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By: Terry Bean

Terry Bean is a connector who believes the more connected we are, the more successful and enjoyable our lives will be. As a result, Terry helps people get better connected in a myriad of ways.

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Communication is the key:

• In relationships
• In the workplace
• In your business
• Across your lifetime
• To your success

​Here are the top 10 of these lessons:

• Lesson #1: Communication is about Listening
• Lesson #2: Asking Questions
• Lesson #3: Smile!
• Lesson #4: Know your audience!
• Lesson #5: Understand your Personality type
• Lesson #6: We Communicate through our perspective
• Lesson #7: Be Yourself
• Lesson #8:Be Patience
• Lesson #9: Understanding the Communication Channels
• Lesson #10: Say Please & Thank you

Lesson #1 – Communication is about Listening
Being able to communicate with others is one of the best life skills a person can develop. Someone who can effectively communicate thoughts, ideas, and feelings is better equipped for success both on the job and in personal relationships.
Listening Skills are vital for interpersonal communication.
3 Types of Listening

• Active Listening (Listening to Confirm Mutual Understanding)
• Critical  Listening (Listening to Evaluate and Analyse)
• Empathetic Listening (Listening to Understand Feeling and Emotion)

Lesson #2 – Asking Questions
We tend to avoid expressing our own needs or wants, or we fail to express them clearly. If you want something, ask for it clearly. That’s what confident and effective people do.
2 Types of Question you will need to ASK

• Open-ended question –  is designed to encourage a full, meaningful answer using the subject’s own knowledge and/or feelings.
• Close-ended question – It is the opposite of a closed-ended question, which encourages a short or single-word answer

Lesson #3 – Smile!
It’s such a simple act, which can communicate so many positive things, and can brighten up somebody’s day. Smiling is generally the act of the confident and the happy.
Lesson #4 – Know your audience.
Understand where the people your communicating are, relate to them so they can relate to you.
A Quote from – William Butler Yeats –  “Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people”.

• Be considerate of your audience
• How much of your audience understands what you are talking about?
• Speak in the language and acronyms of your profession, but also spell it out clearly for your prospects

Lesson #5 – Understand your Personality.
When you understand what your Type of Personality is you can understand how to relate it better
to other people your communicating with.
Briggs Myers’ 16 Personality Types
The purpose of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality inventory is to make the theory of psychological types described by Carl Jung.
Lesson #6 – Communicate through our perspective. 
A good strategy for communicating more effectively is to help your audience listen more effectively. To make your message more “listenable,” you have to be able to understand it from your listeners’ perspective.
Lesson #7 – Be Yourself.
Don’t change your personality. Communication can be used as a way to create a false impression about yourself. Instead, use communication as a way to express your true self, without regrets and without excuses. Authentic communication is the way to build great partnerships and to get the best results.
(Total Assessment Personality Profile) 
A good strategy for communicating more effectively is to help your audience listen more effectively. To make your message more “listenable,” you have to be able to understand it from your listeners’ perspective.
Lesson #8 – Be Patient.
Sometimes communication takes time. You have to get through to people. The best way to do so is to know how your communication is being perceived.
Lesson #9 – Understanding the Communication Channels.

• Communication channels are often considered from the standpoint of richness, or the degree to which a channel is able to convey the amount of information transmitted in face-to-face communication.

• Because communicating face-to-face allows sender and receiver to use and observe nonverbal communication and vocal qualities that complement or contradict the verbal message, it is said to be the richest channel, with other channels being less rich as supplemental elements are removed from the transmission.

• Make sure you take the time to understand what channels your audience perceives.

Lesson #10 – Say Please & Thank you!
The Importance of Manners – How Saying Please Can Get You What You Want. So how does all this help the person saying please and thank you?
Manners make you seem grateful, empathetic, mild mannered and pleasant; and obviously this is going to make people more likely to want to spend time with you.
Whatever lessons you put into practice in your communication, remember to enjoy the process. It can be as meaningful as the destination of having cutting edge communication skills.
Bottom line – Most importantly, keep in mind that communication is not about you, your opinions, your positions or your circumstances. It’s about helping others by meeting their needs, understanding their concerns, and adding value to their world.

​By Richard Slisinger
BRAG Co-Chair and ​owner of RS Solutions Online
 
Prerequisites:
 1) Join a BRAG Group - $100 one-time fee for Chamber members
 2) Join BRAG Community Facebook - It’s FREE
 3) Have your own website with your own domain name - The bigger the better, but any kind will do
 
Other FREE Opportunities
​Create two Chamber coupons for your business: One Member-to-Member coupon and one Member-to-Public coupon with a link back to your website. Coupons are displayed in the coupon offering section of the Chamber website, and on your firm’s Chamber listing. The link to your website will increase your traffic (visitors to your website). The more traffic you have will increase your conversion rate (a visitor that takes some kind of action on your website). For example, a visitor buys something or completes a form on your site. The more visitors get to your website, the higher your Google ranking will be. A Google ranking is when anyone searches for your type of business by using Google, the higher ranking you have in the search results. Your goal is to be on the first page of a search result, because most individuals select from the first page Google results.
 
Create a Chamber Connection “Member News” story. Every Chamber member gets four free Chamber Connection posts per year with their Chamber membership. Additional display ads or e-blasts can be purchased from the Chamber. Your post will be sent to the more than 3,000 Chamber Connection email contacts that receive the “Connection” every Tuesday morning. More exposure is good for your business, and as a side benefit, the more visitors you get to your website via a Chamber Connection post, the higher your Google ranking will be.
 
If you are a BRAG member, join the BRAG Community, a “closed group” on Facebook. You must receive an invitation to participate as it is closed to non-BRAG Chamber members and the public. There is no fee for joining, but you must be in BRAG to receive an invitation. About half of all BRAG members are listed the BRAG Community Facebook site. You get instantaneous exposure to those BRAG members, and it’s managed by BRAG Core members (the Chairs of various BRAG Groups). BRAG is about networking and referrals, so you’ll get instantaneous exposure to about half of all BRAG members.
 
Learn and understand your FREE Chamber Referral Report (YTD), a free service available to all Chamber members. Any action you take to promote your business can be measured by the Referral Report. For example, if someone clicks on your Chamber coupon, that action is recorded. If they then click on your website link and go to your website (creating traffic), that is also recorded. You can then view the actions within a time frame you choose. Measuring the effectiveness of Chamber promotions is knowledge based on facts. If you get the results you want, do it again. Look at your numbers, and then make a decision on your next promotion based on hard data. Results matter.