of an Issue or Only Yours. Structure should be a conscious choice—not an afterthought. Consider this: When you present an idea to your boss, staff, colleagues, clients, or partners, should you present all sides of an issue or all options [...]
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social media sites can be intimidating—especially when you have as many successful colleagues, clients, and friends as I do. No, I don’t mean the technology. Seeing stories of success splashed on every page and tweeted every hour can be overwhelming if you yourself lack self-confidence or have fallen into a [...]
Communication Tip of the Day: Calculate the Minimum Gain You Would Need to Justify Investing Time or Money in Your Idea. Many ideas languish on the table of indecision because we can’t calculate “the hard dollars.” If we invest in training our salespeople to write better proposals at a cost of $X, what will be [...]
You disarm people when you give them the downside of your proposal first. They’re disappointed. Then you present the upside, and things seem brighter. By the time you finish with your presentation, they’ve gained enough momentum to feel that the bad news wasn’t as much of a handicap as they first thought. Keep the [...]
Whether presenting benefits of holding your next conference offshore, benefits of increasing staff, or benefits to a client of buying your widget, tailor your presentation to your specific listeners. Dianna Booher, an expert in executive communications, is the author of 46 books, published in 26 countries and 20 languages. Her latest books include Creating Personal Presence: Look, Talk, [...]
Disaster, whether it is a natural disaster or a personal one, strengthens character. Likewise, emotion is a terrible thing to waste. Emotion drives action. Dianna Booher, an expert in executive communications, is the author of 46 books, published in 26 countries and 20 languages. Her latest books include Creating Personal Presence: Look, Talk, Think, and Act Like a Leader and Communicate [...]
“I’m tired of going to court because these lawyers don’t know how to use a which clause or where to put a comma.” A vice president and general counsel of a large oil company made that statement to me early in my career just as he was contracting my training company to lead business writing [...]
Even in business situations, specific, identifiable emotions may carry as much as or more weight than logic. Decide which emotional appeal to make depending on your task and the personality of the decision maker. Dianna Booher, an expert in executive communications, is the author of 46 books, published in 26 countries and 20 languages. Her latest books include Creating [...]
