Want to command greater respect at work? Crystal communication transforms business success! To get your point across, recognize that powerful language articulated in a strong, clear voice is crucial to being heard.

Men and women approach the business game differently. Not surprising news. What is surprising is how many women sabotage their professionalism using weak, hesitant and confusing language. Men, on the other hand, are typically strong and powerful in communicating their message.

The next time you’re in a meeting, listen closely when a woman speaks. Does she get down to business, getting right to the point, or do you find yourself mentality begging for mercy as you wait for her to get there? Is she strong and confident in the new promotion she’s pitching, or is she hedging as if she’s not sure the idea has merit? Does she let her emotions get in the way when her proposal is challenged, or does she stand firm in her convictions without taking it personally?

Crystal communication is what women need to learn if they want to command attention and receive the credit they deserve. Here are three language strategies women can employ to succeed:

#1 – Get to the Point!

Nothing frustrates a listener more than a speaker who meanders her way to the point. In meetings, as I listen to someone going on and on and on, in my head I hear myself screaming, “Get there already!” Deliver a brief recap of the facts, not the unabridged version of the story; otherwise, your audience zones out and your opportunity is lost.

When asking for that raise you deserve…

DON’T walk your boss through every single activity of every single day for the past 6 months. They don’t care! They want to know how you impacted the business and what long-term value you provide to the organization, so summarize the key facts. Your job is to demonstrate that the organization cannot survive without you, thus ensuring you receive the raise you deserve.

DO summarize your key points like so…

Sandra, in the past 6 months, I have increased sales in my territory 25%, saved our two largest accounts from defecting to the competition – the loss could have been $500,000 annually – and created a new sales mentoring program that identifies and nurtures up and comers that you’ll want on the team.

If I’m Sandra, you can bet I recognize that this employee is someone I cannot lose. I’ll do whatever it takes to get her the raise!

#2 – Quit Behaving Like a Girlie Girl

Ladies, let me blunt! Talking barely above a whisper or behaving in a girlish manner significantly diminishes your chances of being taken seriously as a business person. You’re a grown woman in business – act like it! For starters, speak up. Every communication class worth its salt tells us to pump up the volume until you feel you are practically yelling. When it feels like yelling to you, the volume is right. Second, what’s with the shy, fidgety, mushy, um…ooohhh aren’t you sweet, well, um, gee…behavior? And don’t even get me started about the women who find it necessary to “cuddle up” against a man, rubbing their arm, batting their pretty little eyelashes. We aren’t delicate schoolgirls out on a first date! Don’t undermine your career efforts by acting like you are.

For those women who might be thinking, boy, is she suggesting I have to act like a man? Absolutely not! We can revel in our femininity and still be strong, intelligent, powerful business women. Behaving like a little girl gets your career nowhere long term.

If any woman reading this doesn’t understand the difference – call me!

#3 – Own Your Mistakes But Stop Apologizing All the Time

What is it that causes women to apologize when whatever went wrong had nothing to do with them? Women apologize almost as often as they breathe and while sometimes it is appropriate as a show of empathy, it makes no sense to apologize for things having nothing to do with you. Guys don’t do this by the way.

As human beings, we all make mistakes. When mistakes happen, do the right thing and accept responsibility for the problem. You want people to know that you acknowledge the gaffe and intend to do something about it. Resist the temptation to blurt out, “I’m sorry”.  Consider this example instead, “I missed the project deadline, which caused extra work and headaches for others. It won’t happen again. I have adjusted my schedule to ensure that ample time is allotted for tasks you are counting on me to complete”. There, now that’s more like it! Verbalized in this way, it is clear you’ve owned your mistake – you’ve apologized. More importantly, you have clearly communicated that corrective action has been taken. Handling mistakes in this way, will earn you respect from management and co-workers, and you will be a role model for others to emulate.

Remember that clear, uncluttered communication is tantamount to success! What you say and how you say it means the difference between being a player in business and sitting on the sidelines. Ladies, it’s your choice!

As the old saying goes, if I had a nickle for every time…

Countless business owners tell me that the #1 reason they are not using email marketing consistently to stay connected with clients and prospects is because they are afraid of bothering them. I get it. After all, every single one of us is inundated with information. It sounds reasonable – even empathetic and caring. Is it just an excuse? My answer is YES!

The resistance seems to be similar to the aversion that most people have about cold calling. It feels like you are interrupting someone who might not take it kindly. The difference is that with cold calling that’s exactly what you are doing. Interrupting. Without permission. Email marketing isn’t the same thing UNLESS….

• You are sending “unsolicitied” emails OR
• All you send out are cheesy sales pitches

On a recent tele-call, I reminded listeners about this notion of permission marketing. Seth Godin coined the phrase and wrote the book. And by the way…someone handing you a business card is NOT giving you permission to add them to your list.I digress.

Two things will help your email marketing be more successful.

1. Ask permission. Don’t assume they want your stuff just because they gave you a card.
2. Share valuable content. In the immortal words of Guy Kawaski…write really good shitake.

If all you do is talk about you, you, you…no one will care. It’s OK to mention your services, but that should not be the only thing you talk about. Most people worry about “how much is too much”, I believe, because the focus – consciously or unconsciously – is on the sale they hope to make. Now. Instead, they should be racking their brain to come up with content that has value and creates a relationship that over time leads to sales. And you know what…that’s tough to do. It takes thought and time to pull it together! Even as I write, the little gremlin in my head says…seriously Barb, you think what you are writing has value? All I can say is I hope so, and that I trust you will tell me if it isn’t:)

To support what I am saying, consider this comment from fellow Inscape Distributor and Managing SkillsSource Partner, Jennifer Miller who said…

“Barb, your comments on Inscape’s telecall last week really helped me re-focus and remember some of the basics; ie: permission marketing and frequency of client contact. I got a really good response of click throughs on the email campaign….and guess what, not a single mention of SkillSource products/services. And, the variety of people clicking through on this campaign was much different than some of my others. I suffer from the “don’t want to bother them” issue, but you helped me put it into perspective.” –Jennifer Miller, Managing Partner, SkillSource.
Learn about Jennifer on LinkedIn!

I can’t tell you how many times someone has contacted me “out of the blue” for speaking opportunities or to hire me for a training program. Every single time they tell me it is because they remember me from my newsletters. It happened again this week!

Stay in front of your clients and prospects consistently. If you are publishing a quarterly newsletter – that’s not enough. Send it monthly at a minimum; bi-weekly is even better. You just never know when someone will want to buy what you have to offer, and when they do – you want YOUR NAME to be the one they remember!

Right now, your prospective clients are reading about your products and services on blogs and in forums. They are scanning YouTube videos, searching you out on Facebook, viewing your LinkedIn profile and asking their colleagues if they should buy from you OR from your competitor. In short, they do their homework!

Today’s savvy professionals understand this new world of social media and networking. They know that the old “hop on a plane” model of selling no longer makes sense.

Death of Sales 1.0

Willy Loman, the beaten-down traveling salesman made famous in Arthur Miller’s 1949 classic, never fully accepts that to succeed in a world that is changing around him, HE must change his approach. Unfortunately, he never does.

Companies today are filled with Willy Loman types who refuse to change their sales approach. They insist that the only way to close the deal is to meet someone “face to face”. These old school sales types resist using online media as a way to build relationships, because they stubbornly believe it can’t be done. Refusing to admit that the entire world is not their ideal client; they pitch the same way to everyone only to end up appealing to no one.

It’s the New Style

Enter Sales 2.0 – The New Handshake^TM – a targeted form of selling that incorporates the power of the web. It is a model that allows sellers to attract, interact and close business with buyers online. This new approach – when done right – leads to higher sales velocity, volume and profits.

If you continue to do what has always been done, you will find yourself achieving lackluster results. You will witness declining sales and waning customer relationships. And like Willy Loman, you might wonder how the world passed you by.

I just opted out of yet another newsletter that I never opted into in the first place. Does that ever happen to you? Frankly, I’m almost ready to stop handing out my business cards to people. I’m betting that I am not alone.

Get Permission

For the newbie e-salesperson, let me help you get a clue. There is a concept called permission marketing – a term coined by Seth Godin some years ago – that you need to educate yourself about. The concept is simple really. Ask permission before you add people to your sales list. Just because we met you at an event and cheerfully handed over our business card when you asked, does not mean that we said it was OK for you to add us to your marketing list. Got it?

A Common Mistake

Realizing that this is a common mistake made by a lot of people, including me in the earlier days, I will often let it slide if the content you send provides something of VALUE that I can use. Creating value with your prospective buyers is what leads to the sales of your products or services, but that’s a detail that seems to escape a lot of sellers these days.

Target Your Audience

Speaking of prospective buyers, your market is not the entire world. If you want to succeed with your sales and marketing campaigns, you must give some serious thought to who your “target buyer” actually is. It doesn’t matter what you offer – not everyone is your potential client! The danger that comes in assuming that’s the case is that your messages will lack focus, clarity and value to a majority of the people you email. What you send won’t be relevant to them and that’s akin to slinging hash up on the wall expecting all of it to stick. It doesn’t!

Build Relationships

For just a moment, I’m getting up on my soap box with my megaphone in hand to shout out that a one-size-fits-all, I’ll just email the entire planet approach simply defeats the entire purpose of using e-marketing at all. Your goal must be to build relationships with people that “over time” leads to business. That means you need to be patient, because building that all important relationship is not going to happen overnight, and it requires your commitment to be consistent.

It’s the Content that Matters

Back to that newsletter I opted out of today. Though they don’t know it, I’ve actually given them a couple of chances to woo me with meaningful, valuable information. They haven’t. Each piece of email I’ve received is nothing more than a sales pitch for their latest workshop. Not an introductory note, article, book review or news flash to be found. There is nothing compelling about the material at all. The subject lines lack punch, the information is poorly written, and it is clearly all about them.

These folks have given zero thought to their audience as far as I can tell. That will certainly impact their ability to convince someone to buy from them. Oh, and did I say that their workshops are supposed to help you increase your sales? Pardon me for thinking you’d be wasting your money if you decided to purchase the snake oil they are selling.

Time to Say Goodbye

Image Consultant and colleague, Peggy Parks is fond of saying that you never get a second chance to make a first impression. That’s definitely true, but I know that I’m also willing to give people other opportunities to change my mind. In this case, it was just plain time to say goodbye. Not only was my impression of this company not changing, it was only getting worse, and that’s a surefire way to blow the sale forever!

ps…I’m their competitor. I have to wonder what makes them think that I will sign up for their sales workshop when I’ve been professionally selling, training and coaching others to sell for close to 30 years? Selling services that complement your competitor’s business may not be a bad idea, but if you are going to try to sell them something they offer themselves…well, you better have your game on!

pss…if you struggle with writing or aren’t sure how to create messaging that will catch people’s attention, I recommend you contact my colleague, Lya Sorano. She’s an expert writer and editor who will make your content pop!

The explosion of social media into mainstream consciousness has seemingly come from nowhere. Though it may be new to you, the social media groundswell has been building for some time, and it’s fair to say that the buzz right now is deafening.

While there is a growing familiarity with tools like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, blogs and YouTube, here are 5 questions being asked in companies large and small about the business reasons for using social media:

1. Why should we care?
2. Where do we start?
3. What technology should we be using?
4. How do we manage the information?
5. How will we measure effectiveness?

As with any new business undertaking, questions like these (and more) definitely need to be answered. Here are the reasons that I believe it is important to pay attention.

Why You Should Care

These days your prospects are surfing the net, reading blogs, participating in forums and group discussions, asking for product and services referrals from their social networks and joining on-line communities.

Even if you wanted to “opt out”, choosing instead to use outdated approaches to sales and marketing, your potential customers – and your savvy competitors – are most definitely going to be online.

Your prospects are tuned in to what they want, what’s available, where to purchase and how much to spend. The bigger the sale, the more educated they will be.

With 66% of the 38 million LinkedIn users deemed “key decision maker”,175+ million people on Facebook (31% over the age of 35), and millions more conversing over Twitter, you can’t ignore the opportunity. The name of the game then is visibility. If you aren’t participating online, you are missing huge opportunities to reach an audience you would otherwise not be able to connect with in an easy and cost effective way.

How to Get Started

If you are just getting your feet wet with regard to social media, you are most likely approaching it backwards, as most do. Companies are typically approaching the social computing world by looking first at the nifty, whiz bang technologies available. Could be a tweet here, a blog there, a LinkedIn profile, a Facebook fan page or a few YouTube video’s thrown up on the website- to achieve their sales and marketing goal. That is a mistake! People, purpose and plan first – technology last -should be the mantra of every business interested in succeeding with social media.

Technology

As with any hot trend, people are clamoring to get on board the social media gravy train. Yet as many have already discovered, having an online profile doesn’t mean you are using social media effectively to market your business or increase your sales. People are floundering in the online space for many of the same reasons they probably flounder around with their current sales and networking approach. They don’t have a plan!

Your plan starts with “narrowing” and “clearly defining” your target audience. Here’s a hint…your audience is NOT everyone with a pulse. Though it seems counterintuitive to some, the more you narrow your market, the faster you gain traction, which then leads to more sales of your products and services.

The key with choosing the right technology is making sure you know EXACTLY what results you want to achieve. You certainly need to understand what tools are available, but that’s the last thing you really need to focus your attention on. Once you know who your audience is, where they live online and what you want to happen once you get in front of them, you are then well positioned to use an online tool best suited for your purpose.

Managing the Flow

I’m known for saying that it is up to “you” to manage technology, not the other way around. Dashboard tools like Digsby help you watch your email, Facebook page, Twitter account, LinkedIn profile and more without having to web surf the individual sites. TweetDeck gives you the ability to keep on top of all that is happening in your Twitter world. And tools like Ping and HelloText let you create a post once that updates multiple sites of your choosing all at the same time. The point is that you shouldn’t let the “fear” of too much information stop you from getting on board. There are lots of great tools to help with the information management flow.

Measuring the ROI

Like anything else in business, you need to be sure that you are measuring effectiveness and results to ensure that you get the greatest return on your effort. In the March 23^rd edition of Information Week, TransUnion reported as estimated $2.5 million in savings in less than five months. Did I mention that you first need a plan? In TransUnion’s case, their cost savings showed up in a reduction of software services purchases. Using an internal social networking platform, employees were able to brainstorm ways to more effectively utilize what they already had, thus reducing the need to buy more.

Companies of all sizes will benefit from having clearly defined objectives that you can then track your progress against. If one of your goals is to increase product sales on your website, you will want to track HOW people find you. Was it the blog, Twitter, LinkedIn, a Facebook ad, or that amazing sales article your sales manager just wrote? You can use tools like Google Analytics to help you track how many visitors visit your website, as well as give you clues as to what they focused on they got there.

Summary

Remember that social media and the world of social networking are here to stay. See it as a threat or an opportunity. It’s your choice!