Communication
How To Encourage Participation During Virtual Meetings
It’s hard to get people to pay attention in meetings when everyone’s in the same room — let alone if they’re all calling in from home. How can you get people to actually participate in a virtual meeting? The key is to create structured opportunities fo…
Four Common Image Mistakes Made By Small Businesses
Businesses of any size want to ensure they put their best foot forward. They look at designing a nice website, creating a logo, and print up business cards. There are, however, five mistakes that are made over and over that tell your customer you are n…
Sales Is Not Marketing
While discussing e-mail marketing a local business owner stated that their e-mail marketing campaign was handled by an industry association. When asked if the association provided content, the owner answered, “No, they send offers. We use calls t…
Prioritize the Business Relationships That Matter Most
With success comes many things — including a much larger business network. How can you possibly keep in contact with everyone, let alone respond to their requests? Apply Pareto’s 80/20 rule: Think about your most important relationships, and then highl…
5 Tips For Giving A Persuasive Presentation
When you need to sell an idea at work or in a presentation, how do you do it? Five rhetorical devices can help — Aristotle identified them 2,000 years ago, and masters of persuasion still use them today: Ethos. Start your talk by establishing your…
Focus on Your Breath to Sound More Persuasive
Breathing plays a big role in how you sound. The ability to harness your breath is critical when you’re speaking up in a meeting or giving a speech or presentation. To speak with more confidence and power, focus on your breath. Stand with your feet sho…
Motivate People By Changing One Word
If you’re trying to motivate someone make the decision to act, it’s important to show that you’re focused on their needs, not yours. Pronouns can help. They’re small, but potent, signals that communicate a speaker’s focus of attention. The key to helpi…
Losing Your Audience During a Presentation? Try This
You can tell when an audience has stopped listening to a presentation. Phones come out, people slouch in their seats, maybe someone dozes off. If you notice this happening during your talk, try a few techniques to grab people’s attention. Move around t…
Manage the Endless Stream of Email by Setting Boundaries
One of the reasons email is so hard to manage is that sending it is easy. We can fill up each other’s inboxes by just clicking a button — which is why it’s important to set boundaries around email. Harvard Business Review recommends trying three things…
No You Are Not ‘The Same’
In a recent conversation a sales manager told me that his product was the same as all his competitors. I was appalled. Having used his product and his competitors’ products I knew this was not true. If you are the same, you have a commodity and t…