A few years ago, my husband and I went to a comedy show for the evening; one of the bits of the monologue referred to ‘tones”.  When you are trying to speak and your unhappy – it comes across in a different way than you may have thought.  Do you ever think about the way that you speak and the impact on your sales (commissions)?  What are prospective clients hearing from you?

Effective communication skills are a fundamental building block for success in many areas of your life.  Most of our jobs require strength in our ability to communicate.  Those with better skills enjoy better relationships at home and at work.

There are ways that you can work on improving your communication skills:

At the top of the list is your ability to listen.  You have two ears and one mouth – use your ears to listen more than you are talking.  People want to be heard, really listen to what they are saying and not thinking ahead to your response.  Your response doesn’t matter if they don’t feel heard. You should not be multi-tasking either (no texting, emails), one conversation at a time.

Learn and understand non-verbal cues.  Estimates are as high as 80% is communicated non-verbally.  This applies to when you are in person and can read body language, but also on the phone or webinar.  Also make sure that your body language is conveying your intent as well (are you aloof, not interested?).

How good are you at asking questions?  It is vital when you are trying to firm up what you need to understand from the conversation.  Ask yourself, “What is the goal of this conversation?” will help you prepare good questions in advance.  Your ability to draw additional information from the individual will also show your skills as a good listener.

Who is your audience?  What is the purpose and agenda for the meeting?  The message is not just about you, your company, or how you can solve problems; you don’t know yet if there are problems that need solutions.  Caring about the needs and their perspectives to any challenges they are facing allows you to ask if you can proceed with a possible solution for them. 

Take time to respond to them, rather than trying to fire off pre-canned bullet points.  The response should be crafted to them, their problems and/or needs.  Have fun with all of your conversations.  Think of how you can add value at every interaction, and you will be remembered for that.

Try this with family, friends and co-workers and see the change.  Others won’t know what has changed, but they will walk away feeling better having had a conversation with you.  It is about them anyways.  Practice and then make it a habit for your sales meetings and watch the change in your success. 

I’m going to keep working on my ‘tone’ that I use with my husband and children…