What More Can I Say?

Dianna Booher's new book, What More Can I Say?, presents nine core principles of persuasive communication in an easy-to-read and easy-to-digest format that makes for a compelling read for anyone wanting to succeed in changing behavior or changing minds.

The nine core principles are:

1. The Law of Trust vs. Distrust
2. The Law of Collaboration vs. Monologue
3. The Law of Simplicity vs. Complexity
4. The Law of Tact vs. Insensitivity
5. The Law of Potential vs. Achievement
6. The Law of Distinction vs. Dilution
7. The Law of Specialty vs. Generalization
8. The Law of Emotion vs. Logic
9. The Law of Perspective vs. Distortion

Booher draws on her decades of experience coaching and conducting workshops, and through the various Laws illustrates how messages can be delivered to:

• Make a sale
• Cement a relationship
• Lead employees through a corporate restructuring
• Inspire employees
• Recruit top talent
• and much more

The book includes plenty of real-world, use-tomorrow, examples. And, Booher sprinkles throughout the book many inspiring leadership and communication quotes. Booher has written 46 books.

Why Giving Positive Feedback Is Bettering Than Giving Praise

There is an important difference between giving your employees positive feedback and giving them praise.

• Positive feedback focuses on the specifics of job performance.
• Praise, often one-or two-sentence statements, such as “Keep up the good work,” without positive feedback leaves employees with empty feelings.

Worse yet, without positive feedback, employees feel no sense that they are appreciated as individual talents with specific desires to learn and grow on the job and in their careers, reports Nicholas Nigro, author of, The Everything Coaching and Mentoring Book.

So, skip the praise and give positive feedback that is more uplifting to your employees because it goes to the heart of their job performance and what they actually do.

An example of positive feedback is:

“Bob, your communications skills have dramatically improved over the past couple of months. The report that you just prepared for me was thorough and concise. I appreciate all the work you’ve put into it, as do your team members.”

How To Talk About Inconsistencies With An Employee

If you’re having a difficult time clarifying inconsistencies you are hearing from an employee about a project’s/task’s progress, try asking these questions (or making these statements) the next time you meet with the employee:

•  Here’s what I see. Here’s what I hear you saying.
•  Here’s what we know so far.
•  So let’s see if I’m on track with you…
•  Let’s see where we are…
•  How about we step back from a moment and look at a few different ideas…
•  Did I hear you correctly when you said…?
•  Am I missing something here?

Always be sure you’re on the same page and have the same understanding of the progress being made with your employee’s projects.

Thanks to Jane Murphy for these tips from her book, What Could Happen If You Do Nothing.

5 Ways To Connect With Your Customers Online

If you are struggling with how best to connect with your customers online whether it's via a company Blog or your website, consider these five approaches from the best-selling book, The Network Is Your Customer, by David L. Rogers:

• Try Branding, Not Selling -- Offer a story, entertainment, or a compelling idea that you can link convincingly to your brand, rather than trying to sell products or services directly.
• Offer Utility -- Provide content and interaction that helps solve a problem or answers a critical information need for your audience.
• Show A Personal Face -- Engage customers by showing a personal side and an authentic voice in digital content rather than the objective and authoritative voice of an institution.
• Focus On The Particular -- Focus on niche audiences and their specific needs and interests, rather than trying to engage every possible customer with the same content.
• Make It A Game -- Use the interactive, goal-based play of online games to engage customers for fun, education, and relationship-building.

How To Prepare For The Next Recession

Even though the business environment is improving for some companies, don't close the book on the recent recession until you've set a game plan for how you will lead your business between now and the next recession. And, for how you will lead during the next recession.

Write down the lessons you learned over the past couple years and determine how you'll apply each going forward.

You can also take note of the suggestions from savvy business leaders that offer this advice:

•  You have to build trust with your colleagues before a crisis comes or no one will follow you when it does.
•  There is no substitute for preparation. Access your company's strengths and weaknesses at all times.
•  Conduct an annual risk review that encompasses both financial and non-financial risks.
•  When removing employees from your business, be courageous, quick and fair.
•  Pay attention to those who leave and those who stay. And, for those who stay, remove work so the employees left behind don't feel punished for staying.
•  Talk more about values more than rules.
•  Reward not only the performance, but also how that performance is achieved.