Communication Success

Last time, I shared how communication has changed in the last 2 years.  Communication in our personal lives and as a leader.  Today, we will cover how it applies to your business.

To me, the most obvious way it applies to your business is the fact that the whole game of sales is different now.  Why is it different? Well first, it’s different because, you must use technology to communicate. And if you’re not doing that, you’re not communicating with very many people. In today’s world, people are glued to their devices.  You need to meet them where they are, where they spend their time.

Number two is that in sales, the days of high pressure, selling hard value doesn’t work.  People aren’t going for that anymore. These days, people want to have a conversation, to connect.  They want to know that the person who’s dealing with them cares about them and has their back.  Genuinely.  They want to feel that buying something from you is probably the safest thing that they could do, not the riskiest thing that they could do.

The whole formula of how we deal with people has evolved, morphed, and changed. My friend, Simon Bowen, has done a tremendous amount of work in the area of the shift in sales psychology.  Based on

his study of this shift, he would say it should be a safe encounter. The conversation is different, it’s about deep value.  Not about pricing anymore. People are value their money because there’s not a lot of it going around now.

How does it affect you as a leader?   As a business owner? Or business professional?

As a leader, whether it’s your own business or the world, you’ve got to know how to communicate one to many. Why?   Because our interactions have adjusted and we don’t go out as much, making it hard to talk to big groups of people.  And you can’t talk to one after another, after another, you must understand the technology, be able to talk one to one and be able to lead one to many.

The other thing is this, communication that works is based on authenticity.  In other words, no more promises. People are sick of promises. They’ve been promised so much, and they know those promises are not steeped in reality. People don’t know who to believe.

And that’s why the third component is you must learn how to teach, how to be a great teacher.   Particularly if you have a business (or have kids) it’s important to be able to teach, teach what’s really true.  You can’t always believe what you’re watching on TV or social media.  You can’t always believe what’s going on in this crazy world, or even what’s taught in school.  So, who does that leave?  Life is a lesson, life is a school, business is a school filled with lessons.

So, who’s the teacher?

You!

If you’re going to be a leader.  Your communication and the way you communicate has changed quite a bit. It’s not about promising the future and inspiring people to be the best they can be. I mean, there will always be part of that, but it’s ego less. It’s understanding little voices. It’s about making it safe for people to work with you. It’s about not making promises, by talking one to many, being real, being authentic and teaching people how to empower themselves.

Now this is a broad overview, but communication has changed. If you understand these things or are just being aware of them, you will notice a few things. You’ll notice that the rapport you build with people, whether it’s at home, at work, out in the community; whether it’s sales, marketing, whatever.  It’s changed. So please don’t be left behind by the change.

This time has taught us how to connect better. It’s taught us the power and the importance of connection. And it’s also taught us how easily people get confused and distracted. Be a great leader that can give focus, co-create, and architect the future.  Do this rather than allowing people to be victims of the future.

Nobody’s looking for promises anymore.  What people want to know is what is our future? How do we create it? How do we work together on this? How do I have some buy in it? Give me the dignity, the respect to show that I have something to offer…Let me contribute.

Most importantly, manage the little voice.  The little voice in your head, because as Napoleon Hill says, that fear, which pervades our business and personal lives is rampant in the world today.  Fear runs amuck, there are around 8 billion people out there. Fear of poverty, fear of loss of income, fear of illness, fear of death, fear of criticism.  Franklin D Roosevelt said, “the only fear we have, is fear itself.” Now why did he say that during the great depression? He said that because economic strife is one thing that we can all get through. But when people panic and the fear comes up, the intelligence goes down.  People tend to people fight with each other, and they get depressed. And then, they don’t have the mental attitude, the resourcefulness, the resilience.   The Little Voice is the biggest one of all in your life, in your family, and in all your business dealings. If you can be the person that replaces fear with courage, then there’s hope.

If you want to be a great communicator, hopefully you’ll follow this formula.

Be an amazing communicator starting right now.

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