{"appState":{"pageLoadApiCallsStatus":true},"categoryState":{"relatedCategories":{"headers":{"timestamp":"2022-06-27T18:31:16+00:00"},"categoryId":34232,"data":{"title":"Business Communication","slug":"business-communication","image":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0},"breadcrumbs":[{"name":"Business, Careers, & Money","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34224"},"slug":"business-careers-money","categoryId":34224},{"name":"Business","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34225"},"slug":"business","categoryId":34225},{"name":"Business Communication","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34232"},"slug":"business-communication","categoryId":34232}],"parentCategory":{"categoryId":34225,"title":"Business","slug":"business","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34225"}},"childCategories":[],"description":"From mastering difficult conversations to sharpening your business writing, here's how to tune up your professional communication skills.","relatedArticles":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles?category=34232&offset=0&size=5"}},"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34232"}},"relatedCategoriesLoadedStatus":"success"},"listState":{"list":{"count":10,"total":304,"items":[{"headers":{"creationTime":"2016-03-27T16:49:43+00:00","modifiedTime":"2022-04-26T16:51:42+00:00","timestamp":"2022-06-22T19:37:39+00:00"},"data":{"breadcrumbs":[{"name":"Business, Careers, & Money","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34224"},"slug":"business-careers-money","categoryId":34224},{"name":"Business","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34225"},"slug":"business","categoryId":34225},{"name":"Business Communication","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34232"},"slug":"business-communication","categoryId":34232}],"title":"Business Etiquette For Dummies Cheat Sheet","strippedTitle":"business etiquette for dummies cheat sheet","slug":"business-etiquette-for-dummies-cheat-sheet","canonicalUrl":"","seo":{"metaDescription":"Don't put your foot in your mouth! 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Remember that business handshakes are an important part of the first impression you make.</p>\n<p>You&#8217;re expected to shake hands in the following business situations:</p>\n<ul class=\"level-one\">\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">When meeting someone for the first time</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">When renewing an acquaintance</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">When a client, a customer, or someone you don&#8217;t know well enters your office, cubicle, or home</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">When greeting a host and being introduced to people at an event</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">When meeting someone you already know outside work or in your home</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">When ending a transaction or leaving a business or social event</p>\n</li>\n</ul>\n<p>In American business etiquette (and even in non-business settings), a handshake requires the following:</p>\n<ol class=\"level-one\">\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Hold out your right hand.</p>\n<p class=\"child-para\">Don&#8217;t hold out your hand too soon; you&#8217;ll seem nervous. And don&#8217;t wait too long; you&#8217;ll seem unfriendly. Shake hands when you&#8217;ve just met the other person. Lean forward ever so slightly, and hold out your right hand.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Grasp the other person&#8217;s hand.</p>\n<p class=\"child-para\">Fit your hand into his — not too loosely and not too tightly. Push your hand all the way into the other person&#8217;s hand, to a point where both hands meet web to web (the area between the thumbs and index fingers). Never grasp just the other person&#8217;s fingers. Keep your fingers firm — never loose and limp like a dead fish.</p>\n<p class=\"child-para\">Don&#8217;t place your other hand over the person&#8217;s hand or on his upper arm. Save this &#8220;two-handed shake&#8221; for people you know on a more personal basis.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Squeeze firmly — not too hard — and shake once or twice for 2 to 3 seconds.</p>\n<p class=\"child-para\">The range of motion should be 2 or 3 inches. A proper handshake is done from the elbow, not the shoulder; you want to be relaxed, not stiff.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Let go.</p>\n</li>\n</ol>\n<p class=\"Remember\">If the other person&#8217;s hand is sweaty, don&#8217;t grimace or dry your hand in that person&#8217;s presence. He or she will already be embarrassed enough to have offered a sweaty hand, and it would be rude of you to cause further discomfort.</p>\n"},{"title":"The etiquette of giving business gifts","thumb":null,"image":null,"content":"<p>Gift-giving is such a thorny issue in business that most organizations have explicit rules governing the practice. Know the etiquette of giving business gifts to prevent any misunderstanding. Here are a few important elements of business gift-giving:</p>\n<ul class=\"level-one\">\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Professional gifts can be quite varied, from food to wine to small conveniences (such as a business-card holder or a pen) to office items (such as a picture frame or a computer accessory).</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">When selecting a gift, be careful to abide by your company&#8217;s policy concerning gifts. A bit of research and thought can make the gift-selection process a whole lot easier.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Should you decide to give a business gift, make certain that it&#8217;s not too personal. Be careful with humorous gifts as well. If you aren&#8217;t sure that the recipient will be pleasantly amused, don&#8217;t send it.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Extravagant gift-giving is both bad strategy and in poor taste. Others may not share your love of lavish gifts and may be embarrassed by them — or, worse, resent you for going overboard.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Giving a material gift isn&#8217;t the only way to go, even in business. The gift of your time for volunteer work or for helping a colleague&#8217;s or client&#8217;s company charity might be appreciated more than a material item.</p>\n</li>\n</ul>\n"},{"title":"Business etiquette when traveling abroad","thumb":null,"image":null,"content":"<p>Observe every courtesy when you&#8217;re on business travel abroad. The social blunders you may commit while working in a culture unlike your own could cost both you and your company business and relationships. If you want your business trip to be as successful as possible, the following business etiquette tips can help:</p>\n<ul class=\"level-one\">\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Develop enough awareness of cultural diversity to avoid exposing yourself as a person who may not respect another&#8217;s culture and customs. Your way isn&#8217;t necessarily better, and every new experience you have makes you not only a greater asset to your company, but also a better global citizen.</p>\n<p class=\"child-para Tip\">Before you leave for your destination, brush up on its geography, beliefs, customs, culture, religion, sports, weather, and attitude toward your home country. Remember the adage &#8220;When in Rome, do as the Romans do.&#8221;</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Before you embark on your trip, practice the greeting rituals or additional key words of the language.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Always dress conservatively and appropriately when you&#8217;re in a foreign land.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">You can never go wrong using titles and last names when you first meet people. Academic titles often add a great deal of luster. A handshake is practically universal, and worldwide, everyone relates to a smile — which always makes a positive impression.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Know the protocol and ritual involved in presenting and receiving a business card. If necessary, prepare business cards in proper languages.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Schedule and confirm business meetings before you leave for your trip. Pull together a checklist of action items and send them to your business contact ahead of time. Your checklist should include items such as meeting locations, agendas, equipment for presentations, and meals. If an interpreter is required, make arrangements to have one prior to leaving.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Brush up on the country&#8217;s cuisine and dining etiquette so that you&#8217;ll be ready to tackle the local food without embarrassing yourself or causing offense.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Find out the appropriate etiquette and protocol involved in business gift-giving, especially if you&#8217;re doing business in the Pacific Rim, where business gift-giving is an integral part of business culture.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Watch out for your body language so that you don&#8217;t make gesture-related mistakes.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Don&#8217;t take rude incidents personally, even if you are pushed and shoved. Practice patience! 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Applying some PR fundamentals, knowing how to deal with the media, getting your press release to stand out and your blog noticed are all key steps in your public relations campaign.","description":"To get people talking about you, your company, or your product, you need to develop a good public relations (PR) plan. Applying some PR fundamentals, knowing how to deal with the media, getting your press release to stand out and your blog noticed are all key steps in your public relations campaign.","blurb":"","authors":[{"authorId":10433,"name":"Eric Yaverbaum","slug":"eric-yaverbaum","description":" <p><b>Eric Yaverbaum,</b> best&#45;selling author and managing partner of LIME public relations &#43; promotions, has more than 20 years&#39; experience and clients such as IKEA, TCBY, and Progressive Insurance. <b>Bob Bly</b> and <b>Ilise Benun</b> are both New York communications professionals. 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","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/10433"}},{"authorId":10435,"name":"Ilise Benun","slug":"ilise-benun","description":" <p><b>Eric Yaverbaum,</b> best&#45;selling author and managing partner of LIME public relations &#43; promotions, has more than 20 years&#39; experience and clients such as IKEA, TCBY, and Progressive Insurance. <b>Bob Bly</b> and <b>Ilise Benun</b> are both New York communications professionals. ","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/10435"}},{"authorId":10436,"name":"Richard Kirshenbaum","slug":"richard-kirshenbaum","description":" <p><b>Eric Yaverbaum,</b> best&#45;selling author and managing partner of LIME public relations &#43; promotions, has more than 20 years&#39; experience and clients such as IKEA, TCBY, and Progressive Insurance. <b>Bob Bly</b> and <b>Ilise Benun</b> are both New York communications professionals. ","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/10436"}}],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/books/"}},"collections":[],"articleAds":{"footerAd":"<div class=\"du-ad-region row\" id=\"article_page_adhesion_ad\"><div class=\"du-ad-unit col-md-12\" data-slot-id=\"article_page_adhesion_ad\" data-refreshed=\"false\" \r\n data-target = \"[{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;cat&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;business-careers-money&quot;,&quot;business&quot;,&quot;business-communication&quot;]},{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;isbn&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;9780471772729&quot;]}]\" id=\"du-slot-62b36f7b40484\"></div></div>","rightAd":"<div class=\"du-ad-region row\" id=\"article_page_right_ad\"><div class=\"du-ad-unit col-md-12\" data-slot-id=\"article_page_right_ad\" data-refreshed=\"false\" \r\n data-target = \"[{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;cat&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;business-careers-money&quot;,&quot;business&quot;,&quot;business-communication&quot;]},{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;isbn&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;9780471772729&quot;]}]\" id=\"du-slot-62b36f7b40bd9\"></div></div>"},"articleType":{"articleType":"Cheat Sheet","articleList":[{"articleId":193265,"title":"Employing Important Public Relations Principles","slug":"employing-important-public-relations-principles","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/193265"}},{"articleId":193262,"title":"Manage the Media with Public Relations Fundamentals","slug":"manage-the-media-with-public-relations-fundamentals","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/193262"}},{"articleId":193246,"title":"Convincing Editors to Print Your Press Release","slug":"convincing-editors-to-print-your-press-release","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/193246"}},{"articleId":193261,"title":"Public Relations Tips for Promoting Your Blog","slug":"public-relations-tips-for-promoting-your-blog","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/193261"}}],"content":[{"title":"Employing important public relations principles","thumb":null,"image":null,"content":"<p>Public relations is all about getting noticed. When you’re planning your PR strategy, the whole idea is to get customers talking. Keep these key issues in mind to get you or your company noticed:</p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>You have to be different.</strong> Conventional publicity strategies get lost in the noise. You have to find a creative way to stand out from the crowd and get noticed.</li>\n<li><strong>Publicity should help you reach your market objective. </strong>Getting publicity is fun, but it’s a waste of time and money if it doesn’t help you achieve your marketing objectives<em>.</em> If getting on the front page of <em>The Wall Street Journal</em> doesn’t help you make more money or increase your firm’s market share, it really isn&#8217;t worth the trouble.</li>\n<li><strong>You don’t have to have media contacts to get big-time publicity.</strong> You don’t have to know Joe TV star to get on his TV show; you just have to come up with an idea that will interest his producer.</li>\n</ul>\n"},{"title":"Plan for media outlets with PR fundamentals","thumb":null,"image":null,"content":"<p>In the world of public relations (PR), finding the media outlets to send your press releases and other PR materials to so you can reach your target audience is crucial. Do your research, think expansively, and stay connected to the media with these tips:</p>\n<ul class=\"level-one\">\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\"><b>Build a personal contact file.</b><i> </i>Keep at it until you have a list of at least 100 media contacts who know you personally and take your call when you have a story you want to publicize.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\"><b>Follow up.</b> Call everyone to whom you send your press releases — several times each, if necessary. Do this and you will get coverage.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\"><b>Become the “go-to guy.”</b> Show the press that you’re the one to call for expert interviews in your particular field.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\"><b>Don’t limit yourself.</b><i> </i>Broaden your outreach. A CEO reads <i>Forbes, </i>but he also watches the evening TV news.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\"><b>Offer an exclusive.</b><i> </i>If it’s important for you to get into a particular publication, offer the editor an exclusive on the story (meaning you won’t send out a press release to other media until that publication has run it first).</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\"><b>Go where the cameras already are.</b><i> </i>Instead of trying to get media to cover your event, make noise at an event they’re already covering.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\"><b>Media are not interested in you or your product.</b><i> </i>They care only whether your story will interest their readers or viewers.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\"><b>Remember: Media are your customers.</b><i> </i>They are buying stories, and you are selling. Meet their needs, and they will run your stories.</p>\n</li>\n</ul>\n"},{"title":"Convincing editors to print your press release","thumb":null,"image":null,"content":"<p>Editors receive hundreds of press releases weekly and they toss out most of them. To make your press release stand out and get the attention of an editor, make sure it&#8217;s professionally prepared, the content is important and newsworthy, and it’s short and to the point.</p>\n<p>These tips will help make your press release stand out even more:</p>\n<ul class=\"level-one\">\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Offer a free booklet or report. Readers love freebies, and editors love to offer them.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Set up a hotline for people to call for information or advice.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Stage a special or timely event or gimmick.<i> </i>A manufacturer of juice machines gained media coverage by holding “juicing seminars” in major cities.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Introduce a new product or service.<i> </i>Many magazines have special sections featuring new products and services.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Offer new literature. Many trade journals have sections featuring new sales literature (brochures and catalogs, for example).</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Tie in with a current trend, fad, or news issue and piggyback on that coverage.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Sound a call to action. Ask people to participate in a boycott, for example.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Tie your publicity to your high-visibility advertising if it received a lot of attention and created some buzz.</p>\n</li>\n</ul>\n"},{"title":"Tips for promoting your PR blog","thumb":null,"image":null,"content":"<p>Blogs provide news and commentary one to two days ahead of major media. Those two days can make a big difference in the world of public relations. Blogs build buzz, so after you’ve launched your blog, use these tips to promote and monitor it:</p>\n<ul class=\"level-one\">\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\"><b>Submit to blog search engines.</b> Beyond the traditional search engines, such as Google and Yahoo, there are search engines and directories that track blogs exclusively and on which thousands of people search every day.<br />\nSubmit your blog&#8217;s URL to these sites for free:</p>\n<ul class=\"level-one\">\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\"><a href=\"https://www.blogsearchengine.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"code\">Blog Search Engine</span></a></p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\"><a href=\"https://technorati.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"code\">Technorati</span></a></p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\"><a href=\"https://daypop.itmwpb.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"code\">Daypop</span></a></p>\n</li>\n</ul>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\"><b>Ping each time a new post is published.</b> The blog search engines offer a system whereby you notify (or “ping”) them, either manually or automatically, each time a new post appears on your blog.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\"><b>Use trackbacks and tags.</b> Look for the “trackback” link at the bottom of a post, next to the permalink and comments link. Trackbacking notifies a blogger that one of their posts has been featured on another blog. It’s a non-intrusive way of letting a blogger know you are interested in what they have to say.<br />\n“Tags” are categories and keywords for blog posts. You will often see keywords on the navigation bar of a blog. If you click on one of the keywords, it will show you all of the blogs that are categorized under one of those &#8220;tags.&#8221; If someone finds your blog and wants to read all of the articles on a particular topic or keyword, tags make this very easy.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\"><b>Include a growing “blogroll.”</b> You’ll see this on the navigation bar of many blogs. It is essentially a list of favorite blogs or related Web sites. This is one of the ways people hop from one blog to the next and help promote each other’s blogs.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\"><b>Participate on other people’s blogs.</b> Devote a certain amount of your time actively commenting on and linking to blogs that are related to your industry and topic. Focus especially on blogs that get high traffic. And be sure to include your blog address in your email signature so that your blog will reach many new readers who see your post.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\"><b>Make it easy for readers to subscribe to your blog via RSS.</b> Give lots of options so people can choose the one they prefer.</p>\n</li>\n</ul>\n"}],"videoInfo":{"videoId":null,"name":null,"accountId":null,"playerId":null,"thumbnailUrl":null,"description":null,"uploadDate":null}},"sponsorship":{"sponsorshipPage":false,"backgroundImage":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0},"brandingLine":"","brandingLink":"","brandingLogo":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0}},"primaryLearningPath":"Advance","lifeExpectancy":"Two years","lifeExpectancySetFrom":"2022-03-25T00:00:00+00:00","dummiesForKids":"no","sponsoredContent":"no","adInfo":"","adPairKey":[]},"status":"publish","visibility":"public","articleId":209135},{"headers":{"creationTime":"2016-03-27T16:49:52+00:00","modifiedTime":"2022-03-22T18:47:34+00:00","timestamp":"2022-06-22T19:37:30+00:00"},"data":{"breadcrumbs":[{"name":"Business, Careers, & Money","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34224"},"slug":"business-careers-money","categoryId":34224},{"name":"Business","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34225"},"slug":"business","categoryId":34225},{"name":"Business Communication","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34232"},"slug":"business-communication","categoryId":34232}],"title":"Critical Conversations For Dummies Cheat Sheet","strippedTitle":"critical conversations for dummies cheat sheet","slug":"critical-conversations-for-dummies-cheat-sheet","canonicalUrl":"","seo":{"metaDescription":"This Cheat Sheet outlines some of the ways to have successful conversations while building rapport with the people you manage at work.","noIndex":0,"noFollow":0},"content":"Are you looking to change behaviors in employees and create productive and dynamic team players? Critical conversations are a way to do just that! Staying ahead of possible conflicts and intervening when issues do arise are what critical conversations are all about. They are the best way to keep employees motivated and ensure productive teamwork.","description":"Are you looking to change behaviors in employees and create productive and dynamic team players? Critical conversations are a way to do just that! Staying ahead of possible conflicts and intervening when issues do arise are what critical conversations are all about. They are the best way to keep employees motivated and ensure productive teamwork.","blurb":"","authors":[{"authorId":9726,"name":"Christina Tangora Schlachter","slug":"christina-tangora-schlachter","description":" <p><b>Christina Tangora Schlachter, PhD,</b> is a Certified Professional Coach. She has created and taught courses on communication skills, crucial conversations for new managers, communication for professionals, and dealing with difficult conversations. 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She has created and taught courses on communication skills, crucial conversations for new managers, communication for professionals, and dealing with difficult conversations. She is the coauthor of <i>Leading Business Change For Dummies </i>and is the Chief Leader of She Leads.</p>","authors":[{"authorId":9726,"name":"Christina Tangora Schlachter","slug":"christina-tangora-schlachter","description":" <p><b>Christina Tangora Schlachter, PhD,</b> is a Certified Professional Coach. She has created and taught courses on communication skills, crucial conversations for new managers, communication for professionals, and dealing with difficult conversations. She is the coauthor of <i>Leading Business Change For Dummies </i>and is the Chief Leader of She Leads.</p> ","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/9726"}}],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/books/"}},"collections":[],"articleAds":{"footerAd":"<div class=\"du-ad-region row\" id=\"article_page_adhesion_ad\"><div class=\"du-ad-unit col-md-12\" data-slot-id=\"article_page_adhesion_ad\" data-refreshed=\"false\" \r\n data-target = \"[{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;cat&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;business-careers-money&quot;,&quot;business&quot;,&quot;business-communication&quot;]},{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;isbn&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;9781118490310&quot;]}]\" id=\"du-slot-62b36f7a12011\"></div></div>","rightAd":"<div class=\"du-ad-region row\" id=\"article_page_right_ad\"><div class=\"du-ad-unit col-md-12\" data-slot-id=\"article_page_right_ad\" data-refreshed=\"false\" \r\n data-target = \"[{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;cat&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;business-careers-money&quot;,&quot;business&quot;,&quot;business-communication&quot;]},{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;isbn&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;9781118490310&quot;]}]\" id=\"du-slot-62b36f7a12764\"></div></div>"},"articleType":{"articleType":"Cheat Sheet","articleList":[{"articleId":170091,"title":"Five Ways to Build Rapport during a Critical Conversation","slug":"five-ways-to-build-rapport-during-a-critical-conversation","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/170091"}},{"articleId":170099,"title":"Ten Minutes to a Critical Conversation","slug":"ten-minutes-to-a-critical-conversation","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/170099"}},{"articleId":170108,"title":"Solutions to Critical Conversation Problems at a Glance","slug":"solutions-to-critical-conversation-problems-at-a-glance","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/170108"}}],"content":[{"title":"Five ways to build rapport during a critical conversation","thumb":null,"image":null,"content":"<p>Building and maintaining rapport with the person you are having a critical conversation with makes any discussion more likely to have a positive result. Building rapport means creating a relationship based on trust and affinity.</p>\n<p>You will be much more likely to have a positive conversation with mutual respect if you keep the following tips in mind when building rapport:</p>\n<ul class=\"level-one\">\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\"><b>Be sincere.</b> It is important to establish common goals or shared interests, but don’t just say what you think the other person wants to hear. Share your genuine thoughts, feelings, and interests and be open and respectful to what others have to say.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\"><b>Be present in the conversation.</b> Listen to what the other person is saying rather than think solely about what you are going to say next or cast judgment. Look at the other person when they are talking, put aside distractions (shut off the computer, turn off your phone, shut the door).</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\"><b>Be confident, but not arrogant.</b> When you are confident, it can put the other person at ease. Even if you are a bag of nerves, confidence can come from smiling, holding your head up, and talking with a clear voice.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\"><b>Be empathic.</b> Everyone comes to the conversation with a different history or perspective, and having empathy for these different views is the best way to build a relationship. Recognize and respect how others are feeling, even if you do not agree with their point of view.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\"><b>Be honest.</b> Say what you mean, do what you say, and follow through with what you commit to doing. Relationships are built on trust. If you say one thing and do another, that trust will quickly evaporate.</p>\n</li>\n</ul>\n"},{"title":"Ten minutes to a critical conversation","thumb":null,"image":null,"content":"<p class=\"SortTitle\">Critical conversations take practice, perspective, and preparation. Unfortunately, sometimes there is never enough time to get ready because the conversation needs to happen now. For these situations, 10 minutes of preparation before a critical conversation will get you on the path to a successful discussion:</p>\n<ul class=\"level-one\">\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\"><b>Minute 1:</b> <b>Make</b> <b>sure you have sufficient time to see the conversation through to the end.</b> It is unfair to the other person to drop horrible news or difficult feedback on them and then have to speed off to another conversation. If you don’t have at least 30 minutes to have the conversation, it may be better to postpone it.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\"><b>Minute 2:</b> <b>Be realistic about what you can and cannot achieve with a last minute conversation.</b> Keep the topic limited to one example. Even if there are more issues you would like to discuss in the future, use this last-minute critical conversation as a way to create an open and effective work environment.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\"><b>Minutes 3-6:</b> <b>Make sure the conversation is focused on facts and why the facts are important, not just opinion.</b> Nothing is worse than tossing out old grudges or highly subjective opinions, even if you have all the time in the world to prepare. Write down the actual behavior or event that happened, the consequence of that behavior or event, and why you feel it is important. This brief preparation will help focus the conversation. For example: Fact: a colleague refused to share important information during a meeting; Consequence: you need the information before the end of the day to give to the customer; Feelings: you feel you can’t do the best job possible for the organization without this information.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\"><b>Minutes 6-7:</b> <b>Practice your key sentence.</b> While you may not have a tremendous amount of time to practice, take one minute to practice the key information you are going to deliver. In the previous example you may say, “I know everyone is busy and we did not have time to talk about this during the meeting, but I need to deliver our team report to our customer this afternoon. I feel under pressure and anxious since I cannot do my best job if I do not have the information. Can we sit down and find out how to get this information as efficiently as possible?”</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\"><b>Minutes 8-9:</b> <b>Understand you have a good chance to resolve an issue rather quickly with a conversation.</b> However, even if you cannot resolve the issue, use the conversation as an opening and building block to future dialogue by demonstrating empathy, and by being willing and open to listen to the perspective of the other person. Be prepared to ask for the other person’s views and ideas, not just your own.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\"><b>Minute 10:</b> <b>Take a deep breath.</b> Be open and honest, and know that even if the conversation does not go as planned, sincerity goes a long way.</p>\n</li>\n</ul>\n"},{"title":"Solutions to critical conversation problems at a glance","thumb":null,"image":null,"content":"<p class=\"SortTitle\">Critical conversations are not just about what you should do during the discussion. Unfortunately, poor attitudes and stressed relationships show up again and again during conversations. Even the best critical conversation can include its share of problems. This table shows a few solutions to some of the more common pitfalls.</p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th>Problem</th>\n<th>Solution</th>\n<th>Examples</th>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>One-sided conversation</td>\n<td>Acknowledge the behavior and then redirect the<br />\nconversation.</td>\n<td>“Thanks for that information Kathy. I know many things can<br />\nget in the way of getting work done, so let’s come up with a<br />\nplan for how to remove the three main barriers you talked about<br />\n[acknowledge what was said]. More could come up, but I recommend we<br />\nstart with these three. What do you see as some potential solutions<br />\n[redirect the conversation to the next step]?”</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Distracted audience</td>\n<td>Ask questions about what is happening.</p>\n<p>Be respectful.</p>\n<p>Help people think.</td>\n<td>“Ted, you look confused. Is there a part of the goal would<br />\nbe helpful for me to go over in more depth?”“Sue, I see you are spending lots of time on your phone during<br />\nmeetings. I know everyone is busy. Is there anything I can do to<br />\nhelp you be part of the conversation?”</p>\n<p>“Dan, I would love to hear your opinion. What are your ideas<br />\non how to solve the problem?”</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>A lack of trust</td>\n<td>Trust builder #1: Give meaningful feedback.</p>\n<p>Trust builder #2: Be authentic</p>\n<p>Trust builder #3: Speak now.</p>\n<p>Trust builder #4: Keep commitments.</td>\n<td>“I plan on researching more about the issue, and will give<br />\nyou an update in next Monday.”“I honestly don’t know the answer, but I am happy to try<br />\nto find the solution.”</p>\n<p>“Are you open to feedback about the meeting this<br />\nmorning?”</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Not heading in the same direction</td>\n<td>Be clear on goals.</p>\n<p>Identify motivations.</td>\n<td>“It seems like we may not be in agreement on the<br />\nexpectations of the job. Would you be willing to talk about what<br />\nyou feel is most important to the job and your<br />\nperformance?”</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n"}],"videoInfo":{"videoId":null,"name":null,"accountId":null,"playerId":null,"thumbnailUrl":null,"description":null,"uploadDate":null}},"sponsorship":{"sponsorshipPage":false,"backgroundImage":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0},"brandingLine":"","brandingLink":"","brandingLogo":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0}},"primaryLearningPath":"Advance","lifeExpectancy":"Five years","lifeExpectancySetFrom":"2022-03-22T00:00:00+00:00","dummiesForKids":"no","sponsoredContent":"no","adInfo":"","adPairKey":[]},"status":"publish","visibility":"public","articleId":208050},{"headers":{"creationTime":"2018-07-27T14:42:55+00:00","modifiedTime":"2022-03-03T20:43:23+00:00","timestamp":"2022-06-22T19:37:22+00:00"},"data":{"breadcrumbs":[{"name":"Business, Careers, & Money","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34224"},"slug":"business-careers-money","categoryId":34224},{"name":"Business","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34225"},"slug":"business","categoryId":34225},{"name":"Business Communication","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34232"},"slug":"business-communication","categoryId":34232}],"title":"Public Speaking Skills For Dummies Cheat Sheet","strippedTitle":"public speaking skills for dummies cheat sheet","slug":"public-speaking-skills-dummies-cheat-sheet","canonicalUrl":"","seo":{"metaDescription":"Picturing your audience naked won't help much. Instead, address your body language and breathing to improve your public speaking.","noIndex":0,"noFollow":0},"content":"Even though some make it look easy, public speaking requires effort. But you don’t want the audience to see that effort. You want your voice to be the same one you use when talking to family, friends, and colleagues. You can develop your own style and sound like yourself. However, many issues can arise while preparing for and during your speech. You may be afraid, your body language may make you look and feel shaky, or your breathing may not be helping you as much as it could be. All these things can be addressed.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_288997\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]<img class=\"wp-image-288997 size-full\" src=\"https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/PublicSpeaking.png\" alt=\"Man speaking onstage next to a projected image\" width=\"630\" height=\"420\" /> © Product School / Unsplash.com[/caption]","description":"Even though some make it look easy, public speaking requires effort. But you don’t want the audience to see that effort. You want your voice to be the same one you use when talking to family, friends, and colleagues. You can develop your own style and sound like yourself. However, many issues can arise while preparing for and during your speech. You may be afraid, your body language may make you look and feel shaky, or your breathing may not be helping you as much as it could be. All these things can be addressed.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_288997\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]<img class=\"wp-image-288997 size-full\" src=\"https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/PublicSpeaking.png\" alt=\"Man speaking onstage next to a projected image\" width=\"630\" height=\"420\" /> © Product School / Unsplash.com[/caption]","blurb":"","authors":[{"authorId":11355,"name":"Alyson Connolly","slug":"alyson-connolly","description":" <p><b>Alyson Connolly, BFA, MFA</b> is a voice and public speaking coach who specializes in painless public speaking and overcoming perfor&#45; mance anxiety. She is also a keynote speaker, having been a performer her whole life, starting out as a child actor, and has been a teacher of drama and theater for the past 30 years. www.alysonconnolly.com ","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/11355"}}],"primaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":34232,"title":"Business Communication","slug":"business-communication","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34232"}},"secondaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":0,"title":null,"slug":null,"_links":null},"tertiaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":0,"title":null,"slug":null,"_links":null},"trendingArticles":null,"inThisArticle":[],"relatedArticles":{"fromBook":[{"articleId":256767,"title":"Public Speaking and Stuttering","slug":"public-speaking-and-stuttering","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/256767"}},{"articleId":256762,"title":"Public Speaking: Avoid Pushing Your Speech","slug":"public-speaking-avoid-pushing-your-speech","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/256762"}},{"articleId":256755,"title":"How to Negate Nasal Voice in Public Speaking","slug":"how-to-negate-nasal-voice-in-public-speaking","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/256755"}},{"articleId":256751,"title":"How to Battle Breathiness in Public Speaking","slug":"how-to-battle-breathiness-in-public-speaking","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/256751"}},{"articleId":256741,"title":"What Is Devoicing?","slug":"what-is-devoicing","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/256741"}}],"fromCategory":[{"articleId":283575,"title":"How to Write Effective Business Letters","slug":"how-to-write-effective-business-letters","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/283575"}},{"articleId":283569,"title":"Business Writing in Email and Group Chat","slug":"business-writing-in-email-and-group-chat","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/283569"}},{"articleId":283572,"title":"Business Writing: How to Connect to Readers","slug":"business-writing-how-to-connect-to-readers","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/283572"}},{"articleId":256767,"title":"Public Speaking and Stuttering","slug":"public-speaking-and-stuttering","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/256767"}},{"articleId":256762,"title":"Public Speaking: Avoid Pushing Your Speech","slug":"public-speaking-avoid-pushing-your-speech","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/256762"}}]},"hasRelatedBookFromSearch":false,"relatedBook":{"bookId":282515,"slug":"public-speaking-skills-for-dummies","isbn":"9781119335573","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"amazon":{"default":"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1119335574/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wiley01-20","ca":"https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/1119335574/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wiley01-20","indigo_ca":"http://www.tkqlhce.com/click-9208661-13710633?url=https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/product/1119335574-item.html&cjsku=978111945484","gb":"https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1119335574/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wiley01-20","de":"https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/1119335574/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wiley01-20"},"image":{"src":"https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/public-speaking-skills-for-dummies-cover-9781119335573-203x255.jpg","width":203,"height":255},"title":"Public Speaking Skills For Dummies","testBankPinActivationLink":"","bookOutOfPrint":false,"authorsInfo":"<p><b data-author-id=\"11355\">Alyson Connolly, BFA, MFA</b> is a voice and public speaking coach who specializes in painless public speaking and overcoming perfor- mance anxiety. She is also a keynote speaker, having been a performer her whole life, starting out as a child actor, and has been a teacher of drama and theater for the past 30 years. www.alysonconnolly.com </p>","authors":[{"authorId":11355,"name":"Alyson Connolly","slug":"alyson-connolly","description":" <p><b>Alyson Connolly, BFA, MFA</b> is a voice and public speaking coach who specializes in painless public speaking and overcoming perfor&#45; mance anxiety. She is also a keynote speaker, having been a performer her whole life, starting out as a child actor, and has been a teacher of drama and theater for the past 30 years. www.alysonconnolly.com ","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/11355"}}],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/books/"}},"collections":[],"articleAds":{"footerAd":"<div class=\"du-ad-region row\" id=\"article_page_adhesion_ad\"><div class=\"du-ad-unit col-md-12\" data-slot-id=\"article_page_adhesion_ad\" data-refreshed=\"false\" \r\n data-target = \"[{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;cat&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;business-careers-money&quot;,&quot;business&quot;,&quot;business-communication&quot;]},{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;isbn&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;9781119335573&quot;]}]\" id=\"du-slot-62b36f72dad48\"></div></div>","rightAd":"<div class=\"du-ad-region row\" id=\"article_page_right_ad\"><div class=\"du-ad-unit col-md-12\" data-slot-id=\"article_page_right_ad\" data-refreshed=\"false\" \r\n data-target = \"[{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;cat&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;business-careers-money&quot;,&quot;business&quot;,&quot;business-communication&quot;]},{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;isbn&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;9781119335573&quot;]}]\" id=\"du-slot-62b36f72db47a\"></div></div>"},"articleType":{"articleType":"Cheat Sheet","articleList":[{"articleId":254508,"title":"6 Things to Do Before You Go Onstage","slug":"6-things-go-onstage","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/254508"}},{"articleId":254512,"title":"4 Secrets to Successful Speeches","slug":"4-secrets-successful-speeches","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/254512"}},{"articleId":254515,"title":"5 Tips for Getting Past Stage Fright","slug":"5-tips-getting-past-stage-fright","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/254515"}}],"content":[{"title":"6 things to do before you present","thumb":null,"image":null,"content":"<p>You’ve written your speech, practiced it, and you’re ready to get up there and present. Surprise, surprise — you have a few things to do, or at least check, first.</p>\n<h2>Make a checklist and be organized</h2>\n<p>Even though you’ve practiced, you need to have the written speech with you. It could be the entire speech on a piece of paper or just the main points on a cue card. Make sure you have everything you need onstage with you and ready to go: Your slide deck, if you’re using one. Props. Bring water, even if you think water will be provided to you.</p>\n<p>Whether you have your main points on cue cards or are reading from a sheet of paper, make sure you’ve put them in the right order. Same thing with your visuals. Go over them one last time. If you&#8217;re using a computer presentation, make sure you have access to it, and a backup. Be diligent and don’t miss this step!</p>\n<p>Have you actually memorized your speech? Kudos to you! You <em>still</em> need to have your speech on you. If there’s a disruption in the room, it might fluster you and you might lose your place.</p>\n<p class=\"article-tips tip\">Go with as big as a font as you need. Only you will see it.</p>\n<p class=\"article-tips tip\">Don’t have your speech on your phone. The screen is too small, and you’ll be squinting to read it. You&#8217;ll have to remember to turn the auto-lock function off so the screen doesn&#8217;t keep going dark. Plus, when you look down at your phone, your energy goes down with it. You want to keep your energy up and look out to the audience when you’re presenting.</p>\n<h2>Warm up</h2>\n<p>You’re thinking, &#8220;warm up, that’s crazy&#8221; — but it’s not. Public speaking is a performance. Would you want to see a concert where the orchestra spent half of the first act bumbling along at half volume because they hadn’t warmed up? Do something physical: Go for a walk or a quick run if you like. Move through a couple of yoga poses. Get your breath moving and release some feel-good endorphins.</p>\n<p class=\"article-tips tip\">Try not to slouch when you’re warming up — or ever, for that matter. Think of roots growing down from the bottom of your feet to the earth and energy moving up through your body and out the crown of your head. Not only does this help with your alignment, which reduces stress on your ligaments, it gives you more room in your body to let your breath move freely.</p>\n<p>Your voice is a part of your body that needs warming up, too. Humming is a great way to warm up. You can hum in the stairwell walking up to the venue and even in your car.</p>\n<p>Move your mouth around. Exaggerate and make it as big as you can and then make it small. Pretend you’re a goldfish and pucker up those lips. Then give a huge smile. Channel a horse and flap your lips.</p>\n<p>Tongue twisters work well to move your articulators — wake up your face and practice with different pitch levels. Try this: <em>Who washed Washington’s white woolen underwear when Washington’s washerwoman went west?</em> Really exaggerate moving those muscles in your face.</p>\n<p class=\"article-tips remember\">The goal is to say tongue twisters clearly — not to rush so that everything sounds garbled.</p>\n<h2>Drop your breath into your abdomen</h2>\n<p>Ideally, you want to breathe from as deep inside your lungs as possible. Imagine dropping your breath deeper than your lungs, down into your lower abdomen. Think of your abdomen being a balloon. When you inhale, the bottom of the balloon expands as it fills up. Go through a few cycles of inhaling and exhaling. In fact, make it a habit.</p>\n<h2>Practice your speech out loud one more time</h2>\n<p>It may look really good on the page, but the audience won’t be reading it. Take the time to find which words you want to emphasize or elongate. Do you want to pause for dramatic effect? Where do you want to change your pitch (how high or low do you want your voice to go)? Is there a time in the presentation where your volume can get very quiet? All of these things add to your vocal variety and make your speech more exciting.</p>\n<p>Don’t ever get onstage without having practiced your speech out loud — yes, out loud — several times. Reading it out loud beforehand is essential to giving a great presentation.</p>\n<h2>Dress the part</h2>\n<p>If you’re presenting in your boardroom, think of your clients. If you’ve just had a company golf match, you might want to change into something more professional. Always look your best. First impressions are important, and you want to make a good one.</p>\n<p>If you’re speaking at a formal dinner, formal attire is in order. If you’re at a community barbecue, go ahead and wear those jeans (but not the ones you wear when you garden). Look professional and appropriate.</p>\n<p class=\"article-tips tip\">If you’re planning on speaking in high heels, make sure you practice your presentation while wearing them. You can also start in a flat shoe and work your way up to the actual shoes you’ll be wearing.</p>\n<h2>Check out your space</h2>\n<p>If you have the opportunity to practice in the room where you’ll be presenting, grab it. The more familiar you are with the space, the more comfortable you’ll feel when you’re speaking. If you don’t have that opportunity, check out the place as soon as you get there.</p>\n<p>Is the lectern where you imagined it, or is it elsewhere? Can you work with that? Is there a power cord stretched across the stage? Will you need to walk over it at some point? Is there room to move when you speak? Is there anything that could get in your way? Can the entire audience see you? If not, can you move around so that they will? If you’re in a boardroom, where are you going to sit? If using a screen, can you move beside it so that the images aren’t flashing across your head?</p>\n"},{"title":"4 secrets to successful speeches","thumb":null,"image":null,"content":"<p>Some people just seem to knock it out of the park when they speak. Sure, being a natural is a terrific place to start, but even the best speakers still have to work at it to get better. A four-year-old may be a natural pitcher, but it’s going to take a lot of work and dedication to get to the major leagues.</p>\n<p>Here are some tips to help you focus that work.</p>\n<h2>Know your audience</h2>\n<p>Find out what they know about the topic. What are their demographics? Has anything occurred recently in the community that has been a good thing, like winning a sports championship? Has anything happened that has been traumatic, like a fire that destroyed the high school? You may want to mention something about these things in your speech. That will give you an automatic connection with the audience and a good first impression that you’ve done your homework and really care about them. However, make sure that you really understand the situation before you address it.</p>\n<h2>Hook the audience and leave them wanting more</h2>\n<p>Reel that audience in once they’ve sat down.</p>\n<p>The <em>hook</em> usually comes in the first sentence and sets the tone for the speech. Let’s take an example of a speech about growing a community garden:</p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Pose a rhetorical question</strong> <strong>that you don’t expect an answer to.</strong> You want the audience to think about it: “Would you be in favor of an amenity that makes your neighborhood more beautiful, feeds your community, and gives many people a sense of purpose?&#8221;</li>\n<li><strong>Throw out a statistic.</strong> “A garden that is cared for can yield up to half a pound of produce per square foot.”</li>\n<li><strong>Tell a story: </strong>“When my next door neighbor grew too old to care for her garden, all the neighbors pitched in to help. Often we’d have worker bees and end up at someone’s house for a barbecue. It was a wonderful way to connect with each other.”</li>\n<li><strong>State your main point.</strong> This is the thesis of your speech. It can be said in one sentence. Then you begin laying out the arguments that support your main point.</li>\n<li><strong>Preview the ending: </strong>The ending is the summation of the speech. How do you want to leave the audience feeling? Can you preview that in your hook? Maybe it is the end of the story where you talk about your neighborhood itself growing, and more community gardens being started after your neighbor planted the first seed.</li>\n</ul>\n<h2>Write in your own voice</h2>\n<p>The essay may have been useful in college, but now you need to write to <em>speak</em>. That is different. The audience wants to get a feeling from you and get to know who you are as a person — not just understand impersonal words on the page. If you feel that you have to write that essay because you feel more comfortable and like you’re hitting all the points, feel free. But then say your speech <em>out loud.</em> Is that how you speak? Do the words make sense for you? Are these words that you use in everyday language — or are they “essay” words?</p>\n<p class=\"article-tips tip\">Record yourself giving your speech and analyze it. You can use an audio recorder or video recorder. Listen to your voice — it may not sound the way it sounds in your head, but that is indeed what it sounds like to everyone else. Use that knowledge to improve your delivery.</p>\n<h2>Use visuals and slides — or not</h2>\n<p>Ask yourself whether you <em>really</em> need them. Will they truly enhance your speech — or just give you something to do instead of focusing on delivering your speech?</p>\n<p>Don’t read from your slides. The audience can read. You may not need words at all in your slides. If you must have words, let them appear on the screen line by line, one at a time, with a maximum of five or six words at a time. Make sure everything is big enough for all to see. Make the type large and clear.</p>\n<p>Instead of reading word for word, paraphrase what is on your slides. <strong> </strong></p>\n<p>Pictures often work better because they can evoke memory for the audience.</p>\n<p class=\"article-tips tip\">Pay special attention to color. People who are colorblind often can’t differentiate between red and green. If you’re using a green background with a red graph, they may not be able to see it.</p>\n"},{"title":"5 tips for getting past stage fright","thumb":null,"image":null,"content":"<p>Maybe you’ve kept your head down when your boss has asked for volunteers to present. Maybe you’ve even bypassed promotions because you’re afraid to speak in front of a crowd. But now you’re the head of your team and have to take that leap. You may be thinking: &#8220;I don’t know as much about this as my colleagues. What if the audience hates me? What if I forget an important bit of information?&#8221;</p>\n<p>Get those negatives out of your head and replace them with positives. Visualize a successful outcome. Believe that everyone wants to hear what you have to say. Heck, some are grateful that it’s you up there and not them!</p>\n<p>Stage fright can occur at any time in your career. Sometime an event precipitates it. The fight, flight, or freeze response kicks in, and you feel small and scared. Make yourself as big as you can and own your space. Don’t be slouched like a prey animal. Be that superhero ready to save the day! Maintain an up and out pose. Find someone in the audience or boardroom table to look at and tell your presentation to and talk to them — then move on and find someone else to connect with.</p>\n<p>You’ve got this. Cut yourself some slack! You’re not perfect. You shouldn’t even want to be. What you want to do is to strive to be your best.</p>\n<h2>Breathe deep</h2>\n<p>Breathe deep. Often when you’re afraid, you take short gasps of air into your upper chest. When you were a kid and were upset, you were told to breathe deep and that it would help to calm you down. You know why? Because it works.</p>\n<p>Sometimes when you’re afraid, you stop breathing altogether. You hold your breath. And when you stop breathing, there’s no oxygen going to your brain, so you stop thinking as well. Don’t just take small amounts of breath into your upper chest — think of dropping your breath as low as it can go into your lower abdomen. Take long, slow breaths.</p>\n<h2>Release useless tension</h2>\n<p>When you’re frightened, you tend to tense up. If you’re standing up there giving your speech and you’re gripping that sheet of paper for dear life, you’re probably tensing up other parts of your body, too. Like your jaw, for example. The audience is going to see that — and will mirror you. They won’t be thinking abut what you’re saying. They’ll be tense themselves and worried you’re going to snap!</p>\n<p>You can work through tension. Go through your body and tense up each part. For example, start with your hands. Hold that tension for a few seconds and then release it. Doesn’t it feel great when you release it?</p>\n<p class=\"article-tips tip\">If you feel tense when you’re waiting to present, go ahead and really tense up a part of your body, like your toes. Do that for a few seconds and then release. This can relax you, and no one will know. You can do this even at the breakfast meeting when you’re sitting.</p>\n<h2>Adopt powerful body language</h2>\n<p>In the animal kingdom, the animals that make themselves big are the ones with the most authority and confidence. You don’t want to approach a bear when it’s on its hind legs, do you? You don’t have to roar like a lion, but you can adopt an up and out position rather than being down and in.</p>\n<p>In a down and in position, your focus is on the floor, your body is closed, and you feel and look like you want to skirt away. In an up and out position your focus is looking outward, your chest is held high, and your body is open. Try it. It actually makes you feel more confident and ready to take on the world — and your speech!</p>\n<h2>Use affirming affirmations</h2>\n<p>Negative thoughts try to crowd into your brain all the time — even if positive ones precede it. For example: &#8220;I’m excited that I get to speak at the conference — I just hope I don’t screw up!&#8221;</p>\n<p>When negatives get into your head, overwhelm them with positives. You can do this by using <em>affirmations</em>: Think to yourself, &#8220;I’ve got this. I’m the best person to give this talk. I’m fabulous!&#8221; You don’t have to tell the crowd, of course, but no one can stop you from having that running through your head.     <strong> </strong></p>\n<p>Visualize giving a great speech. People are smiling and paying attention Are they giving you nonverbal cues like nodding in agreement? What happens at the end? Imagine the slide deck functioning perfectly and you giving your speech without any hiccups.</p>\n<h2>Be the early bird</h2>\n<p>Whether you’re giving a presentation to your colleagues around the boardroom table or to 100 people you’ve never met, get to your venue early. Not only can you check out the room for what you need, you can also talk to those who have arrived and establish a relationship with them right off the bat. You can shoot the breeze about anything. That will make you more comfortable, and the audience members will connect with you as a human being. Then when you give your presentation, you’ll have some friendly faces in the audience to talk to.</p>\n<p class=\"article-tips remember\">When you focus on an audience member, only do so for five or six seconds. If you keep looking at one person, she’ll start feeling uncomfortable, and the rest of the audience will start feeling excluded. Look around the audience and talk to other people in turn as well.</p>\n"}],"videoInfo":{"videoId":null,"name":null,"accountId":null,"playerId":null,"thumbnailUrl":null,"description":null,"uploadDate":null}},"sponsorship":{"sponsorshipPage":false,"backgroundImage":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0},"brandingLine":"","brandingLink":"","brandingLogo":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0}},"primaryLearningPath":"Advance","lifeExpectancy":"Two years","lifeExpectancySetFrom":"2021-10-15T00:00:00+00:00","dummiesForKids":"no","sponsoredContent":"no","adInfo":"","adPairKey":[]},"status":"publish","visibility":"public","articleId":254518},{"headers":{"creationTime":"2016-03-27T16:55:48+00:00","modifiedTime":"2022-02-25T17:10:46+00:00","timestamp":"2022-06-22T19:37:19+00:00"},"data":{"breadcrumbs":[{"name":"Business, Careers, & Money","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34224"},"slug":"business-careers-money","categoryId":34224},{"name":"Business","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34225"},"slug":"business","categoryId":34225},{"name":"Business Communication","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34232"},"slug":"business-communication","categoryId":34232}],"title":"Communicating Effectively For Dummies Cheat Sheet","strippedTitle":"communicating effectively for dummies cheat sheet","slug":"communicating-effectively-for-dummies-cheat-sheet","canonicalUrl":"","seo":{"metaDescription":"Keep this Cheat Sheet handy to remind you of the key aspects to effective communication in the workplace, as well as pitfalls to avoid.","noIndex":0,"noFollow":0},"content":"Effective communications involves listening as well as speaking. When you speak to a group, how you deliver your message plays a part in how it’s received. In the workplace, effective communication techniques can help foster positive relationships — just be sure to avoid some communication pitfalls so that you don’t undermine your good work.","description":"Effective communications involves listening as well as speaking. When you speak to a group, how you deliver your message plays a part in how it’s received. In the workplace, effective communication techniques can help foster positive relationships — just be sure to avoid some communication pitfalls so that you don’t undermine your good work.","blurb":"","authors":[{"authorId":9858,"name":"Marty Brounstein","slug":"marty-brounstein","description":" Marty Brounstein, is an author, speaker, and management consultant who specializes in practical applications of coaching techniques.","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/9858"}}],"primaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":34232,"title":"Business Communication","slug":"business-communication","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34232"}},"secondaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":0,"title":null,"slug":null,"_links":null},"tertiaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":0,"title":null,"slug":null,"_links":null},"trendingArticles":null,"inThisArticle":[],"relatedArticles":{"fromBook":[{"articleId":191560,"title":"How to Communicate Effectively to an Audience","slug":"how-to-communicate-effectively-to-an-audience","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/191560"}},{"articleId":191559,"title":"Ten Ways to Listen Well as Part of Communicating Effectively","slug":"ten-ways-to-listen-well-as-part-of-communicating-effectively","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/191559"}},{"articleId":191555,"title":"Pitfalls to Avoid in Workplace Communications","slug":"pitfalls-to-avoid-in-workplace-communications","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/191555"}},{"articleId":191549,"title":"How to Build Strong Working Relationships with Effective Communication","slug":"how-to-build-strong-working-relationships-with-effective-communication","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/191549"}}],"fromCategory":[{"articleId":283575,"title":"How to Write Effective Business Letters","slug":"how-to-write-effective-business-letters","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/283575"}},{"articleId":283569,"title":"Business Writing in Email and Group Chat","slug":"business-writing-in-email-and-group-chat","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/283569"}},{"articleId":283572,"title":"Business Writing: How to Connect to Readers","slug":"business-writing-how-to-connect-to-readers","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/283572"}},{"articleId":256767,"title":"Public Speaking and Stuttering","slug":"public-speaking-and-stuttering","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/256767"}},{"articleId":256762,"title":"Public Speaking: Avoid Pushing Your Speech","slug":"public-speaking-avoid-pushing-your-speech","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/256762"}}]},"hasRelatedBookFromSearch":false,"relatedBook":{"bookId":282096,"slug":"communicating-effectively-for-dummies","isbn":"9780764553196","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"amazon":{"default":"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0764553194/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wiley01-20","ca":"https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/0764553194/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wiley01-20","indigo_ca":"http://www.tkqlhce.com/click-9208661-13710633?url=https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/product/0764553194-item.html&cjsku=978111945484","gb":"https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0764553194/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wiley01-20","de":"https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/0764553194/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wiley01-20"},"image":{"src":"https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/communicating-effectively-for-dummies-cover-9780764553196-207x255.jpg","width":207,"height":255},"title":"Communicating Effectively For Dummies","testBankPinActivationLink":"","bookOutOfPrint":false,"authorsInfo":"Marty Brounstein is the Principal of The Practical Solutions Group, a training and consulting firm based in the San Francisco Bay area that specializes in management and organizational effectiveness. Marty's consulting work includes one-on-one coaching with managers and executives, assistance to groups working to become productive teams, and guidance and direction for organizations establishing practices for high performance and employee retention. His training programs target management as well as employee-development issues including leadership, team development, customer service, and effective communication.<br><br> As a consultant, speaker, and trainer since 1991, Marty has served a wide variety of organizations from high tech to government, for profit to not-for-profit. He has a bachelor's degree in education and history and a master's degree in industrial relations. Prior to beginning his consulting career, he spent a couple of years as a human resources executive.<br><br> This is Marty's fourth book and second for Hungry Minds, Inc. He is the coauthor of Effective Recruiting Strategies: A Marketing Approach and author ofHandling the Difficult Employee: Solving Performance Problems. In 2000, he wrote Coaching and Mentoring For Dummies.","authors":[{"authorId":9858,"name":"Marty Brounstein","slug":"marty-brounstein","description":" Marty Brounstein, is an author, speaker, and management consultant who specializes in practical applications of coaching techniques.","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/9858"}}],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/books/"}},"collections":[],"articleAds":{"footerAd":"<div class=\"du-ad-region row\" id=\"article_page_adhesion_ad\"><div class=\"du-ad-unit col-md-12\" data-slot-id=\"article_page_adhesion_ad\" data-refreshed=\"false\" \r\n data-target = \"[{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;cat&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;business-careers-money&quot;,&quot;business&quot;,&quot;business-communication&quot;]},{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;isbn&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;9780764553196&quot;]}]\" id=\"du-slot-62b36f6fd5d9e\"></div></div>","rightAd":"<div class=\"du-ad-region row\" id=\"article_page_right_ad\"><div class=\"du-ad-unit col-md-12\" data-slot-id=\"article_page_right_ad\" data-refreshed=\"false\" \r\n data-target = \"[{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;cat&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;business-careers-money&quot;,&quot;business&quot;,&quot;business-communication&quot;]},{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;isbn&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;9780764553196&quot;]}]\" id=\"du-slot-62b36f6fd64e0\"></div></div>"},"articleType":{"articleType":"Cheat Sheet","articleList":[{"articleId":191559,"title":"Ten Ways to Listen Well as Part of Communicating Effectively","slug":"ten-ways-to-listen-well-as-part-of-communicating-effectively","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/191559"}},{"articleId":191560,"title":"How to Communicate Effectively to an Audience","slug":"how-to-communicate-effectively-to-an-audience","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/191560"}},{"articleId":191549,"title":"How to Build Strong Working Relationships with Effective Communication","slug":"how-to-build-strong-working-relationships-with-effective-communication","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/191549"}},{"articleId":191555,"title":"Pitfalls to Avoid in Workplace Communications","slug":"pitfalls-to-avoid-in-workplace-communications","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/191555"}}],"content":[{"title":"10 ways to listen well","thumb":null,"image":null,"content":"<p>Communicating effectively involves not only speaking well, but listening well, too. Active-listening tools, such as those in the following list, help you hold up your end of a successful conversation or discussion.</p>\n<ul class=\"level-one\">\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Concentrate on what the speaker has to say.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Listen for content and emotion to understand the entire message.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Maintain steady eye contact so speakers know your attention is with them.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Reflect back with verbal feedback to confirm your understanding of the message.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Stay patient when people talk to you.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Keep your tone sincere and nonjudgmental when you listen.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">When you give feedback to check understanding, do so in one sentence.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Tune into how the message is being said, not just what the words are.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Acknowledge feelings that are important to the message you’re hearing.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Make your goal in conversations to show understanding of what the speaker truly means.</p>\n</li>\n</ul>\n"},{"title":"How to communicate effectively to an audience","thumb":null,"image":null,"content":"<p>When you speak to a crowd, communicating effectively means that your delivery is positive and confident so that your message comes across effectively. Use the tips in the following list to convey your points:</p>\n<ul class=\"level-one\">\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Speak up so others can easily hear you, especially in group situations.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Make your message as concise as possible; wordiness is not needed or wanted.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Use language in the best way possible to make your points.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Talk with your hands and use them to emphasize your key points.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Be direct and honest with people as a consistent practice.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Provide steady eye contact with your listeners to engage their attention when you talk.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Maintain an alert body posture when you speak to put life behind your message.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Pause to gather your thoughts so you avoid extraneous sounds, such as “um” that clutter your message.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Focus on getting solutions when you talk about problems.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Be sincere: People respond best to those who are genuine and respectful in their delivery.</p>\n</li>\n</ul>\n"},{"title":"Using communication to build strong working relationships","thumb":null,"image":null,"content":"<p>Effective communication strategies can help you build strong working relationships with clients and customers, team members, managers, and internal customers. Use the tips in the following list:</p>\n<ul class=\"level-one\">\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Respond to requests by emphasizing what you can do to help meet them.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Follow through and do what you say you’ll do.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Listen without passing judgment and don’t rush in to give advice.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">When you have concerns, work them out with the source, not with others.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Communicate with respect in every interaction regardless of whether you like the person.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">When others give you assistance or support, express appreciation for it.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Focus on issues, not personalities, when you discuss work matters and problems.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">When differences in views or ideas occur, work first to understand them from the other person’s perspective.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Be direct and sincere as normal practices.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">Use humor in good taste.</p>\n</li>\n</ul>\n"},{"title":"Communication pitfalls to avoid in the workplace","thumb":null,"image":null,"content":"<p>Effective communications includes choosing the proper method to communicate, the right time, and the relevant message. The pitfalls in the following list are ones to avoid:</p>\n<ul class=\"level-one\">\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\"><b>Using email to express concerns. </b>Instead, go to the source to work out problems in person.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\"><b>Talking too much in sales situations. </b>Instead, learn to understand the customer’s needs and then speak to indicate how you can help meet those needs.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\"><b>Responding to requests by immediately saying it can’t be done. </b>Instead, emphasize what you <i>can</i> do and <i>when</i> you can meet the request.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\"><b></b><b>Providing your employees, if you are a manager, with opinionated criticism when their performance needs improvement.</b> Instead, provide employees with specific performance-focused feedback based on your observations.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\"><b>Saying yes when you really don’t mean it. </b>Instead, express your concerns constructively and offer alternatives as to what you think will work better in the situation.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\"><b>Sitting by quietly and passively when people discuss issues with you.</b> Instead, interact with the message you’re hearing and provide verbal feedback to check your understanding of the message.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\"><b>Dwelling on what’s wrong or who’s at fault when dealing with problem situations.</b> Instead, put your focus on working out solutions with others and on how to make the situation better.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\"><b>Focusing on yourself — what you like and don’t like — as you receive others’ messages.</b> Instead, shift your focus from yourself to concentrating on your speaker’s message and work to understand what that message means without passing judgment on it.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\"><b>Attempting to soften a point when addressing tough or sensitive issues.</b> Instead, be direct, constructive, and straightforward so that your message and its importance come across clearly and respectfully.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\"><b>Pushing forward with your idea and disregarding concerns that people have with it.</b> Instead, listen to and acknowledge the concerns and address them. Sometimes the best way to gain support for an idea about which others have reservations is to show that you hear those concerns.</p>\n</li>\n</ul>\n"}],"videoInfo":{"videoId":null,"name":null,"accountId":null,"playerId":null,"thumbnailUrl":null,"description":null,"uploadDate":null}},"sponsorship":{"sponsorshipPage":false,"backgroundImage":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0},"brandingLine":"","brandingLink":"","brandingLogo":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0}},"primaryLearningPath":"Advance","lifeExpectancy":"Five years","lifeExpectancySetFrom":"2022-02-25T00:00:00+00:00","dummiesForKids":"no","sponsoredContent":"no","adInfo":"","adPairKey":[]},"status":"publish","visibility":"public","articleId":208912},{"headers":{"creationTime":"2016-07-25T14:36:56+00:00","modifiedTime":"2022-02-10T21:02:05+00:00","timestamp":"2022-06-22T19:37:11+00:00"},"data":{"breadcrumbs":[{"name":"Business, Careers, & Money","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34224"},"slug":"business-careers-money","categoryId":34224},{"name":"Business","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34225"},"slug":"business","categoryId":34225},{"name":"Business Communication","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34232"},"slug":"business-communication","categoryId":34232}],"title":"Writing Business Bids and Proposals For Dummies Cheat Sheet","strippedTitle":"writing business bids and proposals for dummies cheat sheet","slug":"writing-business-bids-proposals-dummies-cheat-sheet","canonicalUrl":"","seo":{"metaDescription":"Use this handy Cheat Sheet as a quick reference for writing customer-focused, persuasive business bids and proposals.","noIndex":0,"noFollow":0},"content":"If you’re a small- to medium-sized business owner, a salesperson, or a lone proposal writer, this Cheat Sheet provides you with a helpful reference for writing commercial business proposals.\r\n\r\nThis information will help you understand how to write customer-focused, persuasive proposals that win more business. If you boil down a good proposal to its essence, you can take away four overarching principles that will significantly improve your ability to write winning proposals.","description":"If you’re a small- to medium-sized business owner, a salesperson, or a lone proposal writer, this Cheat Sheet provides you with a helpful reference for writing commercial business proposals.\r\n\r\nThis information will help you understand how to write customer-focused, persuasive proposals that win more business. If you boil down a good proposal to its essence, you can take away four overarching principles that will significantly improve your ability to write winning proposals.","blurb":"","authors":[{"authorId":10920,"name":"Neil Cobb","slug":"neil-cobb","description":" <p><b>Association of Proposal Management Professionals </b>promotes the professional growth of its members by advancing the arts, sciences, and technologies of winning business. APMP is the worldwide authority for professionals dedicated to the process of winning business through proposals, bids, tenders, and presentations.</p> ","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/10920"}},{"authorId":10921,"name":"Charlie Divine","slug":"charlie-divine","description":" <p><b>Association of Proposal Management Professionals </b>promotes the professional growth of its members by advancing the arts, sciences, and technologies of winning business. APMP is the worldwide authority for professionals dedicated to the process of winning business through proposals, bids, tenders, and presentations.</p> ","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/10921"}}],"primaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":34232,"title":"Business Communication","slug":"business-communication","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34232"}},"secondaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":0,"title":null,"slug":null,"_links":null},"tertiaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":0,"title":null,"slug":null,"_links":null},"trendingArticles":null,"inThisArticle":[],"relatedArticles":{"fromBook":[],"fromCategory":[{"articleId":283575,"title":"How to Write Effective Business Letters","slug":"how-to-write-effective-business-letters","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/283575"}},{"articleId":283569,"title":"Business Writing in Email and Group Chat","slug":"business-writing-in-email-and-group-chat","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/283569"}},{"articleId":283572,"title":"Business Writing: How to Connect to Readers","slug":"business-writing-how-to-connect-to-readers","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/283572"}},{"articleId":256767,"title":"Public Speaking and Stuttering","slug":"public-speaking-and-stuttering","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/256767"}},{"articleId":256762,"title":"Public Speaking: Avoid Pushing Your Speech","slug":"public-speaking-avoid-pushing-your-speech","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/256762"}}]},"hasRelatedBookFromSearch":false,"relatedBook":{"bookId":0,"slug":null,"isbn":null,"categoryList":null,"amazon":null,"image":null,"title":null,"testBankPinActivationLink":null,"bookOutOfPrint":false,"authorsInfo":null,"authors":null,"_links":null},"collections":[],"articleAds":{"footerAd":"<div class=\"du-ad-region row\" id=\"article_page_adhesion_ad\"><div class=\"du-ad-unit col-md-12\" data-slot-id=\"article_page_adhesion_ad\" data-refreshed=\"false\" \r\n data-target = \"[{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;cat&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;business-careers-money&quot;,&quot;business&quot;,&quot;business-communication&quot;]},{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;isbn&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[null]}]\" id=\"du-slot-62b36f677b54b\"></div></div>","rightAd":"<div class=\"du-ad-region row\" id=\"article_page_right_ad\"><div class=\"du-ad-unit col-md-12\" data-slot-id=\"article_page_right_ad\" data-refreshed=\"false\" \r\n data-target = \"[{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;cat&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;business-careers-money&quot;,&quot;business&quot;,&quot;business-communication&quot;]},{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;isbn&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[null]}]\" id=\"du-slot-62b36f677bc76\"></div></div>"},"articleType":{"articleType":"Cheat Sheet","articleList":[{"articleId":221701,"title":"Focusing on the Customer in Your Business Bids and Proposals","slug":"focusing-customer-business-bids-proposals","categoryList":[],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/221701"}},{"articleId":221704,"title":"Using a Repeatable Process for Writing Business Bids and Proposals","slug":"using-repeatable-process-writing-business-bids-proposals","categoryList":[],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/221704"}},{"articleId":221708,"title":"Writing Persuasively in Your Business Bids and Proposals","slug":"writing-persuasively-business-bids-proposals","categoryList":[],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/221708"}},{"articleId":221711,"title":"Reviewing to Revise and Renew Your Business Proposal","slug":"reviewing-revise-renew-business-proposal","categoryList":[],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/221711"}}],"content":[{"title":"Focusing on the customer","thumb":null,"image":null,"content":"<p>The one constant of all business proposals, be they proactive or reactive, is that the customer is central. The proposal isn’t about you or your organization — it’s about your customer. Make sure every theme, every image, and every word are pertinent to your customer and the custom solution you’ve built to meet its needs.</p>\n<p>Keep these tips in mind as you plan and write your proposal.</p>\n<h2>Build a relationship</h2>\n<p>People do business with people they like. You don’t have to be best buddies, but you do need to go beyond the business opportunity and establish trust. Follow these guidelines for building a customer relationship:</p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Get to know your customers.</strong> Understand their vision, their objectives for success, and the challenges they face.</li>\n<li><strong>Understand your customer’s hot buttons</strong> (those key benefits that will prompt a customer to buy). Confirm that the solution you offer satisfies each hot button from the customer’s perspective.</li>\n<li><strong>Position your solution early.</strong> Positioning your products or services early and getting your customer to know, like, and trust you improves your probability of winning a contract.</li>\n<li><strong>Speak to your customer directly.</strong> Use the customer’s name far more frequently than you mention your name.</li>\n</ul>\n<h2>Show how you’re different</h2>\n<p>Are your business’s products and services really all that different from those of your competitors? Technology is a pretty level playing field, so how you behave around your customers is much more important than how your products behave. Differentiate yourself in the following ways:</p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Demonstrate your value.</strong> Focus your proposal on how it benefits the customer (the “so what”), not on the products, services, and features that make the benefits possible.</li>\n<li><strong>Prove what you say.</strong> Proof points, drawn from past performance and experience, give tangible evidence for your claims and builds the customer’s confidence in you.</li>\n<li><strong>Comply with the customer’s requirements.</strong> But go beyond mere compliance and exceed the customer’s expectations by being responsive to the underlying need of the requirement.</li>\n<li><strong>Find the “silver bullet.”</strong> Articulate your discriminator(s) — the things most important to the customer that you provide and your competitors can’t.</li>\n<li><strong>Look over your shoulder.</strong> Understand how your customer views your competitors and use that knowledge to ghost their weaknesses and mitigate their strengths.</li>\n</ul>\n"},{"title":"Using a repeatable process for writing business bids and proposals","thumb":null,"image":null,"content":"<p>Winning business through proposals takes a plan — a repeatable, flexible process that you can implement whether the window of opportunity is short (a matter of hours or days) or long (many weeks or months). A repeatable proposal process provides a road map with consistent milestones so proposal teams know where they’re going, where they are at any given moment, and what steps remain to reach their goal.</p>\n<p class=\"article-tips remember\">Organizations with a defined end-to-end proposal process win more deals, reduce their bid costs, benefit from increased leadership support, and improve their proposal team’s morale.</p>\n<p>Keep these tips in mind as you develop and deploy your proposal process.</p>\n<h2>Before you begin</h2>\n<p>To successfully craft winning proposals, you have to stay one step ahead — and the only way to do that is by never falling behind. Get ahead of the curve by following this list of pre-proposal activities:</p>\n<ul>\n<li>Build a core process for your most typical engagement. This provides a baseline framework that prevents you from having to reinvent the wheel for every opportunity.</li>\n<li>Use industry best practices to construct your processes. These include opportunity qualification, in-progress reviews, and clear inputs/outputs.</li>\n<li>Document your process and use just-in-time training to instill and reinforce the skills your contributors need to follow the process.</li>\n<li>Make the process scalable to adapt to different opportunity values, time frames, and resource requirements.</li>\n<li>Get senior management buy-in for the process. Provide a senior-manager “champion” to help implement and reinforce the benefits of the process.</li>\n<li>Define clear roles and responsibilities.</li>\n</ul>\n<h2>While you’re working</h2>\n<p>All opportunities are unique, and no standard plan will anticipate 100 percent of the issues that a given proposal will throw at you. Don’t set your process in stone — you must test and track every activity and milestone as you go, and be ready to stop and change direction immediately if the proposal requires. You should also remember to</p>\n<ul>\n<li>Keep the process flexible. Align with your customer’s buying process — the customer’s interests, priorities, and accessibility will vary. Tailor elements in the process to be responsive to the customer.</li>\n<li>Define levels of authority for decision making. Tailor the “level of authority” for decisions based on the size and risk associated with the opportunity.</li>\n</ul>\n<h2>After you’re done</h2>\n<p>A proposal writer’s work is never done. Every opportunity yields a chance to refine your process and improve your deliverables. Shortly after the ink has dried (or the file is transferred):</p>\n<ul>\n<li>Conduct postmortems to review your process after each major effort.</li>\n<li>Apply the lessons you learn to improve your process.</li>\n</ul>\n"},{"title":"Writing persuasively","thumb":null,"image":null,"content":"<p>A business proposal is a written argument — an appeal to gain a reader’s agreement. When you write a proposal, you’re telling a story and you’re trying to convince your customer that you understand its story — its industry issues and specific problems — and that you have the best solution. Above all, to successfully persuade, you must know your customer so you can use the right techniques to match its point of view.</p>\n<p>Here are some tips to keep in mind as you plan and write your argument:</p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Be specific.</strong> Even if you solved a similar problem for someone else, you still have to show how that success will translate to this particular customer’s unique environment and situation. Do your homework to make sure your solution really fits. Don’t spare the details: Use real scenarios and precise statistics and measures to prove your solution is right.</li>\n<li><strong>Make it personal.</strong> Discover what keeps your customer up at night and speculate on the corporate and personal repercussions of not acting or acting incorrectly. The best way to build urgency in a proposal is to make your solution an alternative to real, personal pain.</li>\n<li><strong>Find</strong> <strong>common</strong> <strong>values.</strong> To create empathy, make your readers see that you care about the same things they do. People like people who are similar to themselves, so work to understand their corporate and personal stances on business, social, and environmental issues to see if you have common ground.</li>\n<li><strong>Establish the validity of your proposal with logic.</strong> In proposals, you state claims and provide proofs to support them. This is the most intellectually satisfying of persuasive techniques. The more objective your proofs, the more compelling your arguments.</li>\n<li><strong>Appeal to the emotions of your audience.</strong> People make decisions as much on emotion as they do on logic. A time-tested persuasive technique is to express how inaction or the wrong action can jeopardize your reader’s well-being. Telling a story about what may cause an outage or interruption to your reader’s business is a great way to bring an acute awareness to a problem and its potential consequences — and a way to bring urgency, another key to persuasion.</li>\n<li><strong>Use concrete words instead of abstract terms.</strong> Language is vivid when it conjures an image in people’s minds. Concrete words (carpenter, endocrinologist) are faster to read and easier to understand than abstract equivalents (worker, doctor). As a writer, you may have vivid images in your head as you describe the workings of a process, but if you don’t use words that accurately describe <em>what </em>you see, your readers won’t see things as you do.</li>\n<li><strong>Anticipate your readers’ questions so you can remove reasons for rejection.</strong> Some proposals are rejected because the writer makes it easy for the reader to say no. Your job as a persuasive writer is to take all the roadblocks to yes out of the way. You can do this by anticipating every point at which your reader may become uncomfortable, skeptical, or fearful. To do that, you have to ask yourself the same questions your reader will ask you.</li>\n<li><strong>Use graphics to demonstrate the potential of your solution.</strong> Graphics are powerful tools for persuading audiences. People equate visual design with professionalism. Readers recall information more readily when presented with images. Images trigger emotional responses better than words.</li>\n</ul>\n"},{"title":"Reviewing to revise and renew your business proposal","thumb":null,"image":null,"content":"<p>You must inspect your business proposal if you expect to improve. This concept applies to not only what you produce but also how you produce it. To be a true proposal professional, you need a mindset for continual improvement. Proposals are just too complex, customers too demanding, and competitors too crafty for the status quo. You’re either getting better or you’re getting behind.</p>\n<p>Keep these tips in mind as you work through your proposal process and craft your proposal arguments.</p>\n<h2>Improve the process</h2>\n<p>Holding reviews is the only way to improve the way you work. You have to look back before you can look forward, so consider these tactics for getting better every time:</p>\n<ul>\n<li>Before you propose, hold a <em>proposal strategy review</em> to validate your approach and suggest improvements. Review all your potential technical, management, and pricing solutions against the customer’s needs and requirements.</li>\n<li>As you create your solution, hold a <em>competitor review</em> by engaging with your customer and competitor experts to assess and analyze your competitors’ likely strategies and solutions.</li>\n<li>Before you make your bid/no-bid decision, hold a <em>senior management review</em> so leadership can sign off on the solution, pricing, and legal requirements.</li>\n<li>Establish daily <em>stand-up reviews</em> at the same time every day during the proposal development phase to keep the proposal team focused on near-term tasks. When managing a virtual team, hold your stand-up reviews via web conferencing, teleconferences, and email.</li>\n<li>Conduct <em>after action reviews</em> (AARs) when you reach key milestones to extract the learning from an event or activity. Ask these questions: What should have happened? What actually happened? What can you learn and apply for the future?</li>\n<li>Conduct a <em>lessons-learned review</em> after each major proposal to assess the proposal development and management process. Document and store your findings for others to access and reference on future sales opportunities.</li>\n</ul>\n<h2>Improve the proposal</h2>\n<p>As you work on your proposal, always include ample revision time and cycles for your proposals to reduce overall cost, test the validity of your ideas, and ensure that you’re writing ethically:</p>\n<ul>\n<li>Early in your project, give your lawyers an opportunity to hold a <em>legal review</em> to ensure that you can meet your customer’s terms and conditions.</li>\n<li>Use objective subject matter experts to perform <em>functional reviews</em> as you near completion of the proposal to ensure its accuracy, persuasiveness, and appropriateness.</li>\n<li>If you’re part of a proposal team, request <em>peer reviews</em> for your work, and offer to do the same for your peers. Peer reviews look for opportunities to improve the proposal’s accuracy, grammar, and style.</li>\n<li>Conduct a <em>final document review</em> to allow independent reviewers to comprehensively examine the entire proposal while emulating the customer’s evaluation team. They should assess the proposal’s readiness and responsiveness to the solicitation, its effectiveness in conveying strategy, themes, and discriminators, and how well it ghosts the competition.</li>\n</ul>\n"}],"videoInfo":{"videoId":null,"name":null,"accountId":null,"playerId":null,"thumbnailUrl":null,"description":null,"uploadDate":null}},"sponsorship":{"sponsorshipPage":false,"backgroundImage":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0},"brandingLine":"","brandingLink":"","brandingLogo":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0}},"primaryLearningPath":"Advance","lifeExpectancy":"Two years","lifeExpectancySetFrom":"2022-02-10T00:00:00+00:00","dummiesForKids":"no","sponsoredContent":"no","adInfo":"","adPairKey":[]},"status":"publish","visibility":"public","articleId":221714},{"headers":{"creationTime":"2016-03-26T22:38:45+00:00","modifiedTime":"2021-12-01T18:09:54+00:00","timestamp":"2022-06-22T19:36:57+00:00"},"data":{"breadcrumbs":[{"name":"Business, Careers, & Money","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34224"},"slug":"business-careers-money","categoryId":34224},{"name":"Business","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34225"},"slug":"business","categoryId":34225},{"name":"Business Communication","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34232"},"slug":"business-communication","categoryId":34232}],"title":"Win-Win Negotiating","strippedTitle":"win-win negotiating","slug":"win-win-negotiating","canonicalUrl":"","seo":{"metaDescription":"If you are about to close a deal, aim for the outcome to be positive for both parties. Follow this guide to help you.","noIndex":0,"noFollow":0},"content":"<p class=\"normal\">You are about to end a negotiation, either by closing a deal or walking away from it. If you are going to close the deal, be sure that the deal is positive for both parties, producing a win-win situation. If you are thinking about walking away, be sure that you aren't overlooking some way to achieve a mutually satisfying outcome. This may be the most valuable moment in the entire negotiation.</p>\r\n\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_288035\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]<img class=\"wp-image-288035 size-full\" src=\"https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/win-win-statue.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"630\" height=\"420\" /> © Bunsim San / Unsplash.com[/caption]\r\n<p class=\"normal\">In the commonly used sense of the phrase, a win-win negotiation is a deal that satisfies both sides. In an ideal world, a win-win agreement is the only kind of deal that would ever close. Nevertheless, even in today's world, the vast majority of negotiations end in win-win situations.</p>\r\n<p class=\"normal\">Win-win negotiating does not mean that you must give up your goals or worry about the other person getting what they want in the negotiation. You have your hands full looking out for your own interests. Practice honesty and respect in all of your negotiations, but looking out for the other side isn't your job. It's theirs.</p>\r\n\r\n<h2 id=\"tab1\" >Recognizing a good deal</h2>\r\n<p class=\"normal\">A good deal is one that is fair under all circumstances at the time the agreement is made. It provides for various contingencies before problems arise. A good deal is workable in the real world.</p>\r\n<p class=\"normal\">To be sure that you have a good deal and a win-win situation, ask yourself the following questions just before closing:</p>\r\n\r\n<ul class=\"ul\">\r\n \t<li>Does the agreement further your personal long-range goals? Does the outcome of the negotiation fit into your vision statement?</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<ul class=\"ul\">\r\n \t<li>Does the agreement fall comfortably within the goals and limits that you set for this particular negotiation?</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<ul class=\"ul\">\r\n \t<li>Can you perform your side of the agreement to the fullest?</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<ul class=\"ul\">\r\n \t<li>Do you intend to meet your commitment?</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<ul class=\"ul\">\r\n \t<li>Based on all the information, can the other side perform the agreement to your expectations?</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<ul class=\"ul\">\r\n \t<li>Based on what you know, does the other side intend to carry out the terms of the agreement?</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<p class=\"normal\">In an ideal situation, the answer to all six questions is a resounding yes. If you are unsure about any one of them, take some extra time. Review the entire situation. Assess how the agreement could be changed in order to create a yes answer to each question. Try your best to make the change needed to get a firm yes to each question. Then, close the deal. Don't go for any more changes even if you think that the other person wouldn't mind. You never know!</p>\r\n<p class=\"normal\">When you work in a culture other than your own, being sure that you have a win-win solution takes a little extra effort. During a cross-cultural negotiation, be thorough in your investigation of what is and isn't acceptable.</p>\r\n<p class=\"Tip\">If you can't alter the deal so that you can answer yes to each question, be very thoughtful about closing. If you decide to go forward, write down exactly why you are closing the deal anyway so that you don't become part of that army of people with tales of exploitation. This exercise is particularly helpful to your state of mind if the results don't work out; you have a record as to why you took the deal. You won't be so hard on yourself.</p>\r\n\r\n<h2 id=\"tab2\" >Knowing your counterpart</h2>\r\n<p class=\"normal\">Remember that the people you are dealing with are more important than the paperwork you draft. Know your counterpart very well before you enter into a long-term relationship. No lawyer can protect you from a crook. Lawyers can just put you in a position to win a lawsuit. People do bad things all the time. Checking out references is one of the most overlooked resources. You can learn a great deal from checking out references, even from the most obviously biased sources.</p>\r\n<p class=\"Remember\">Some people tend to be overly concerned about the other party's welfare in a negotiation, smothering their own goals in the process. When you're engaged in a negotiation, you must allow other people to take care of themselves. You don't have to make things \"nice\" for everyone. That's not a negotiator's job. Your job as a negotiator is to get what you want. Remaining true to that objective may involve upsetting someone. Part of negotiating well is having the strength to take that risk.</p>","description":"<p class=\"normal\">You are about to end a negotiation, either by closing a deal or walking away from it. If you are going to close the deal, be sure that the deal is positive for both parties, producing a win-win situation. If you are thinking about walking away, be sure that you aren't overlooking some way to achieve a mutually satisfying outcome. This may be the most valuable moment in the entire negotiation.</p>\r\n\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_288035\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]<img class=\"wp-image-288035 size-full\" src=\"https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/win-win-statue.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"630\" height=\"420\" /> © Bunsim San / Unsplash.com[/caption]\r\n<p class=\"normal\">In the commonly used sense of the phrase, a win-win negotiation is a deal that satisfies both sides. In an ideal world, a win-win agreement is the only kind of deal that would ever close. Nevertheless, even in today's world, the vast majority of negotiations end in win-win situations.</p>\r\n<p class=\"normal\">Win-win negotiating does not mean that you must give up your goals or worry about the other person getting what they want in the negotiation. You have your hands full looking out for your own interests. Practice honesty and respect in all of your negotiations, but looking out for the other side isn't your job. It's theirs.</p>\r\n\r\n<h2 id=\"tab1\" >Recognizing a good deal</h2>\r\n<p class=\"normal\">A good deal is one that is fair under all circumstances at the time the agreement is made. It provides for various contingencies before problems arise. A good deal is workable in the real world.</p>\r\n<p class=\"normal\">To be sure that you have a good deal and a win-win situation, ask yourself the following questions just before closing:</p>\r\n\r\n<ul class=\"ul\">\r\n \t<li>Does the agreement further your personal long-range goals? Does the outcome of the negotiation fit into your vision statement?</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<ul class=\"ul\">\r\n \t<li>Does the agreement fall comfortably within the goals and limits that you set for this particular negotiation?</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<ul class=\"ul\">\r\n \t<li>Can you perform your side of the agreement to the fullest?</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<ul class=\"ul\">\r\n \t<li>Do you intend to meet your commitment?</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<ul class=\"ul\">\r\n \t<li>Based on all the information, can the other side perform the agreement to your expectations?</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<ul class=\"ul\">\r\n \t<li>Based on what you know, does the other side intend to carry out the terms of the agreement?</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<p class=\"normal\">In an ideal situation, the answer to all six questions is a resounding yes. If you are unsure about any one of them, take some extra time. Review the entire situation. Assess how the agreement could be changed in order to create a yes answer to each question. Try your best to make the change needed to get a firm yes to each question. Then, close the deal. Don't go for any more changes even if you think that the other person wouldn't mind. You never know!</p>\r\n<p class=\"normal\">When you work in a culture other than your own, being sure that you have a win-win solution takes a little extra effort. During a cross-cultural negotiation, be thorough in your investigation of what is and isn't acceptable.</p>\r\n<p class=\"Tip\">If you can't alter the deal so that you can answer yes to each question, be very thoughtful about closing. If you decide to go forward, write down exactly why you are closing the deal anyway so that you don't become part of that army of people with tales of exploitation. This exercise is particularly helpful to your state of mind if the results don't work out; you have a record as to why you took the deal. You won't be so hard on yourself.</p>\r\n\r\n<h2 id=\"tab2\" >Knowing your counterpart</h2>\r\n<p class=\"normal\">Remember that the people you are dealing with are more important than the paperwork you draft. Know your counterpart very well before you enter into a long-term relationship. No lawyer can protect you from a crook. Lawyers can just put you in a position to win a lawsuit. People do bad things all the time. Checking out references is one of the most overlooked resources. You can learn a great deal from checking out references, even from the most obviously biased sources.</p>\r\n<p class=\"Remember\">Some people tend to be overly concerned about the other party's welfare in a negotiation, smothering their own goals in the process. When you're engaged in a negotiation, you must allow other people to take care of themselves. You don't have to make things \"nice\" for everyone. That's not a negotiator's job. Your job as a negotiator is to get what you want. Remaining true to that objective may involve upsetting someone. Part of negotiating well is having the strength to take that risk.</p>","blurb":"","authors":[{"authorId":10619,"name":"Michael C. Donaldson","slug":"michael-c-donaldson","description":"Michael C. Donaldson is an ex-Marine. He earned his law degree from the University of California at Berkeley. In his successful entertainment law practice, Donaldson represents writers, directors, and producers. He was co-chairman of the Entertainment Section of the Beverly Hills Bar Association and is listed in Who's Who in American Law. His book Clearance and Copyright is used in 50 film schools across the country. Michael travels extensively to universities, annual meetings, and corporate headquarters throughout the United States, Asia, and Europe to lead workshops on the topic of negotiating.","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/10619"}},{"authorId":10620,"name":"David Frohnmayer","slug":"david-frohnmayer","description":" <b>Michael C. Donaldson</b> is an ex-Marine. As a 1st Lieutenant, he was selected to be Officer-In-Charge of the first Marine ground combat unit in Vietnam. He went on to earn his law degree from the University of California at Berkeley (Boalt Hall) where he was student body president. He raised his three lovely daughters (Michelle, Amy, and Wendy) as a single parent and is now the proud grandfather of two healthy and happy grandsons (Soul and Caden). He is an avid skier, worldwide hiker, and award-wining photographer. He competed in the Senior Olympics in Gymnastics, winning gold medals for the parallel bars in 1996, 1997, and 1998 and a silver metal for rings in 1998.<br /> In his successful entertainment law practice, Michael represents writers, directors, and producers. He was co-chairman of the Entertainment Section of the Beverly Hills Bar Association and is listed in Who&#8217;s Who of American Law. His book Clearance and Copyright is used in 50 film schools across the country.<br /> Michael travels extensively to universities, annual meetings, and corporate headquarters throughout the United States, Asia, and Europe to lead workshops on the topic of negotiating. His expertise, developed over a lifetime of experience and learning, makes him a highly sought-after speaker. Michael&#8217;s expansive knowledge of negotiating coupled with his energetic and engaging style delivers powerful results to each seminar attendee.","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/10620"}}],"primaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":34232,"title":"Business Communication","slug":"business-communication","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34232"}},"secondaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":34072,"title":"Persuasion & Influence","slug":"persuasion-influence","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34072"}},"tertiaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":0,"title":null,"slug":null,"_links":null},"trendingArticles":null,"inThisArticle":[{"label":"Recognizing a good deal","target":"#tab1"},{"label":"Knowing your counterpart","target":"#tab2"}],"relatedArticles":{"fromBook":[],"fromCategory":[{"articleId":283575,"title":"How to Write Effective Business Letters","slug":"how-to-write-effective-business-letters","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/283575"}},{"articleId":283569,"title":"Business Writing in Email and Group Chat","slug":"business-writing-in-email-and-group-chat","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/283569"}},{"articleId":283572,"title":"Business Writing: How to Connect to Readers","slug":"business-writing-how-to-connect-to-readers","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/283572"}},{"articleId":256767,"title":"Public Speaking and Stuttering","slug":"public-speaking-and-stuttering","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/256767"}},{"articleId":256762,"title":"Public Speaking: Avoid Pushing Your Speech","slug":"public-speaking-avoid-pushing-your-speech","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/256762"}}]},"hasRelatedBookFromSearch":false,"relatedBook":{"bookId":282417,"slug":"negotiating-for-dummies-2nd-edition","isbn":"9780470045220","categoryList":["body-mind-spirit","emotional-health-psychology","psychology","persuasion-influence"],"amazon":{"default":"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0470045221/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wiley01-20","ca":"https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/0470045221/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wiley01-20","indigo_ca":"http://www.tkqlhce.com/click-9208661-13710633?url=https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/product/0470045221-item.html&cjsku=978111945484","gb":"https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0470045221/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wiley01-20","de":"https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/0470045221/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wiley01-20"},"image":{"src":"https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/negotiating-for-dummies-2nd-edition-cover-9780470045220-203x255.jpg","width":203,"height":255},"title":"Negotiating For Dummies","testBankPinActivationLink":"","bookOutOfPrint":false,"authorsInfo":"<b data-author-id=\"35109\">Michael C. Donaldson</b> is an ex-Marine. As a 1st Lieutenant, he was selected to be Officer-In-Charge of the first Marine ground combat unit in Vietnam. He went on to earn his law degree from the University of California at Berkeley (Boalt Hall) where he was student body president. He raised his three lovely daughters (Michelle, Amy, and Wendy) as a single parent and is now the proud grandfather of two healthy and happy grandsons (Soul and Caden). He is an avid skier, worldwide hiker, and award-wining photographer. He competed in the Senior Olympics in Gymnastics, winning gold medals for the parallel bars in 1996, 1997, and 1998 and a silver metal for rings in 1998.<br> In his successful entertainment law practice, Michael represents writers, directors, and producers. He was co-chairman of the Entertainment Section of the Beverly Hills Bar Association and is listed in Who’s Who of American Law. His book Clearance and Copyright is used in 50 film schools across the country.<br> Michael travels extensively to universities, annual meetings, and corporate headquarters throughout the United States, Asia, and Europe to lead workshops on the topic of negotiating. His expertise, developed over a lifetime of experience and learning, makes him a highly sought-after speaker. Michael’s expansive knowledge of negotiating coupled with his energetic and engaging style delivers powerful results to each seminar attendee.","authors":[{"authorId":35109,"name":"Michael C. Donaldson","slug":"michael-c.-donaldson","description":" <b>Michael C. Donaldson</b> is an ex-Marine. As a 1st Lieutenant, he was selected to be Officer-In-Charge of the first Marine ground combat unit in Vietnam. He went on to earn his law degree from the University of California at Berkeley (Boalt Hall) where he was student body president. He raised his three lovely daughters (Michelle, Amy, and Wendy) as a single parent and is now the proud grandfather of two healthy and happy grandsons (Soul and Caden). He is an avid skier, worldwide hiker, and award-wining photographer. He competed in the Senior Olympics in Gymnastics, winning gold medals for the parallel bars in 1996, 1997, and 1998 and a silver metal for rings in 1998.<br /> In his successful entertainment law practice, Michael represents writers, directors, and producers. He was co-chairman of the Entertainment Section of the Beverly Hills Bar Association and is listed in Who&#8217;s Who of American Law. His book Clearance and Copyright is used in 50 film schools across the country.<br /> Michael travels extensively to universities, annual meetings, and corporate headquarters throughout the United States, Asia, and Europe to lead workshops on the topic of negotiating. His expertise, developed over a lifetime of experience and learning, makes him a highly sought-after speaker. Michael&#8217;s expansive knowledge of negotiating coupled with his energetic and engaging style delivers powerful results to each seminar attendee.","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/35109"}},{"authorId":10620,"name":"David Frohnmayer","slug":"david-frohnmayer","description":" <b>Michael C. Donaldson</b> is an ex-Marine. As a 1st Lieutenant, he was selected to be Officer-In-Charge of the first Marine ground combat unit in Vietnam. He went on to earn his law degree from the University of California at Berkeley (Boalt Hall) where he was student body president. He raised his three lovely daughters (Michelle, Amy, and Wendy) as a single parent and is now the proud grandfather of two healthy and happy grandsons (Soul and Caden). He is an avid skier, worldwide hiker, and award-wining photographer. He competed in the Senior Olympics in Gymnastics, winning gold medals for the parallel bars in 1996, 1997, and 1998 and a silver metal for rings in 1998.<br /> In his successful entertainment law practice, Michael represents writers, directors, and producers. He was co-chairman of the Entertainment Section of the Beverly Hills Bar Association and is listed in Who&#8217;s Who of American Law. His book Clearance and Copyright is used in 50 film schools across the country.<br /> Michael travels extensively to universities, annual meetings, and corporate headquarters throughout the United States, Asia, and Europe to lead workshops on the topic of negotiating. His expertise, developed over a lifetime of experience and learning, makes him a highly sought-after speaker. Michael&#8217;s expansive knowledge of negotiating coupled with his energetic and engaging style delivers powerful results to each seminar attendee.","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/10620"}}],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/books/"}},"collections":[{"title":"BYOB (Be Your Own Boss)","slug":"for-the-entry-level-entrepreneur","collectionId":287568}],"articleAds":{"footerAd":"<div class=\"du-ad-region row\" id=\"article_page_adhesion_ad\"><div class=\"du-ad-unit col-md-12\" data-slot-id=\"article_page_adhesion_ad\" data-refreshed=\"false\" \r\n data-target = \"[{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;cat&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;business-careers-money&quot;,&quot;business&quot;,&quot;business-communication&quot;]},{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;isbn&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;9780470045220&quot;]}]\" id=\"du-slot-62b36f59d83f7\"></div></div>","rightAd":"<div class=\"du-ad-region row\" id=\"article_page_right_ad\"><div class=\"du-ad-unit col-md-12\" data-slot-id=\"article_page_right_ad\" data-refreshed=\"false\" \r\n data-target = \"[{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;cat&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;business-careers-money&quot;,&quot;business&quot;,&quot;business-communication&quot;]},{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;isbn&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;9780470045220&quot;]}]\" id=\"du-slot-62b36f59d8b0c\"></div></div>"},"articleType":{"articleType":"Articles","articleList":null,"content":null,"videoInfo":{"videoId":null,"name":null,"accountId":null,"playerId":null,"thumbnailUrl":null,"description":null,"uploadDate":null}},"sponsorship":{"sponsorshipPage":false,"backgroundImage":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0},"brandingLine":"","brandingLink":"","brandingLogo":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0}},"primaryLearningPath":"Advance","lifeExpectancy":"Five years","lifeExpectancySetFrom":"2021-08-31T00:00:00+00:00","dummiesForKids":"no","sponsoredContent":"no","adInfo":"","adPairKey":[]},"status":"publish","visibility":"public","articleId":198790},{"headers":{"creationTime":"2018-04-26T15:03:22+00:00","modifiedTime":"2021-10-28T18:52:25+00:00","timestamp":"2022-06-22T19:36:52+00:00"},"data":{"breadcrumbs":[{"name":"Business, Careers, & Money","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34224"},"slug":"business-careers-money","categoryId":34224},{"name":"Business","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34225"},"slug":"business","categoryId":34225},{"name":"Business Communication","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34232"},"slug":"business-communication","categoryId":34232}],"title":"Increasing Your Influence at Work All-in-One For Dummies Cheat Sheet","strippedTitle":"increasing your influence at work all-in-one for dummies cheat sheet","slug":"increasing-influence-work-one-dummies","canonicalUrl":"","seo":{"metaDescription":"In today’s workplace, influence is more important than ever. When you know how to exert influence at work, you can control and more rapidly advance your career ","noIndex":0,"noFollow":0},"content":"In today’s workplace, influence is more important than ever. When you know how to exert influence at work, you can control and more rapidly advance your career than others can. Four basic steps can help you achieve influence, no matter where you are in your career; if you’re higher up in your company, consider leadership best practices to further boost your impact.","description":"In today’s workplace, influence is more important than ever. When you know how to exert influence at work, you can control and more rapidly advance your career than others can. Four basic steps can help you achieve influence, no matter where you are in your career; if you’re higher up in your company, consider leadership best practices to further boost your impact.","blurb":"","authors":[{"authorId":9726,"name":"Christina Tangora Schlachter","slug":"christina-tangora-schlachter","description":" <p><b>Christina Tangora Schlachter, PhD,</b> is a Certified Professional Coach. She has created and taught courses on communication skills, crucial conversations for new managers, communication for professionals, and dealing with difficult conversations. She is the coauthor of <i>Leading Business Change For Dummies </i>and is the Chief Leader of She Leads.</p> ","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/9726"}}],"primaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":34232,"title":"Business Communication","slug":"business-communication","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34232"}},"secondaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":0,"title":null,"slug":null,"_links":null},"tertiaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":0,"title":null,"slug":null,"_links":null},"trendingArticles":null,"inThisArticle":[],"relatedArticles":{"fromBook":[],"fromCategory":[{"articleId":283575,"title":"How to Write Effective Business Letters","slug":"how-to-write-effective-business-letters","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/283575"}},{"articleId":283569,"title":"Business Writing in Email and Group Chat","slug":"business-writing-in-email-and-group-chat","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/283569"}},{"articleId":283572,"title":"Business Writing: How to Connect to Readers","slug":"business-writing-how-to-connect-to-readers","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/283572"}},{"articleId":256767,"title":"Public Speaking and Stuttering","slug":"public-speaking-and-stuttering","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/256767"}},{"articleId":256762,"title":"Public Speaking: Avoid Pushing Your Speech","slug":"public-speaking-avoid-pushing-your-speech","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/256762"}}]},"hasRelatedBookFromSearch":false,"relatedBook":{"bookId":282294,"slug":"increasing-your-influence-at-work-all-in-one-for-dummies","isbn":"9781119489061","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"amazon":{"default":"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1119489067/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wiley01-20","ca":"https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/1119489067/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wiley01-20","indigo_ca":"http://www.tkqlhce.com/click-9208661-13710633?url=https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/product/1119489067-item.html&cjsku=978111945484","gb":"https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1119489067/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wiley01-20","de":"https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/1119489067/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wiley01-20"},"image":{"src":"https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/increasing-your-influence-at-work-all-in-one-for-dummies-cover-9781119489061-203x255.jpg","width":203,"height":255},"title":"Increasing Your Influence at Work All-in-One For Dummies","testBankPinActivationLink":"","bookOutOfPrint":false,"authorsInfo":"<b data-author-id=\"9726\">Dr. Christina Tangora Schlachter</b>, PhD, is the founder and Chief Leader of She Leads and creator of the Leading Change Guide, which helps leaders reinvent themselves and their companies with a 12-week turnaround process.","authors":[{"authorId":9726,"name":"Christina Tangora Schlachter","slug":"christina-tangora-schlachter","description":" <p><b>Christina Tangora Schlachter, PhD,</b> is a Certified Professional Coach. She has created and taught courses on communication skills, crucial conversations for new managers, communication for professionals, and dealing with difficult conversations. She is the coauthor of <i>Leading Business Change For Dummies </i>and is the Chief Leader of She Leads.</p> ","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/9726"}}],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/books/"}},"collections":[],"articleAds":{"footerAd":"<div class=\"du-ad-region row\" id=\"article_page_adhesion_ad\"><div class=\"du-ad-unit col-md-12\" data-slot-id=\"article_page_adhesion_ad\" data-refreshed=\"false\" \r\n data-target = \"[{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;cat&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;business-careers-money&quot;,&quot;business&quot;,&quot;business-communication&quot;]},{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;isbn&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;9781119489061&quot;]}]\" id=\"du-slot-62b36f54eddec\"></div></div>","rightAd":"<div class=\"du-ad-region row\" id=\"article_page_right_ad\"><div class=\"du-ad-unit col-md-12\" data-slot-id=\"article_page_right_ad\" data-refreshed=\"false\" \r\n data-target = \"[{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;cat&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;business-careers-money&quot;,&quot;business&quot;,&quot;business-communication&quot;]},{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;isbn&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;9781119489061&quot;]}]\" id=\"du-slot-62b36f54ee505\"></div></div>"},"articleType":{"articleType":"Cheat Sheet","articleList":[{"articleId":251900,"title":"The Basic Steps of Exerting Influence at Work","slug":"basic-steps-exerting-influence-work","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","management"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/251900"}},{"articleId":251905,"title":"Increasing Influence with Leadership Best Practices","slug":"increasing-influence-leadership-best-practices","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","management"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/251905"}}],"content":[{"title":"The Basic Steps of Exerting Influence at Work","thumb":null,"image":null,"content":"<p>Communicating to engage, inform, and influence at work is easier when a rapport is evident between the communicator and the receiver. <em>Rapport</em> is when you have trust and harmony in a relationship. Influencing is a four-step process:</p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong> 1.  Rapport:</strong> Four ways to gain rapport at a behavioral level are</p>\n<ul>\n<li>Matching language patterns</li>\n<li>Matching body movements and gestures</li>\n<li>Matching voice tonality, volume, and tempo</li>\n<li>With dress and attire\n<p class=\"article-tips remember\">The purpose of creating rapport is to create a relationship so the receiver feels trust (even at an unconscious level) and understood so he gives permission to be influenced.</p>\n</li>\n</ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>2.  Understanding:</strong> When rapport has been established, trust and harmony are present, so the receiver feels understood.</p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>3.  Permission:</strong> Because the receiver feels understood, he (unconsciously) gives permission to be led. He is willing to engage in the communication.</p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>4.  Influence:</strong> The receiver is now more willing to be influenced by the communication.</p>\n"},{"title":"Increasing Influence with Leadership Best Practices","thumb":null,"image":null,"content":"<p>There are countless leadership best practices and traps to avoid. As you work to increase your influence and improve your leadership skills, consider the following best practices; they can make an immediate difference, are free to implement, and can be used by leaders at all levels with little training or skill:</p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Know what your employees like — and hate — both inside and outside of work.</strong> A top engagement driver is showing your employees you care about them as people. It takes all of two seconds to ask an employee how his weekend was, or how his daughter’s dance recital went, or if his wife recovered from the flu. Obtaining and weaving this knowledge into your daily chit-chat with employees goes a long way toward engaging them.</li>\n<li><strong>Make employees feel as though you really care about their careers.</strong> Part of your job is to give your employees experiences at your firm that they couldn’t have elsewhere — experiences that will make them more valuable. Sure, you hope your employees stay with your firm for a long time, but if the day comes when they need to move on to another company, that’s okay.</li>\n</ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">That concept may feel scary. After all, you’re basically saying that your employees should feel free to take what they’ve learned with your organization and move on — maybe even to a competitor. But working to grow your talent, and communicating your efforts, is a great way to foster engagement. The more concern you show for your employees’ growth and development in their careers, the greater the probability you’ll have engaged employees.</p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Stop telling employees what to do; instead, have them help come up with solutions.</strong> Often, when managers spot a performance issue, they simply tell the employee what she needs to do to improve. There’s no interaction, no dialogue, nothing. A better approach is to make an observation and then be quiet and let the employee talk. Whatever the solution turns out to be, you’ll almost certainly get better buy-in with this approach.</li>\n</ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Also, avoid describing how to do a project or task. Give your employee the destination but leave the driving directions to her. Employees often have their own ideas about process, and those ideas are often quicker, more innovative, and more efficient than the “tried and true.”</p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>When it comes to engaging employees, recognition is one of the most effective weapons in a leader’s arsenal.</strong> Experienced managers have learned what neuroscientists and child psychologists have known for decades: Positive reinforcement and recognition lead to the replication of positive results.</li>\n</ul>\n"}],"videoInfo":{"videoId":null,"name":null,"accountId":null,"playerId":null,"thumbnailUrl":null,"description":null,"uploadDate":null}},"sponsorship":{"sponsorshipPage":false,"backgroundImage":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0},"brandingLine":"","brandingLink":"","brandingLogo":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0}},"primaryLearningPath":"Advance","lifeExpectancy":"Two years","lifeExpectancySetFrom":"2021-10-28T00:00:00+00:00","dummiesForKids":"no","sponsoredContent":"no","adInfo":"","adPairKey":[]},"status":"publish","visibility":"public","articleId":251908},{"headers":{"creationTime":"2021-03-30T14:37:58+00:00","modifiedTime":"2021-04-15T13:45:12+00:00","timestamp":"2022-06-22T19:36:18+00:00"},"data":{"breadcrumbs":[{"name":"Business, Careers, & Money","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34224"},"slug":"business-careers-money","categoryId":34224},{"name":"Business","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34225"},"slug":"business","categoryId":34225},{"name":"Business Communication","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34232"},"slug":"business-communication","categoryId":34232}],"title":"How to Write Effective Business Letters","strippedTitle":"how to write effective business letters","slug":"how-to-write-effective-business-letters","canonicalUrl":"","seo":{"metaDescription":"Learn what it takes to make a business letter effective and to translate those skills to non-business letter writing.","noIndex":0,"noFollow":0},"content":"You may be under the impression that you don’t write <a href=\"https://www.dummies.com/careers/business-communication/business-writing/business-writing-dummies-cheat-sheet/\">business letters</a> and never need to in today’s fast-paced world. Think again. You are probably writing letters without realizing it. Don’t be fooled by the fact that you’re using an electronic delivery system and don’t need a stamp. Acknowledge that your missive is a letter, and you do a much better job of achieving your goal.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_283557\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"556\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-283557\" src=\"https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/business-writing-letters.jpg\" alt=\"writing letters\" width=\"556\" height=\"363\" /> © ASDF_MEDIA / Shutterstock.com[/caption]\r\n\r\nWhen something important is at stake, recognize that what you produce merits extra care in terms of its content, language and visual impression. This doesn’t necessarily mean you need to find your old stationery. In many cases, it’s perfectly fine to send your letter as an email. In other instances, a physical letter serves you better. If you’re a nonprofit manager writing to elderly donors, for example, relying on email is risky. As always, consider your goal and audience in deciding on the best mode of delivery.\r\n\r\nHere are some of the business-world occasions when you should think “Aha! This calls for a letter!”\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Introducing yourself:</strong> If you’re the new veterinarian in town writing to the patient list, or need to explain why a VIP should give you ten minutes of their time, or why people should vote for you, you’re courting the reader and must make the best possible first impression in order to secure what you want.</li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Making a request:</strong> If you want a referral, a recommendation, an invitation, an informational interview, a special assignment, a corner office, a favor of any kind, write a letter.</li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Pitching something:</strong> If you sell a product or service, one effective way is with a sales letter, either via the post office or email. When you market anything, you must apply your best strategizing and writing.</li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Presenting formal applications:</strong> When you apply for a job, submit a proposal or compete for an educational opportunity, nine times out of ten, you need a cover letter. If it’s optional, leaving it out is a mistake. Sometimes the letter must accomplish the goal on its own—when a job posting specifies a letter and no résumé, for example.</li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Saying thank you, I’m sorry or expressing sympathy:</strong> Such messages are important and should be carefully personalized and meticulously written and presented. If they don’t look as if you have given thought to such a message and taken trouble, they don’t communicate that you care. A personal letter is much more effective than a greeting card.</li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Expressing appreciation:</strong> If someone gives you a wonderful break, takes a chance on you, offers significant advice or makes an introduction for you, a letter from you to that person will be treasured—trust me. People so rarely do this. And it’s worth considering a retrospective thank you to anyone in the past who inspired or helped you, too.</li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Congratulating someone:</strong> Supervisors, coworkers, subordinates, colleagues, suppliers—everyone welcomes a graceful congratulatory note when reaching a milestone or achieving something significant.</li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Documenting for legal purposes:</strong> Letters can be called for as official records in relation to job offers, agreements, performance reviews and warnings. These formal records may have legal implications now or in future. A binding contract can take the form of a simple-looking letter, so must be scrupulously written if you want them to protect you. And know what you’re agreeing to when sign those written by other people!</li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Seeking redress:</strong> If you have a complaint about a product or service, how you’ve been treated or how a print or digital publication has misrepresented you or your organization, to be taken seriously, write a letter.</li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Expressing opinions and concerns:</strong> Yes, Virginia, just as there is a Santa Claus, newspapers and other publications still run Letters to the Editor—and those editors know that this section is usually the most read feature of all. But it takes a good letter to be heard. Letters to local government and legislative offices reap a lot of attention, too.</li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Inspiring people to care:</strong> If you want friends and colleagues to actively support a cause you believe in, with money or time or connections, a letter bears much better testimony to the depth of your own commitment.</li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Valuing privacy:</strong> Letters carried by the postal system are privileged documents protected by the “secrecy of correspondence” principle. In many countries, it is illegal to open letters in transit. The privacy of digital communication remains murky, and you obviously risk disaster by communicating private information in an email or social post or text. Printed-and-delivered physical letters offer a last bastion of privacy.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<p class=\"article-tips warning\">If you search online, you’ll find a ton of prewritten and preformatted letters for every occasion. You may draw some ideas from them, but almost never will a cookie-cutter template work as well as your own well-crafted letter. Often the tone is wrong and the content is bland and impersonal. This totally undercuts the reason you’re writing a letter.</p>\r\nTherefore, I won’t give you a formula for every letter. Rather, I want to stimulate your imagination as to what a good letter can accomplish for you in your professional life and beyond. I have personally used this skill in situations ranging from a need to establish my (at the time, somewhat uncertain) credentials for a major purchase, build ongoing relationships with VIPs, and more than once, obtain a refund for a disappointing purchase or when a major deposit was withheld.\r\n\r\nTo show you the impact a letter can have, here are some actual examples with details altered). In each case, instead of leading you through the planning process that leads to a good message, I first give you the final product and then follow with the analysis.\r\n\r\n<strong>Situation 1:</strong> You hear a major renovation is to commence on a house down the street—a peaceful, well-kept, private-feeling street where children play outside and residents share a community spirit. You find the following letter on your doorstep.\r\n<blockquote><em>Dear Neighbor:</em>\r\n\r\n<em>As you may be aware, the Bennet family will be venturing into a home renovation/addition project shortly.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>As the family’s general contractor and representative, I wanted to take a moment of your time to introduce myself. My name is Allan James and for the most part, I, or one of my project managers, will be on site every day. Having completed numerous projects in the area over the years, I am familiar with the town and sensitive to the effects a project of this scope can have on the neighborhood.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>It is my intention not only to deliver a quality, on-time project to my customer, but to ensure the least amount of impact to your environment. My subcontractors are very much aware of my expectations in regard to respect for your neighborhood, the town by-laws and the need for utmost common courtesy and respect.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>It is inevitable that there may be some minor damage to the town-owned grass strips between the sidewalk and the street. Any such damage will be restored at the end of the project. To ensure that this occurs, a surety bond has been levied with the town.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>Please feel free to contact me in person, by cell phone or email if some aspect of this project is affecting you adversely.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>With best intentions,</em>\r\n\r\n<em>Allan James, AIBD, CPBD, UCSL</em>\r\n\r\n<em>President, AJ Builders, Inc.</em></blockquote>\r\nHow would you react as a resident? It’s hard to imagine a negative response. However, even though the business strategy is so effective, I have never seen or heard of another contractor taking the trouble to write and deliver such a letter but. Even if the idea does not seem relevant to you right now, notice how this letter aligns with the planning process, which is the heart of this book:\r\n\r\n<strong><em>Goal:</em></strong> Smooth the way for a process that is naturally disruptive and forestall likely complaints.\r\n\r\n<strong><em>Audience:</em></strong> Homeowners who fear damage to the street and a potential flood of unsupervised workers and subcontractors to the quiet neighborhood they value.\r\n\r\n<strong><em>Content points:</em></strong> Communicate . . .\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>High sense of responsibility and caring as company owner</li>\r\n \t<li>Active direction of workers and subcontractors</li>\r\n \t<li>Knowledge of protective bylaws and commitment to them</li>\r\n \t<li>Acknowledgment of probable damage and commitment to repair it</li>\r\n \t<li>Ensurance of legal protection via surety bond</li>\r\n \t<li>Credentialed company president (no matter what the acronyms stand for)</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong><em>Accountability:</em></strong> Direct contact information is given in case of a problem (or should readers want to inquire about services for themselves!).\r\n\r\n<strong><em>Tone:</em></strong> Low-key, respectful, sincere.\r\n\r\n<strong><em>Why it works:</em></strong> The writer understands the neighbors’ worries based on their prior experiences with construction and directly addresses those fears. In doing so he generates trust: He makes the coming interaction personal. He reassures residents that he will respect the street they share and care about. But there’s more<em>: The thoughtfulness of the letter conveys that this is a caring, capable and intelligent person who will do an excellent construction job. </em>That’s the magic of what you can accomplish with good writing. Of course, the writer must follow through on all counts.\r\n\r\n<strong><em>Outcome:</em></strong> Beyond accomplishing a collegial environment to work in and forestalling complaints, the contractor received several queries from other local homeowners who were inspired to pursue their own renovations.\r\n\r\n<strong>Situation 2:</strong> Here’s an example of how good business writing carries over to non-work needs. You are relocating and have put your house on the market. Happily, you soon receive a number of offers that move over the asking price. You’re ready to accept the highest bid when this letter arrives:\r\n<blockquote><em>Dear X:</em>\r\n\r\n<em>My name is Donna Whitman and I am writing to you to express how important it is for me to purchase your lovely home. I have dreamt of living on a lake for more than 20 years. When I was transferred from Minneapolis to Charlotte this past year, I hoped to make my dream come true.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>I have spent time with colleagues in the Arborville community and knew it would be exactly right for me. When I saw your home listed, I knew I had to see it! And when I walked in the door, I told Jim, my broker, that this was the home for me!</em>\r\n\r\n<em>I love the location, layout and of course, the lake. My 15-year-old cat, Cappy, will also love your home. She will have so much happiness sitting with me on the splendid deck (her joints don’t allow her to sit on windowsills any more).</em>\r\n\r\n<em>I’m excited that the dining-room set I inherited from my dear grandmother will fit perfectly. And I love that my parents will have a beautiful place to stay when they visit in March, should I be lucky enough to purchase 45 Lakewood.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>I truly hope I will be chosen to be the new owner of your home and finally have my dream become a reality!</em>\r\n\r\n<em>With the utmost sincerity and gratitude for your consideration,</em>\r\n\r\n<em>Donna </em></blockquote>\r\nAs the seller, how would you react to receiving this letter? Donna may not consciously have followed the process I recommend for all your writing, but here is why it succeeds as a message.\r\n\r\n<strong><em>Goal:</em></strong> To win the bid, without knowing what other offers were received.\r\n\r\n<strong><em>Audience:</em></strong> Someone who has loved the home herself, apparent in its cared-for condition, furnishings and decoration.\r\n\r\n<strong><em>Content:</em></strong> To accomplish this goal, with this reader in mind:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Personalize the interaction to stand out from other potential buyers.</li>\r\n \t<li>Express high enthusiasm for the chance to live there.</li>\r\n \t<li>Communicate appreciation for potentially being “chosen.”</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThese points are backed by citing specific benefits to the writer and communicate a personal vision—Cappy the arthritic cat on the deck . . . the beloved grandmother’s dining-room table in place . . . the happy visiting parents.\r\n\r\n<strong><em>Tone:</em></strong> Enthusiasm!\r\n\r\nI suspect your reaction in this scenario would be similar to the seller’s: a little skepticism at so much excitement, overridden by feeling gratified that her long-term home will be appreciated, enjoyed and cherished.\r\n\r\n<strong><em>Outcome:</em></strong> The writer had not, in fact, made the highest offer, but the seller wanted her to have the house. Donna agreed to meet the slightly higher price of the offer above hers and everyone left the table feeling very good.\r\n\r\n<strong><em>The point:</em></strong> Think about what well thought-out letters could accomplish in your own life. Adopt that mindset and the opportunities will come.\r\n<p class=\"article-tips tip\">Consider at times the value of a real letter—the kind that you can hold in your hands, reread at will and keep with your important or treasured documents. Do you have a shoebox of letters that connect you with important events or people of your past personal life? Letters relating to our professional lives can also have strong associations for us, especially if they make us feel good. Digital messages are fleeting—some are even meant to disappear in a few minutes. But a physical letter is real and tangible and (relatively) permanent, like a photographic print.</p>\r\n<p class=\"article-tips tip\">I know several professional colleagues who make a habit of handwriting their messages to clients and other important connections on notepaper: thank you for the help or referral, happy holidays, happy birthday, congratulations on your award or your son’s graduation. These savvy professionals look for opportunities to write notes like these. Don’t laugh. When they visit these recipients’ offices and see these notes prominently displayed on the contact’s bulletin boards, the strategic value of this small effort is reinforced. These friends are all very successful.</p>","description":"You may be under the impression that you don’t write <a href=\"https://www.dummies.com/careers/business-communication/business-writing/business-writing-dummies-cheat-sheet/\">business letters</a> and never need to in today’s fast-paced world. Think again. You are probably writing letters without realizing it. Don’t be fooled by the fact that you’re using an electronic delivery system and don’t need a stamp. Acknowledge that your missive is a letter, and you do a much better job of achieving your goal.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_283557\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"556\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-283557\" src=\"https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/business-writing-letters.jpg\" alt=\"writing letters\" width=\"556\" height=\"363\" /> © ASDF_MEDIA / Shutterstock.com[/caption]\r\n\r\nWhen something important is at stake, recognize that what you produce merits extra care in terms of its content, language and visual impression. This doesn’t necessarily mean you need to find your old stationery. In many cases, it’s perfectly fine to send your letter as an email. In other instances, a physical letter serves you better. If you’re a nonprofit manager writing to elderly donors, for example, relying on email is risky. As always, consider your goal and audience in deciding on the best mode of delivery.\r\n\r\nHere are some of the business-world occasions when you should think “Aha! This calls for a letter!”\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Introducing yourself:</strong> If you’re the new veterinarian in town writing to the patient list, or need to explain why a VIP should give you ten minutes of their time, or why people should vote for you, you’re courting the reader and must make the best possible first impression in order to secure what you want.</li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Making a request:</strong> If you want a referral, a recommendation, an invitation, an informational interview, a special assignment, a corner office, a favor of any kind, write a letter.</li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Pitching something:</strong> If you sell a product or service, one effective way is with a sales letter, either via the post office or email. When you market anything, you must apply your best strategizing and writing.</li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Presenting formal applications:</strong> When you apply for a job, submit a proposal or compete for an educational opportunity, nine times out of ten, you need a cover letter. If it’s optional, leaving it out is a mistake. Sometimes the letter must accomplish the goal on its own—when a job posting specifies a letter and no résumé, for example.</li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Saying thank you, I’m sorry or expressing sympathy:</strong> Such messages are important and should be carefully personalized and meticulously written and presented. If they don’t look as if you have given thought to such a message and taken trouble, they don’t communicate that you care. A personal letter is much more effective than a greeting card.</li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Expressing appreciation:</strong> If someone gives you a wonderful break, takes a chance on you, offers significant advice or makes an introduction for you, a letter from you to that person will be treasured—trust me. People so rarely do this. And it’s worth considering a retrospective thank you to anyone in the past who inspired or helped you, too.</li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Congratulating someone:</strong> Supervisors, coworkers, subordinates, colleagues, suppliers—everyone welcomes a graceful congratulatory note when reaching a milestone or achieving something significant.</li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Documenting for legal purposes:</strong> Letters can be called for as official records in relation to job offers, agreements, performance reviews and warnings. These formal records may have legal implications now or in future. A binding contract can take the form of a simple-looking letter, so must be scrupulously written if you want them to protect you. And know what you’re agreeing to when sign those written by other people!</li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Seeking redress:</strong> If you have a complaint about a product or service, how you’ve been treated or how a print or digital publication has misrepresented you or your organization, to be taken seriously, write a letter.</li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Expressing opinions and concerns:</strong> Yes, Virginia, just as there is a Santa Claus, newspapers and other publications still run Letters to the Editor—and those editors know that this section is usually the most read feature of all. But it takes a good letter to be heard. Letters to local government and legislative offices reap a lot of attention, too.</li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Inspiring people to care:</strong> If you want friends and colleagues to actively support a cause you believe in, with money or time or connections, a letter bears much better testimony to the depth of your own commitment.</li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Valuing privacy:</strong> Letters carried by the postal system are privileged documents protected by the “secrecy of correspondence” principle. In many countries, it is illegal to open letters in transit. The privacy of digital communication remains murky, and you obviously risk disaster by communicating private information in an email or social post or text. Printed-and-delivered physical letters offer a last bastion of privacy.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<p class=\"article-tips warning\">If you search online, you’ll find a ton of prewritten and preformatted letters for every occasion. You may draw some ideas from them, but almost never will a cookie-cutter template work as well as your own well-crafted letter. Often the tone is wrong and the content is bland and impersonal. This totally undercuts the reason you’re writing a letter.</p>\r\nTherefore, I won’t give you a formula for every letter. Rather, I want to stimulate your imagination as to what a good letter can accomplish for you in your professional life and beyond. I have personally used this skill in situations ranging from a need to establish my (at the time, somewhat uncertain) credentials for a major purchase, build ongoing relationships with VIPs, and more than once, obtain a refund for a disappointing purchase or when a major deposit was withheld.\r\n\r\nTo show you the impact a letter can have, here are some actual examples with details altered). In each case, instead of leading you through the planning process that leads to a good message, I first give you the final product and then follow with the analysis.\r\n\r\n<strong>Situation 1:</strong> You hear a major renovation is to commence on a house down the street—a peaceful, well-kept, private-feeling street where children play outside and residents share a community spirit. You find the following letter on your doorstep.\r\n<blockquote><em>Dear Neighbor:</em>\r\n\r\n<em>As you may be aware, the Bennet family will be venturing into a home renovation/addition project shortly.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>As the family’s general contractor and representative, I wanted to take a moment of your time to introduce myself. My name is Allan James and for the most part, I, or one of my project managers, will be on site every day. Having completed numerous projects in the area over the years, I am familiar with the town and sensitive to the effects a project of this scope can have on the neighborhood.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>It is my intention not only to deliver a quality, on-time project to my customer, but to ensure the least amount of impact to your environment. My subcontractors are very much aware of my expectations in regard to respect for your neighborhood, the town by-laws and the need for utmost common courtesy and respect.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>It is inevitable that there may be some minor damage to the town-owned grass strips between the sidewalk and the street. Any such damage will be restored at the end of the project. To ensure that this occurs, a surety bond has been levied with the town.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>Please feel free to contact me in person, by cell phone or email if some aspect of this project is affecting you adversely.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>With best intentions,</em>\r\n\r\n<em>Allan James, AIBD, CPBD, UCSL</em>\r\n\r\n<em>President, AJ Builders, Inc.</em></blockquote>\r\nHow would you react as a resident? It’s hard to imagine a negative response. However, even though the business strategy is so effective, I have never seen or heard of another contractor taking the trouble to write and deliver such a letter but. Even if the idea does not seem relevant to you right now, notice how this letter aligns with the planning process, which is the heart of this book:\r\n\r\n<strong><em>Goal:</em></strong> Smooth the way for a process that is naturally disruptive and forestall likely complaints.\r\n\r\n<strong><em>Audience:</em></strong> Homeowners who fear damage to the street and a potential flood of unsupervised workers and subcontractors to the quiet neighborhood they value.\r\n\r\n<strong><em>Content points:</em></strong> Communicate . . .\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>High sense of responsibility and caring as company owner</li>\r\n \t<li>Active direction of workers and subcontractors</li>\r\n \t<li>Knowledge of protective bylaws and commitment to them</li>\r\n \t<li>Acknowledgment of probable damage and commitment to repair it</li>\r\n \t<li>Ensurance of legal protection via surety bond</li>\r\n \t<li>Credentialed company president (no matter what the acronyms stand for)</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong><em>Accountability:</em></strong> Direct contact information is given in case of a problem (or should readers want to inquire about services for themselves!).\r\n\r\n<strong><em>Tone:</em></strong> Low-key, respectful, sincere.\r\n\r\n<strong><em>Why it works:</em></strong> The writer understands the neighbors’ worries based on their prior experiences with construction and directly addresses those fears. In doing so he generates trust: He makes the coming interaction personal. He reassures residents that he will respect the street they share and care about. But there’s more<em>: The thoughtfulness of the letter conveys that this is a caring, capable and intelligent person who will do an excellent construction job. </em>That’s the magic of what you can accomplish with good writing. Of course, the writer must follow through on all counts.\r\n\r\n<strong><em>Outcome:</em></strong> Beyond accomplishing a collegial environment to work in and forestalling complaints, the contractor received several queries from other local homeowners who were inspired to pursue their own renovations.\r\n\r\n<strong>Situation 2:</strong> Here’s an example of how good business writing carries over to non-work needs. You are relocating and have put your house on the market. Happily, you soon receive a number of offers that move over the asking price. You’re ready to accept the highest bid when this letter arrives:\r\n<blockquote><em>Dear X:</em>\r\n\r\n<em>My name is Donna Whitman and I am writing to you to express how important it is for me to purchase your lovely home. I have dreamt of living on a lake for more than 20 years. When I was transferred from Minneapolis to Charlotte this past year, I hoped to make my dream come true.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>I have spent time with colleagues in the Arborville community and knew it would be exactly right for me. When I saw your home listed, I knew I had to see it! And when I walked in the door, I told Jim, my broker, that this was the home for me!</em>\r\n\r\n<em>I love the location, layout and of course, the lake. My 15-year-old cat, Cappy, will also love your home. She will have so much happiness sitting with me on the splendid deck (her joints don’t allow her to sit on windowsills any more).</em>\r\n\r\n<em>I’m excited that the dining-room set I inherited from my dear grandmother will fit perfectly. And I love that my parents will have a beautiful place to stay when they visit in March, should I be lucky enough to purchase 45 Lakewood.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>I truly hope I will be chosen to be the new owner of your home and finally have my dream become a reality!</em>\r\n\r\n<em>With the utmost sincerity and gratitude for your consideration,</em>\r\n\r\n<em>Donna </em></blockquote>\r\nAs the seller, how would you react to receiving this letter? Donna may not consciously have followed the process I recommend for all your writing, but here is why it succeeds as a message.\r\n\r\n<strong><em>Goal:</em></strong> To win the bid, without knowing what other offers were received.\r\n\r\n<strong><em>Audience:</em></strong> Someone who has loved the home herself, apparent in its cared-for condition, furnishings and decoration.\r\n\r\n<strong><em>Content:</em></strong> To accomplish this goal, with this reader in mind:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Personalize the interaction to stand out from other potential buyers.</li>\r\n \t<li>Express high enthusiasm for the chance to live there.</li>\r\n \t<li>Communicate appreciation for potentially being “chosen.”</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThese points are backed by citing specific benefits to the writer and communicate a personal vision—Cappy the arthritic cat on the deck . . . the beloved grandmother’s dining-room table in place . . . the happy visiting parents.\r\n\r\n<strong><em>Tone:</em></strong> Enthusiasm!\r\n\r\nI suspect your reaction in this scenario would be similar to the seller’s: a little skepticism at so much excitement, overridden by feeling gratified that her long-term home will be appreciated, enjoyed and cherished.\r\n\r\n<strong><em>Outcome:</em></strong> The writer had not, in fact, made the highest offer, but the seller wanted her to have the house. Donna agreed to meet the slightly higher price of the offer above hers and everyone left the table feeling very good.\r\n\r\n<strong><em>The point:</em></strong> Think about what well thought-out letters could accomplish in your own life. Adopt that mindset and the opportunities will come.\r\n<p class=\"article-tips tip\">Consider at times the value of a real letter—the kind that you can hold in your hands, reread at will and keep with your important or treasured documents. Do you have a shoebox of letters that connect you with important events or people of your past personal life? Letters relating to our professional lives can also have strong associations for us, especially if they make us feel good. Digital messages are fleeting—some are even meant to disappear in a few minutes. But a physical letter is real and tangible and (relatively) permanent, like a photographic print.</p>\r\n<p class=\"article-tips tip\">I know several professional colleagues who make a habit of handwriting their messages to clients and other important connections on notepaper: thank you for the help or referral, happy holidays, happy birthday, congratulations on your award or your son’s graduation. These savvy professionals look for opportunities to write notes like these. Don’t laugh. When they visit these recipients’ offices and see these notes prominently displayed on the contact’s bulletin boards, the strategic value of this small effort is reinforced. These friends are all very successful.</p>","blurb":"","authors":[{"authorId":9673,"name":"Natalie Canavor","slug":"natalie-canavor","description":" <p><b>Natalie Canavor's</b> career spans national magazine editing, journalism, corporate communications and public relations. Her writing for business media, professional audiences and <i>The New York Times</i> have won dozens of national and international awards. She has taught advanced writing seminars for NYU and conducts frequent workshops.</p> ","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/9673"}}],"primaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":34232,"title":"Business Communication","slug":"business-communication","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34232"}},"secondaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":33711,"title":"Writing","slug":"writing","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33711"}},"tertiaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":0,"title":null,"slug":null,"_links":null},"trendingArticles":null,"inThisArticle":[],"relatedArticles":{"fromBook":[],"fromCategory":[{"articleId":283569,"title":"Business Writing in Email and Group Chat","slug":"business-writing-in-email-and-group-chat","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/283569"}},{"articleId":283572,"title":"Business Writing: How to Connect to Readers","slug":"business-writing-how-to-connect-to-readers","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/283572"}},{"articleId":256767,"title":"Public Speaking and Stuttering","slug":"public-speaking-and-stuttering","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/256767"}},{"articleId":256762,"title":"Public Speaking: Avoid Pushing Your Speech","slug":"public-speaking-avoid-pushing-your-speech","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/256762"}},{"articleId":256755,"title":"How to Negate Nasal Voice in Public Speaking","slug":"how-to-negate-nasal-voice-in-public-speaking","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/256755"}}]},"hasRelatedBookFromSearch":false,"relatedBook":{"bookId":0,"slug":null,"isbn":null,"categoryList":null,"amazon":null,"image":null,"title":null,"testBankPinActivationLink":null,"bookOutOfPrint":false,"authorsInfo":null,"authors":null,"_links":null},"collections":[],"articleAds":{"footerAd":"<div class=\"du-ad-region row\" id=\"article_page_adhesion_ad\"><div class=\"du-ad-unit col-md-12\" data-slot-id=\"article_page_adhesion_ad\" data-refreshed=\"false\" \r\n data-target = \"[{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;cat&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;business-careers-money&quot;,&quot;business&quot;,&quot;business-communication&quot;]},{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;isbn&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[null]}]\" id=\"du-slot-62b36f32b8000\"></div></div>","rightAd":"<div class=\"du-ad-region row\" id=\"article_page_right_ad\"><div class=\"du-ad-unit col-md-12\" data-slot-id=\"article_page_right_ad\" data-refreshed=\"false\" \r\n data-target = \"[{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;cat&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;business-careers-money&quot;,&quot;business&quot;,&quot;business-communication&quot;]},{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;isbn&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[null]}]\" id=\"du-slot-62b36f32b8739\"></div></div>"},"articleType":{"articleType":"Articles","articleList":null,"content":null,"videoInfo":{"videoId":null,"name":null,"accountId":null,"playerId":null,"thumbnailUrl":null,"description":null,"uploadDate":null}},"sponsorship":{"sponsorshipPage":false,"backgroundImage":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0},"brandingLine":"","brandingLink":"","brandingLogo":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0}},"primaryLearningPath":"Advance","lifeExpectancy":"Two years","lifeExpectancySetFrom":null,"dummiesForKids":"no","sponsoredContent":"no","adInfo":"","adPairKey":[]},"status":"publish","visibility":"public","articleId":283575},{"headers":{"creationTime":"2021-03-30T14:22:13+00:00","modifiedTime":"2021-04-02T14:00:48+00:00","timestamp":"2022-06-22T19:36:17+00:00"},"data":{"breadcrumbs":[{"name":"Business, Careers, & Money","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34224"},"slug":"business-careers-money","categoryId":34224},{"name":"Business","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34225"},"slug":"business","categoryId":34225},{"name":"Business Communication","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34232"},"slug":"business-communication","categoryId":34232}],"title":"Business Writing: How to Connect to Readers","strippedTitle":"business writing: how to connect to readers","slug":"business-writing-how-to-connect-to-readers","canonicalUrl":"","seo":{"metaDescription":"Draw from psychology and write with conviction to connect with readers. For business writing, the key is to create an emotional connection.","noIndex":0,"noFollow":0},"content":"Essentially, when you use the tools of persuasion, you are asking people to change in some way. The challenge is that human beings don’t like change. We may enjoy deciding whether to travel to Paris or Rome, but change a long-held conviction? Give up a skill we took years or decades to develop in favor of the new? Cheerfully accept a company reorganization that transforms patterns and habits and relationships we’re used to?\r\n\r\nEven talking people into changing their brand of coffee is an uphill battle, let alone asking them to take a risk. We are emotionally invested in the choices we’ve already made, from our coffee to our political leanings to our work patterns. No wonder persuasion is hard. Let’s start with some general ideas about that art and a few fun shortcuts to generate your own enthusiasm, because your own conviction is a first essential.\r\n<h2 id=\"tab1\" >Draw from psychology</h2>\r\nFrom the golden age of Greece on, persuasiveness has absorbed plenty of attention. The philosopher Aristotle described the formula for a great speech as combining <a href=\"https://www.dummies.com/business/management/values-based-leadership-pivoting-work-ethic-work-ethos/\"><em>ethos</em> </a>(establishing authority), <em>logos </em>(logical argument) and <em>pathos</em> (swaying an audience emotionally). Today, techniques of persuasion obsess marketers, communicators, psychologists, neuroscientists and even economists, who created the field of behavioral economics with breakthrough analysis of how humans make decisions. Their opinions are backed by research that ranges from brain imaging to big data crunching.\r\n\r\nConsensus is that Aristotle knew what he was talking about but according to today’s thinkers, the balance of factors—logic, authority and emotion—has shifted toward the last. The key takeaway: While we may believe we make choices based on information and logic, in truth, our decisions are usually driven by emotion and then justified with rationality. Analytic thought consumes enormous amounts of brain energy, so we typically call on it only when we more or less force ourselves to take the trouble.\r\n<p class=\"article-tips tip\">For <a href=\"https://www.dummies.com/careers/business-communication/business-writing/business-writing-dummies-cheat-sheet/\">business writing</a>, the key lesson is: Whenever possible go for both the heart and the mind. When it’s important that readers respond to your message in a particular way, create an emotional connection. Relate to your audience’s hopes and aspirations, or perhaps feelings like worry and anxiety. Use language that produces positive associations, builds trust and shows empathy. Find ways to capture people’s imagination. Give them a vision. But back it all up with evidence that speaks to your claims and your own authority or expertise.</p>\r\nThe emotional connection draws people in and encourages them to stay with you, but most people will look for backup information that justifies trust. Also, some people typically approach decisions more rationally, so the facts, and signals of authority, are dealmakers for them. In short, covering all three elements makes perfect sense.\r\n\r\nDrawing on the resource of techniques and strategies that follow can improve all your communication, from emails to proposals, presentations to interviews, websites to speeches to sales pages. I can’t cover every need you encounter to write or speak persuasively. So read this advice with an eye toward adapting it for your use according to the goal and situation.\r\n<h2 id=\"tab2\" >Communicate with conviction</h2>\r\nIdentifying and understanding your audience is the key to succeeding with every message. But the other side of the equation is <em>you.</em> You must speak and write from a sense of your own value and the value of whatever you’re pitching. When persuasion is in order, your own belief is your best friend.\r\n<p class=\"article-tips remember\">One corollary of the self-belief principle: When you craft an important message to introduce yourself in person or in writing, remind yourself of your own value and relevance. If you’re pitching a product or service, soliciting a donation or asking for peoples’ votes, take a minute to reinform yourself of why you believe that what you represent is worthy and why (I presume) you’re making it your life’s work.</p>\r\nWhat drew you to do what you do? Why does it matter to you? Is it a passion? A commitment to solve a problem or help people? Why are you certain that knowing about your service or product or yourself will benefit others and/or their own audiences? Why are you the ideal person for the opportunity?\r\n\r\nA popular quote often attributed to Theodore Roosevelt sums it up this way: “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Enthusiasm is the best convincer. Few will review your facts and figures if you don’t project enthusiasm and generate it in others. If you aspire to a leadership role, few will follow you if they don’t sense your enthusiasm.\r\n<p class=\"article-tips tip\">To bring confidence to your writing as well as to face-to-face situations, experiment with techniques that actors, presenters and salespeople commonly use to set the stage for a good performance. When you’re about to work on an important message or make an appearance, energize yourself by assuming an assertive but comfortable posture and walk around that way for a few minutes. This technique exploits the mind-body connection, signaling to your mind that you are capable, resourceful and knowledgeable.</p>\r\nAnother strategy from the psychologist’s repertoire: choose a photo or other image that’s associated with a proud moment in your life when you felt on top of the world, and relive that moment as vividly as you can. Perhaps you won an award, were congratulated on something, finished a marathon or celebrated another personal achievement. Employ all your senses to re-create how you felt, stood, held your shoulders, moved. Practice recreating this glow in your mind and body several times and you’ll be able to trigger your confidence just by calling up the image!\r\n\r\n ","description":"Essentially, when you use the tools of persuasion, you are asking people to change in some way. The challenge is that human beings don’t like change. We may enjoy deciding whether to travel to Paris or Rome, but change a long-held conviction? Give up a skill we took years or decades to develop in favor of the new? Cheerfully accept a company reorganization that transforms patterns and habits and relationships we’re used to?\r\n\r\nEven talking people into changing their brand of coffee is an uphill battle, let alone asking them to take a risk. We are emotionally invested in the choices we’ve already made, from our coffee to our political leanings to our work patterns. No wonder persuasion is hard. Let’s start with some general ideas about that art and a few fun shortcuts to generate your own enthusiasm, because your own conviction is a first essential.\r\n<h2 id=\"tab1\" >Draw from psychology</h2>\r\nFrom the golden age of Greece on, persuasiveness has absorbed plenty of attention. The philosopher Aristotle described the formula for a great speech as combining <a href=\"https://www.dummies.com/business/management/values-based-leadership-pivoting-work-ethic-work-ethos/\"><em>ethos</em> </a>(establishing authority), <em>logos </em>(logical argument) and <em>pathos</em> (swaying an audience emotionally). Today, techniques of persuasion obsess marketers, communicators, psychologists, neuroscientists and even economists, who created the field of behavioral economics with breakthrough analysis of how humans make decisions. Their opinions are backed by research that ranges from brain imaging to big data crunching.\r\n\r\nConsensus is that Aristotle knew what he was talking about but according to today’s thinkers, the balance of factors—logic, authority and emotion—has shifted toward the last. The key takeaway: While we may believe we make choices based on information and logic, in truth, our decisions are usually driven by emotion and then justified with rationality. Analytic thought consumes enormous amounts of brain energy, so we typically call on it only when we more or less force ourselves to take the trouble.\r\n<p class=\"article-tips tip\">For <a href=\"https://www.dummies.com/careers/business-communication/business-writing/business-writing-dummies-cheat-sheet/\">business writing</a>, the key lesson is: Whenever possible go for both the heart and the mind. When it’s important that readers respond to your message in a particular way, create an emotional connection. Relate to your audience’s hopes and aspirations, or perhaps feelings like worry and anxiety. Use language that produces positive associations, builds trust and shows empathy. Find ways to capture people’s imagination. Give them a vision. But back it all up with evidence that speaks to your claims and your own authority or expertise.</p>\r\nThe emotional connection draws people in and encourages them to stay with you, but most people will look for backup information that justifies trust. Also, some people typically approach decisions more rationally, so the facts, and signals of authority, are dealmakers for them. In short, covering all three elements makes perfect sense.\r\n\r\nDrawing on the resource of techniques and strategies that follow can improve all your communication, from emails to proposals, presentations to interviews, websites to speeches to sales pages. I can’t cover every need you encounter to write or speak persuasively. So read this advice with an eye toward adapting it for your use according to the goal and situation.\r\n<h2 id=\"tab2\" >Communicate with conviction</h2>\r\nIdentifying and understanding your audience is the key to succeeding with every message. But the other side of the equation is <em>you.</em> You must speak and write from a sense of your own value and the value of whatever you’re pitching. When persuasion is in order, your own belief is your best friend.\r\n<p class=\"article-tips remember\">One corollary of the self-belief principle: When you craft an important message to introduce yourself in person or in writing, remind yourself of your own value and relevance. If you’re pitching a product or service, soliciting a donation or asking for peoples’ votes, take a minute to reinform yourself of why you believe that what you represent is worthy and why (I presume) you’re making it your life’s work.</p>\r\nWhat drew you to do what you do? Why does it matter to you? Is it a passion? A commitment to solve a problem or help people? Why are you certain that knowing about your service or product or yourself will benefit others and/or their own audiences? Why are you the ideal person for the opportunity?\r\n\r\nA popular quote often attributed to Theodore Roosevelt sums it up this way: “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Enthusiasm is the best convincer. Few will review your facts and figures if you don’t project enthusiasm and generate it in others. If you aspire to a leadership role, few will follow you if they don’t sense your enthusiasm.\r\n<p class=\"article-tips tip\">To bring confidence to your writing as well as to face-to-face situations, experiment with techniques that actors, presenters and salespeople commonly use to set the stage for a good performance. When you’re about to work on an important message or make an appearance, energize yourself by assuming an assertive but comfortable posture and walk around that way for a few minutes. This technique exploits the mind-body connection, signaling to your mind that you are capable, resourceful and knowledgeable.</p>\r\nAnother strategy from the psychologist’s repertoire: choose a photo or other image that’s associated with a proud moment in your life when you felt on top of the world, and relive that moment as vividly as you can. Perhaps you won an award, were congratulated on something, finished a marathon or celebrated another personal achievement. Employ all your senses to re-create how you felt, stood, held your shoulders, moved. Practice recreating this glow in your mind and body several times and you’ll be able to trigger your confidence just by calling up the image!\r\n\r\n ","blurb":"","authors":[{"authorId":9673,"name":"Natalie Canavor","slug":"natalie-canavor","description":" <p><b>Natalie Canavor's</b> career spans national magazine editing, journalism, corporate communications and public relations. Her writing for business media, professional audiences and <i>The New York Times</i> have won dozens of national and international awards. She has taught advanced writing seminars for NYU and conducts frequent workshops.</p> ","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/9673"}}],"primaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":34232,"title":"Business Communication","slug":"business-communication","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34232"}},"secondaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":34072,"title":"Persuasion & Influence","slug":"persuasion-influence","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34072"}},"tertiaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":0,"title":null,"slug":null,"_links":null},"trendingArticles":null,"inThisArticle":[{"label":"Draw from psychology","target":"#tab1"},{"label":"Communicate with conviction","target":"#tab2"}],"relatedArticles":{"fromBook":[],"fromCategory":[{"articleId":283575,"title":"How to Write Effective Business Letters","slug":"how-to-write-effective-business-letters","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/283575"}},{"articleId":283569,"title":"Business Writing in Email and Group Chat","slug":"business-writing-in-email-and-group-chat","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/283569"}},{"articleId":256767,"title":"Public Speaking and Stuttering","slug":"public-speaking-and-stuttering","categoryList":["business-careers-money","business","business-communication"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/256767"}},{"articleId":256762,"title":"Public Speaking: Avoid Pushing Your 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Business Communication Articles

From mastering difficult conversations to sharpening your business writing, here's how to tune up your professional communication skills.

Articles From Business Communication

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304 results
Business Communication Business Etiquette For Dummies Cheat Sheet

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-26-2022

Business etiquette is vitally important for representing your company in the best manner possible. Having excellent business manners means two things above all else: respecting others, and treating people with courtesy and kindness. To get started, you should know how to deliver a proper handshake, master the art of gift-giving, and travel abroad without missteps.

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Business Communication Public Relations For Dummies Cheat Sheet

Cheat Sheet / Updated 03-25-2022

To get people talking about you, your company, or your product, you need to develop a good public relations (PR) plan. Applying some PR fundamentals, knowing how to deal with the media, getting your press release to stand out and your blog noticed are all key steps in your public relations campaign.

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Business Communication Critical Conversations For Dummies Cheat Sheet

Cheat Sheet / Updated 03-22-2022

Are you looking to change behaviors in employees and create productive and dynamic team players? Critical conversations are a way to do just that! Staying ahead of possible conflicts and intervening when issues do arise are what critical conversations are all about. They are the best way to keep employees motivated and ensure productive teamwork.

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Business Communication Public Speaking Skills For Dummies Cheat Sheet

Cheat Sheet / Updated 03-03-2022

Even though some make it look easy, public speaking requires effort. But you don’t want the audience to see that effort. You want your voice to be the same one you use when talking to family, friends, and colleagues. You can develop your own style and sound like yourself. However, many issues can arise while preparing for and during your speech. You may be afraid, your body language may make you look and feel shaky, or your breathing may not be helping you as much as it could be. All these things can be addressed.

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Business Communication Communicating Effectively For Dummies Cheat Sheet

Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-25-2022

Effective communications involves listening as well as speaking. When you speak to a group, how you deliver your message plays a part in how it’s received. In the workplace, effective communication techniques can help foster positive relationships — just be sure to avoid some communication pitfalls so that you don’t undermine your good work.

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Business Communication Writing Business Bids and Proposals For Dummies Cheat Sheet

Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-10-2022

If you’re a small- to medium-sized business owner, a salesperson, or a lone proposal writer, this Cheat Sheet provides you with a helpful reference for writing commercial business proposals. This information will help you understand how to write customer-focused, persuasive proposals that win more business. If you boil down a good proposal to its essence, you can take away four overarching principles that will significantly improve your ability to write winning proposals.

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Business Communication Win-Win Negotiating

Article / Updated 12-01-2021

You are about to end a negotiation, either by closing a deal or walking away from it. If you are going to close the deal, be sure that the deal is positive for both parties, producing a win-win situation. If you are thinking about walking away, be sure that you aren't overlooking some way to achieve a mutually satisfying outcome. This may be the most valuable moment in the entire negotiation. In the commonly used sense of the phrase, a win-win negotiation is a deal that satisfies both sides. In an ideal world, a win-win agreement is the only kind of deal that would ever close. Nevertheless, even in today's world, the vast majority of negotiations end in win-win situations. Win-win negotiating does not mean that you must give up your goals or worry about the other person getting what they want in the negotiation. You have your hands full looking out for your own interests. Practice honesty and respect in all of your negotiations, but looking out for the other side isn't your job. It's theirs. Recognizing a good deal A good deal is one that is fair under all circumstances at the time the agreement is made. It provides for various contingencies before problems arise. A good deal is workable in the real world. To be sure that you have a good deal and a win-win situation, ask yourself the following questions just before closing: Does the agreement further your personal long-range goals? Does the outcome of the negotiation fit into your vision statement? Does the agreement fall comfortably within the goals and limits that you set for this particular negotiation? Can you perform your side of the agreement to the fullest? Do you intend to meet your commitment? Based on all the information, can the other side perform the agreement to your expectations? Based on what you know, does the other side intend to carry out the terms of the agreement? In an ideal situation, the answer to all six questions is a resounding yes. If you are unsure about any one of them, take some extra time. Review the entire situation. Assess how the agreement could be changed in order to create a yes answer to each question. Try your best to make the change needed to get a firm yes to each question. Then, close the deal. Don't go for any more changes even if you think that the other person wouldn't mind. You never know! When you work in a culture other than your own, being sure that you have a win-win solution takes a little extra effort. During a cross-cultural negotiation, be thorough in your investigation of what is and isn't acceptable. If you can't alter the deal so that you can answer yes to each question, be very thoughtful about closing. If you decide to go forward, write down exactly why you are closing the deal anyway so that you don't become part of that army of people with tales of exploitation. This exercise is particularly helpful to your state of mind if the results don't work out; you have a record as to why you took the deal. You won't be so hard on yourself. Knowing your counterpart Remember that the people you are dealing with are more important than the paperwork you draft. Know your counterpart very well before you enter into a long-term relationship. No lawyer can protect you from a crook. Lawyers can just put you in a position to win a lawsuit. People do bad things all the time. Checking out references is one of the most overlooked resources. You can learn a great deal from checking out references, even from the most obviously biased sources. Some people tend to be overly concerned about the other party's welfare in a negotiation, smothering their own goals in the process. When you're engaged in a negotiation, you must allow other people to take care of themselves. You don't have to make things "nice" for everyone. That's not a negotiator's job. Your job as a negotiator is to get what you want. Remaining true to that objective may involve upsetting someone. Part of negotiating well is having the strength to take that risk.

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Business Communication Increasing Your Influence at Work All-in-One For Dummies Cheat Sheet

Cheat Sheet / Updated 10-28-2021

In today’s workplace, influence is more important than ever. When you know how to exert influence at work, you can control and more rapidly advance your career than others can. Four basic steps can help you achieve influence, no matter where you are in your career; if you’re higher up in your company, consider leadership best practices to further boost your impact.

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Business Communication How to Write Effective Business Letters

Article / Updated 04-15-2021

You may be under the impression that you don’t write business letters and never need to in today’s fast-paced world. Think again. You are probably writing letters without realizing it. Don’t be fooled by the fact that you’re using an electronic delivery system and don’t need a stamp. Acknowledge that your missive is a letter, and you do a much better job of achieving your goal. When something important is at stake, recognize that what you produce merits extra care in terms of its content, language and visual impression. This doesn’t necessarily mean you need to find your old stationery. In many cases, it’s perfectly fine to send your letter as an email. In other instances, a physical letter serves you better. If you’re a nonprofit manager writing to elderly donors, for example, relying on email is risky. As always, consider your goal and audience in deciding on the best mode of delivery. Here are some of the business-world occasions when you should think “Aha! This calls for a letter!” Introducing yourself: If you’re the new veterinarian in town writing to the patient list, or need to explain why a VIP should give you ten minutes of their time, or why people should vote for you, you’re courting the reader and must make the best possible first impression in order to secure what you want. Making a request: If you want a referral, a recommendation, an invitation, an informational interview, a special assignment, a corner office, a favor of any kind, write a letter. Pitching something: If you sell a product or service, one effective way is with a sales letter, either via the post office or email. When you market anything, you must apply your best strategizing and writing. Presenting formal applications: When you apply for a job, submit a proposal or compete for an educational opportunity, nine times out of ten, you need a cover letter. If it’s optional, leaving it out is a mistake. Sometimes the letter must accomplish the goal on its own—when a job posting specifies a letter and no résumé, for example. Saying thank you, I’m sorry or expressing sympathy: Such messages are important and should be carefully personalized and meticulously written and presented. If they don’t look as if you have given thought to such a message and taken trouble, they don’t communicate that you care. A personal letter is much more effective than a greeting card. Expressing appreciation: If someone gives you a wonderful break, takes a chance on you, offers significant advice or makes an introduction for you, a letter from you to that person will be treasured—trust me. People so rarely do this. And it’s worth considering a retrospective thank you to anyone in the past who inspired or helped you, too. Congratulating someone: Supervisors, coworkers, subordinates, colleagues, suppliers—everyone welcomes a graceful congratulatory note when reaching a milestone or achieving something significant. Documenting for legal purposes: Letters can be called for as official records in relation to job offers, agreements, performance reviews and warnings. These formal records may have legal implications now or in future. A binding contract can take the form of a simple-looking letter, so must be scrupulously written if you want them to protect you. And know what you’re agreeing to when sign those written by other people! Seeking redress: If you have a complaint about a product or service, how you’ve been treated or how a print or digital publication has misrepresented you or your organization, to be taken seriously, write a letter. Expressing opinions and concerns: Yes, Virginia, just as there is a Santa Claus, newspapers and other publications still run Letters to the Editor—and those editors know that this section is usually the most read feature of all. But it takes a good letter to be heard. Letters to local government and legislative offices reap a lot of attention, too. Inspiring people to care: If you want friends and colleagues to actively support a cause you believe in, with money or time or connections, a letter bears much better testimony to the depth of your own commitment. Valuing privacy: Letters carried by the postal system are privileged documents protected by the “secrecy of correspondence” principle. In many countries, it is illegal to open letters in transit. The privacy of digital communication remains murky, and you obviously risk disaster by communicating private information in an email or social post or text. Printed-and-delivered physical letters offer a last bastion of privacy. If you search online, you’ll find a ton of prewritten and preformatted letters for every occasion. You may draw some ideas from them, but almost never will a cookie-cutter template work as well as your own well-crafted letter. Often the tone is wrong and the content is bland and impersonal. This totally undercuts the reason you’re writing a letter. Therefore, I won’t give you a formula for every letter. Rather, I want to stimulate your imagination as to what a good letter can accomplish for you in your professional life and beyond. I have personally used this skill in situations ranging from a need to establish my (at the time, somewhat uncertain) credentials for a major purchase, build ongoing relationships with VIPs, and more than once, obtain a refund for a disappointing purchase or when a major deposit was withheld. To show you the impact a letter can have, here are some actual examples with details altered). In each case, instead of leading you through the planning process that leads to a good message, I first give you the final product and then follow with the analysis. Situation 1: You hear a major renovation is to commence on a house down the street—a peaceful, well-kept, private-feeling street where children play outside and residents share a community spirit. You find the following letter on your doorstep. Dear Neighbor: As you may be aware, the Bennet family will be venturing into a home renovation/addition project shortly. As the family’s general contractor and representative, I wanted to take a moment of your time to introduce myself. My name is Allan James and for the most part, I, or one of my project managers, will be on site every day. Having completed numerous projects in the area over the years, I am familiar with the town and sensitive to the effects a project of this scope can have on the neighborhood. It is my intention not only to deliver a quality, on-time project to my customer, but to ensure the least amount of impact to your environment. My subcontractors are very much aware of my expectations in regard to respect for your neighborhood, the town by-laws and the need for utmost common courtesy and respect. It is inevitable that there may be some minor damage to the town-owned grass strips between the sidewalk and the street. Any such damage will be restored at the end of the project. To ensure that this occurs, a surety bond has been levied with the town. Please feel free to contact me in person, by cell phone or email if some aspect of this project is affecting you adversely. With best intentions, Allan James, AIBD, CPBD, UCSL President, AJ Builders, Inc. How would you react as a resident? It’s hard to imagine a negative response. However, even though the business strategy is so effective, I have never seen or heard of another contractor taking the trouble to write and deliver such a letter but. Even if the idea does not seem relevant to you right now, notice how this letter aligns with the planning process, which is the heart of this book: Goal: Smooth the way for a process that is naturally disruptive and forestall likely complaints. Audience: Homeowners who fear damage to the street and a potential flood of unsupervised workers and subcontractors to the quiet neighborhood they value. Content points: Communicate . . . High sense of responsibility and caring as company owner Active direction of workers and subcontractors Knowledge of protective bylaws and commitment to them Acknowledgment of probable damage and commitment to repair it Ensurance of legal protection via surety bond Credentialed company president (no matter what the acronyms stand for) Accountability: Direct contact information is given in case of a problem (or should readers want to inquire about services for themselves!). Tone: Low-key, respectful, sincere. Why it works: The writer understands the neighbors’ worries based on their prior experiences with construction and directly addresses those fears. In doing so he generates trust: He makes the coming interaction personal. He reassures residents that he will respect the street they share and care about. But there’s more: The thoughtfulness of the letter conveys that this is a caring, capable and intelligent person who will do an excellent construction job. That’s the magic of what you can accomplish with good writing. Of course, the writer must follow through on all counts. Outcome: Beyond accomplishing a collegial environment to work in and forestalling complaints, the contractor received several queries from other local homeowners who were inspired to pursue their own renovations. Situation 2: Here’s an example of how good business writing carries over to non-work needs. You are relocating and have put your house on the market. Happily, you soon receive a number of offers that move over the asking price. You’re ready to accept the highest bid when this letter arrives: Dear X: My name is Donna Whitman and I am writing to you to express how important it is for me to purchase your lovely home. I have dreamt of living on a lake for more than 20 years. When I was transferred from Minneapolis to Charlotte this past year, I hoped to make my dream come true. I have spent time with colleagues in the Arborville community and knew it would be exactly right for me. When I saw your home listed, I knew I had to see it! And when I walked in the door, I told Jim, my broker, that this was the home for me! I love the location, layout and of course, the lake. My 15-year-old cat, Cappy, will also love your home. She will have so much happiness sitting with me on the splendid deck (her joints don’t allow her to sit on windowsills any more). I’m excited that the dining-room set I inherited from my dear grandmother will fit perfectly. And I love that my parents will have a beautiful place to stay when they visit in March, should I be lucky enough to purchase 45 Lakewood. I truly hope I will be chosen to be the new owner of your home and finally have my dream become a reality! With the utmost sincerity and gratitude for your consideration, Donna As the seller, how would you react to receiving this letter? Donna may not consciously have followed the process I recommend for all your writing, but here is why it succeeds as a message. Goal: To win the bid, without knowing what other offers were received. Audience: Someone who has loved the home herself, apparent in its cared-for condition, furnishings and decoration. Content: To accomplish this goal, with this reader in mind: Personalize the interaction to stand out from other potential buyers. Express high enthusiasm for the chance to live there. Communicate appreciation for potentially being “chosen.” These points are backed by citing specific benefits to the writer and communicate a personal vision—Cappy the arthritic cat on the deck . . . the beloved grandmother’s dining-room table in place . . . the happy visiting parents. Tone: Enthusiasm! I suspect your reaction in this scenario would be similar to the seller’s: a little skepticism at so much excitement, overridden by feeling gratified that her long-term home will be appreciated, enjoyed and cherished. Outcome: The writer had not, in fact, made the highest offer, but the seller wanted her to have the house. Donna agreed to meet the slightly higher price of the offer above hers and everyone left the table feeling very good. The point: Think about what well thought-out letters could accomplish in your own life. Adopt that mindset and the opportunities will come. Consider at times the value of a real letter—the kind that you can hold in your hands, reread at will and keep with your important or treasured documents. Do you have a shoebox of letters that connect you with important events or people of your past personal life? Letters relating to our professional lives can also have strong associations for us, especially if they make us feel good. Digital messages are fleeting—some are even meant to disappear in a few minutes. But a physical letter is real and tangible and (relatively) permanent, like a photographic print. I know several professional colleagues who make a habit of handwriting their messages to clients and other important connections on notepaper: thank you for the help or referral, happy holidays, happy birthday, congratulations on your award or your son’s graduation. These savvy professionals look for opportunities to write notes like these. Don’t laugh. When they visit these recipients’ offices and see these notes prominently displayed on the contact’s bulletin boards, the strategic value of this small effort is reinforced. These friends are all very successful.

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Business Communication Business Writing: How to Connect to Readers

Article / Updated 04-02-2021

Essentially, when you use the tools of persuasion, you are asking people to change in some way. The challenge is that human beings don’t like change. We may enjoy deciding whether to travel to Paris or Rome, but change a long-held conviction? Give up a skill we took years or decades to develop in favor of the new? Cheerfully accept a company reorganization that transforms patterns and habits and relationships we’re used to? Even talking people into changing their brand of coffee is an uphill battle, let alone asking them to take a risk. We are emotionally invested in the choices we’ve already made, from our coffee to our political leanings to our work patterns. No wonder persuasion is hard. Let’s start with some general ideas about that art and a few fun shortcuts to generate your own enthusiasm, because your own conviction is a first essential. Draw from psychology From the golden age of Greece on, persuasiveness has absorbed plenty of attention. The philosopher Aristotle described the formula for a great speech as combining ethos (establishing authority), logos (logical argument) and pathos (swaying an audience emotionally). Today, techniques of persuasion obsess marketers, communicators, psychologists, neuroscientists and even economists, who created the field of behavioral economics with breakthrough analysis of how humans make decisions. Their opinions are backed by research that ranges from brain imaging to big data crunching. Consensus is that Aristotle knew what he was talking about but according to today’s thinkers, the balance of factors—logic, authority and emotion—has shifted toward the last. The key takeaway: While we may believe we make choices based on information and logic, in truth, our decisions are usually driven by emotion and then justified with rationality. Analytic thought consumes enormous amounts of brain energy, so we typically call on it only when we more or less force ourselves to take the trouble. For business writing, the key lesson is: Whenever possible go for both the heart and the mind. When it’s important that readers respond to your message in a particular way, create an emotional connection. Relate to your audience’s hopes and aspirations, or perhaps feelings like worry and anxiety. Use language that produces positive associations, builds trust and shows empathy. Find ways to capture people’s imagination. Give them a vision. But back it all up with evidence that speaks to your claims and your own authority or expertise. The emotional connection draws people in and encourages them to stay with you, but most people will look for backup information that justifies trust. Also, some people typically approach decisions more rationally, so the facts, and signals of authority, are dealmakers for them. In short, covering all three elements makes perfect sense. Drawing on the resource of techniques and strategies that follow can improve all your communication, from emails to proposals, presentations to interviews, websites to speeches to sales pages. I can’t cover every need you encounter to write or speak persuasively. So read this advice with an eye toward adapting it for your use according to the goal and situation. Communicate with conviction Identifying and understanding your audience is the key to succeeding with every message. But the other side of the equation is you. You must speak and write from a sense of your own value and the value of whatever you’re pitching. When persuasion is in order, your own belief is your best friend. One corollary of the self-belief principle: When you craft an important message to introduce yourself in person or in writing, remind yourself of your own value and relevance. If you’re pitching a product or service, soliciting a donation or asking for peoples’ votes, take a minute to reinform yourself of why you believe that what you represent is worthy and why (I presume) you’re making it your life’s work. What drew you to do what you do? Why does it matter to you? Is it a passion? A commitment to solve a problem or help people? Why are you certain that knowing about your service or product or yourself will benefit others and/or their own audiences? Why are you the ideal person for the opportunity? A popular quote often attributed to Theodore Roosevelt sums it up this way: “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Enthusiasm is the best convincer. Few will review your facts and figures if you don’t project enthusiasm and generate it in others. If you aspire to a leadership role, few will follow you if they don’t sense your enthusiasm. To bring confidence to your writing as well as to face-to-face situations, experiment with techniques that actors, presenters and salespeople commonly use to set the stage for a good performance. When you’re about to work on an important message or make an appearance, energize yourself by assuming an assertive but comfortable posture and walk around that way for a few minutes. This technique exploits the mind-body connection, signaling to your mind that you are capable, resourceful and knowledgeable. Another strategy from the psychologist’s repertoire: choose a photo or other image that’s associated with a proud moment in your life when you felt on top of the world, and relive that moment as vividly as you can. Perhaps you won an award, were congratulated on something, finished a marathon or celebrated another personal achievement. Employ all your senses to re-create how you felt, stood, held your shoulders, moved. Practice recreating this glow in your mind and body several times and you’ll be able to trigger your confidence just by calling up the image!

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