Do You Know The Most Important Components of Communication?

Today I was spending some time putting together some good information for my weekly newsletters when I realized that there was one piece of information that I felt really compelled to share everyone. 

I have found what I consider to be the seven key components of communication: 

1. Intention

2. Asking for what you want

3. Reflective Listening

4. Congruency

5. No Filtering

6. Questioning Style

7. Having a difficult conversation

While each of these are a vital piece of the communication puzzle that successful people use in order to connect with and understand others, there is one that I deem as the most critical communication skill of all – intention. Why? Because people can sense your intention. Good intentions stated poorly, are always better recieved than bad intentions stated masterfully. Prospects always ituitively sense your intentions, which are the foundation to building or breaking their trust of you.

Everyone wants to focus on saying the right words or learning some fancy techniques.  However, your intentions are far more important than any technique you could learn!  Prospects can sense your intentions and they will respond in kind.

I have seen salespeople who were very awkward and clumsy from a skill’s perspective, but they closed a lot of business.  Why? Because prospects trusted them.  Prospects knew they were going to be taken care of and that the salesperson would deliver.

In contrast, I have seen sales reps that were very polished and had mastered the sales skills and processes that I have taught for so many years.  But they never closed nearly the volume of business they should have, because they were talking “at” the prospect instead of “with” the prospect.  Whether or not the prospects could express their discomfort to the sales rep, they were able to recognize that something didn’t feel quite right, so they would go off in search of another provider who was more trustworthy.

If you want more details on the other components of communication that I mentioned above you can either sign up for my weekly newsletters (in the right hand column), submit it as your question of the week, or simply leave a comment on this post.

What do you think is the most important component of communication?

All the best,

Machu Picchu

Sorry for the delay in posting. I took a long weekend and went to LA with some friends. For the last 15 years, every October, I go with 2 other friends on some exotic adventure trip. We have been trekking in Thailand, Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Scuba Diving in Indonesia, on safari in Kenya, climbing volcanoes and gorilla watching in Rwanda, the Amazon in Brazil and last year’s trip was to Machu Picchu in Peru.

This year the plan was to go to Laos and Vietnam but we couldn’t go because of major health issues with our aging parents (all 3 of us). So the booby prize was a long weekend to LA for some sun and fun. We played tourist the whole time going to muscle beach, Santa Monica pier and the Getty Museum which is a must see if you haven’t seen it. (I’ll share some pictures when I get them uploaded).

Andy and Jayme Brooks

A special treat was driving up the coast to Venture where we went to see our good friend Andy Brooks. Andy used to be the executive chief at a high end restaurant in Washington DC (DC Coast) before moving to Ventura and opening up his own restaurant (called Brooks) with his wife Jayme. Andy is a great chief and a smart guy. In 18 months he had 6 articles written about him and won an award for the best wine list in California for under $150. I have always been amazed at how delicious and consistent his food is. I could go on and on but here is the thing that amazed me the most of all. Andy spent a lot of his evening talking going from table to table and giving each patron some special attention. Now Andy is a real outgoing guy so that is not too surprising but it is rare that I have been to a high end place and the chief came out to say hello.

 Andy knew how to read people and to give them just enough of what they wanted. Let me say that again. He wasn’t out there to get praise and recognition. He was out there to give each patron a unique experience in just they way they wanted it! Some patrons got a quick visit while others were more talkative and got a little extra time. Andy’s wife Jayme is an accountant during the day and greats people as the come to the restaurant at night. She is slightly on the quite side but a real joy to be around. She too knew how to read people. Each patron got a greeting that matched their style. Some got a hand shake, some got a hug and others received a warm and friendly hello. Both Andy and Jayme had mastered the platinum rule. The golden rule says treat others the way you want to be treated but the platinum rule says treat others they way they want to be treated. When you combine exceptional food (or product/service) with exceptional experience you get a following of raving fans. Isn’t that what we all want for our businesses? 

What do you do to adjust the way you interact with your customers and clients to enhance their experience? Let me know by leaving a comment at the end of this post.

Until next time!

Best,