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Success Tip #8 - Effective Communication Leads to Business

Article:

Copyright 2006 Ike Krieger

If you want to have a fighting chance in the business world,

you'd better be an effective communicator.

Here are three steps that will help you operate as a truly

effective communicator.

Step #1. Know your outcome. An effective communicator knows her

outcome and states it in the positive.

Step #2. Know where you are in the process. Know if you're

moving away from or closer to your outcome. Your questioning and

listening skills play an important role in this step for

communications awareness.

Step #3. Know your options. Be flexible. If what you're saying

or doing isn't producing the results you'd planned, you'd better

say or do something else.

There you have it, the Effective Communicator Model.

Let's expand on each of the steps.

Step #1. Know your outcome.

If you don't know where you're going, that's where you'll end up.

Are you clear on the outcome of your communication? What do you

want to accomplish? When you go into a negotiation, a sales call

or a client meeting, are you clear on your outcome?

Make sure you state your outcome in the positive. We live in a

culture that thrives on negative outcomes. We know what we don't

want and frame our outcomes accordingly.

What outcome do you want from your negotiation? Do you want to

avoid overpaying for the project? The desire to avoid overpaying

for the project is an example of an outcome stated in the

negative.

Here's how this outcome might sound when stated in the positive.

"I will negotiate the best possible price for the project and I

will stay within budget."

Work on creating outcomes that are clear, specific and positive.

Step #2. Know where you are in the process.

Become aware of as much information as you can. This is where

measurement and testing can provide you with valuable clues. You

must have some measuring strategy in place. How else will you

determine if your communication or action is producing the

desired outcome?

Here's an idea for a simple measuring strategy. Create your own

checklist (kind of like a shopping-list for success) before you

begin your communication or take an action.

Step #3. Know your options.

Be Flexible. If what you're doing isn't producing your desired

outcome, you need to do something else.

Requisite Variety is a term born out of Neuro Linguistics

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Programming, NLP for short. The theory of Requisite Variety

states that the communicator that has access to the greatest

number of communications options will usually control the

communication.

Science uses the same assumption when it comes to

experimentation. Scientists know what they want an experiment to

produce. They measure their results and know whether or not it

worked. If the experiment works, great, if not, they utilize

different options as the basis for their next attempt at

success. Come to think of it, that approach would be really

helpful in your business networking, client meetings, sales

calls, marketing, or in any number of your business activities.

Success Tip - Know your outcome. All three steps of the

Effective Communicator Model are important, but if you're really

clear on your outcomes and you state them in the positive,

you'll find yourself reaching those outcomes more easily and

more often.

About the author:

Ike Krieger is a business mentor, author and speaker. Ike will

you get more clients, more referrals and more sales, without

being pushy or "sale-sy". His Question-Based Sales System will

help you turn your contacts into contracts, more easily and more

often™. Subscribe to Ike's newsletter at

http://www.BusinessSuccessBuilder.com