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Most of the time my business deals with communication that is designed to be for the public. Whether I’m teaching interpersonal communication skills or business writing, or writing keyword rich text for a website, I’m focused on making sure that the audience receives the message. I was a witness to a situation the other day that made me realize there needs to be training for communication that should not be open to the public.
I was at one of my favorite sandwich shops the other day, waiting for a to-go order. (Why I never think to call ahead is beyond me!) As I was waiting, watching the employees take and ring up orders, put together boxes, call out names, and deliver to customers, I heard a loud voice in a conversation. I looked up and realized that a man was sitting on the other side of the to-go waiting area. He was on his cell phone, carrying on a conversation.
I would prefer not to have to listen to other people’s conversations, but in a situation like this, waiting for a to-go order, I normally don’t have a problem with people using their cell phones while they are waiting. But the parts of the conversation that I couldn’t help but hear went something like this:
“Well, that’s just unacceptable.”
“No, don’t worry. I’ll handle it.”
“We’ll have to sit him down and discuss this with him.”
It sounded like someone was in trouble. It wouldn’t have been a big deal that I was hearing this conversation, but as I got my order and walked toward the door, I realized that the man I had been listening to was the manager of the sandwich shop and if I could hear this conversation, so could his employees.
From just the little bit of conversation I overheard, the man might have been talking to his wife about his son. Or he might have been talking to someone about one of his employees. I don’t know.
Aren’t there times when conversations should be private? The traditional advice has always been to praise in public, and criticize in private. Maybe we need to extend that advice to our conversations on cell phones as well.
Suffering from writer’s block? Have a proposal to do and can’t quite get it started? Here’s a tip that works for me, especially when the work is creative in nature. I give myself a request before I go to sleep at night. For instance, if I’m trying to come up with a marketing idea for a client, or a logo design, or a newsletter concept, I ask myself for the idea right before I go to bed. I tell myself, “I’ll have the idea when I wake up tomorrow morning.” The trick here is to believe that you will be able to do it, and getting a good night’s sleep doesn’t hurt.
Anyone who does sales for a living will tell you that believing you will get the sale is an important part of the process. It doesn’t make up for knowledge about the product or service you are selling and doing research on your prospective customer. However, nothing can end your prospects faster than not believing you will get the sale.
Writing is similar. You still need the basic skills, but the ideas come largely because you believe they will. I’m not sure why this works. My guess is that stress makes it difficult to think creatively. Once you have convinced yourself that you will have the skills and the ideas necessary to complete your project or make your sale, you relieve the stress and allow the ideas to flow.
Try it the next time you have a big project. You may just find a winning solution. After all, how do you think I got the idea for this post?
Want your email to be error-free? Here are some suggestions.
Do you have a tendency to forget to include important pieces of information in your emails or business letters? If so, answer the “5 Ws and an H” as you write:
Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?
Not every email has to answer all of these questions, but if you’re inviting someone to an event or explaining something important, running through these questions will help you cover all the necessary points.
Read it out loud
Once you have finished your email or business letter, read the whole thing out loud. We are all in such a hurry these days that it is normal to leave a word out or say something that doesn’t put across what we intended. Reading out loud forces you to slow down and check for errors. It’s also a good way to check for repetition or phrases that cause the reader to lose concentration.
Find an extra set of eyes
If you have the time, have someone else read over your more important correspondence. An extra set of eyes can give your text a fresh look and find errors that you are too close to see.
If you make a mistake, your reader will probably be able to figure out what you meant. Remember, though, that being clear and error-free makes you look more professional and makes your reader feel he or she was important enough to receive your best effort.
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