2 Keys of Effective Communication
We all can develop better communication skills. Especially those people who are trying to make a difference in the world. Whether you are giving a presentation, creating a video, teaching your kids, or coaching your employees. Everything requires effective communication. Here are two important keys that will set you apart from 95% of the population.
1. Understand the true feelings of those you are trying to persuade
2. Implant your feelings into the heart or emotions of the listener.
This is not easy to do it takes practice and dedication to master these two skills. But if you do, I promise things will start to fall in your favor quickly. Imagine a world where people actually understood one another and listened. A world where you could actually get others to understand and feel the way you do. It will take some work, so let’s address a few challenges that stand in the way.
Challenge 1: Grabbing Undivided Attention
Any time you initiate communication, whether verbal or written, at the very outset the minds of your listeners or readers are somewhere else. As you or your video enters their presence, their minds don’t instantly stop thinking about whatever they’ve been thinking about. You are an intruder into their thoughts. So the first challenge is to grab their undivided, undistracted attention and bring it into the moment, focused precisely on what you are going to communicate.
Challenge 2: Holding their Attention
Once you gain your listeners’ undivided attention, you normally begin to lose it within 30 to 60 seconds. You are going to have to do something to keep them focused, or to at least draw their focus back into the conversation. If your audience drifts, it is not their fault. You failed to hold their attention. What can you do?
Challenge 3: Implanting Emotions and Feelings
Imparting and implanting understanding and feeling is not easy. If your audience doesn’t understand what you are saying and feel what you are feeling, than your communication has not been truly effective and persuasive. The effective use of emotional words, pictures and music will handle this challenge with ease.
Challenge 4: Get Them to Act for the Right Reason.
Influencing the audience’s will to make the right choice for the right reason is the essence of true persuasion. You can do this by manipulation, threats, or fear, but this can lead to a destructive relationship.
FACT: If your listener doesn’t focus on what you are saying, doesn’t clearly understand what you are saying and doesn’t feel what you are feeling, it’s your fault!
To overcome the 4 challenges you need to use 3 simple techniques.
1. Hooking: The hook needs to grab the audience and get them to focus. You can do this with a strong, captivating statement, an emotional picture, a specific question, a personal reference, or a strong header. That first sentence, or that first pictures has to grab attention immediately. If you understand the feelings and concerns of you audience, you will be able to come up with a hook. Ask yourself a series of questions:
What are their concerns? What hook will stop them dead in their tracks? What answers are they looking for? What problems can I solve for them?
Here are a couple of examples. 1. “If you could have any kind of body you want, what kind of body would you have? 2. “Acne is painful, both physically and emotionally. I don’t care if you’re an adult or a teenager; acne causes embarrassment and anxiety.” (By the way that last sentence sold over 20 million in product). 3. “What is Dollar Shave Club Dot Com?” This has over 6 million views on YouYube.
A great hook is just the beginning your job is not finished. You still have to use trial closes and certain word patterns all throughout your script or presentation.
Here are a couple of my favorite trial closes and word patterns:
- I want you to have more.
- I believe you should have…
- Do you have everything you need in your life?
- I can make a difference in your life
- Is this making sense to you?
- How would you feel?
(Trial Closes by Ted Thomas…)
2. Salting: Salting is all about maintaining attention and implanting a desire in your audience. They perk up and focus on what you are saying. In other words your presentation is given in such a way that the listener wants to hear what you are going to say before you even say it! You do this by making the information understandable, fun, educational and entertaining. You constantly are throwing salt on the meal. The more you throw the more thirsty they become. Hence the word “Salting.” How do you do this? Simply stated, you create curiosity about what you are going to say before you say it. I personally like to use trial closes which tend to bring the audience back. We mention a few trial closes above, but here are a few more: Imagine what your life would be like? How would you feel if you lost 50 pounds? What would people think? What would you do with all that money? Would this product or service make your life better?
3. Use stories with emotional pictures and words: I love this portion because I am all about stories, images, pictures, and creativity. Stories and Pictures work so much better than words. If someone can see pictures and images of what you are trying to say, they will have more power to change.
“I would rather see a sermon than hear one any day”
Pictures and images can breathe life into any communication they also lock understanding and feeling into a person’s memory. It is hard to recall words or text but it is easy to recall images and pictures. Marketing without images has little to no effect.
So there you have it. Try to use these words of wisdom in your scripts, education, presentations, videos, and blogs. They work and will bring you the success you have been searching for. Image what you could do if the world listened and understood what you were feeling. The sky is the limit.
Enjoy
Sources: Ted Thomas Trial closes. A lot of this came from the Millionaire Mentor by Steven K Scott. It is a great book.