It's all about the Image - Part 2

Saying it right

A great deal of the ability to project the proper business image depends on a person’s skill at speaking effectively. When I say effectively I mean speaking in such a manner as to achieve a clear, crisp, relaxed and thoughtful verbal communication. It is necessary not only to be able to control exactly what you say, but also how you say it.

What you say is based on your own general outlook, the purpose of the meeting with the person you have chosen to meet, or in your case has selected you, and a large number of other factors in your makeup. What you say depends a great deal on prior preparation, forethought and other bits, and effectively performed homework.

How you say it depends on personal habits of verbalisation including emotional attitude, tone of voice, accent, speech pattern, volume, pitch, pacing, phrasing, projection and a complete absence of verbal ticks or affectations.

Think before you speak

Communication is a two-way street, therefore verbal speech is dependent always on a listener or communicant. Except for the initial statement made to open up a dialogue, every piece of communication involving speech is a direct reaction or response to another thought expressed in speech. Note that speech is not a series of isolated thoughts. In speech, statement is linked absolutely to prior statement. In addition speech is linked absolutely to thought. We’re sick of being told that you should ‘think before you speak’. Nevertheless, this is one of the most important keys to effective speaking in the business world. It’s so obvious that you probably forgot all about it when you left school.

Things to look out for

There are several typical flaws that develop in speech if you do not think about exactly what you’re saying at all times. These flaws include muddy logic, imprecise ideas, ungrammatical utterances, interruptions and unrelated ideas amongst other errors and distractions.

The urge to interrupt the person you are talking to is one of the worst habits you can fall into. Once again this is usually a result of opening your mouth before you form your thoughts. And soon you annoy the person so much that the conversation will drift and die.

Besides interruptions, you can easily kill the entire point of the serious business discussion by uttering some piece of nonsense that has usually nothing to do with the subject at hand. Once linkage is destroyed in verbal communication the entire process of statement and response is jeopardised. There is no reason to continue and any business rapport you may have wished for is lost forever.

Care and thought in communication

Listening carefully to your business associate, you symbolically take a deep breath before saying a word. If you take your time to speak you will offend no one. It’s not the person that takes his or her time during communication that is annoying, it is the person who prevents anyone else from speech and causes others to clam up and drop out of the conversation.

It is the careful slow speaker that everyone listens to, not the quick starter who is usually full of half baked ideas. Business communication is based on care and thought. Effective give and take can be ruined by lack of attention and concentration.

Slow speech is good speech

Try speaking in front of a mirror now to see if you are indulging in lazy or sloppy speech habits. Speak any sentence in a natural way exactly the way you usually say it. But this time watch yourself as you speak.

You’ll probably see that you speak swiftly and carelessly with your words tumbling out in an unclear fashion and your phrases all falling over one and another. If this is the case, you know that you will need help.

In the unlikely event that you find yourself speaking clearly and distinctly, slowly and thoughtfully, then good luck. For the rest of us, it requires care and attention.

The likelihood that you’re talking too fast and do need help. If this is the case, then the continual practise in front of the mirror and speak in exactly the opposite manner. Speak the same sentence you spoke before, but this time speak it slowly and carefully, looking at your mouth as it forms the words and making sure that the words are shaped carefully and deliberately.

No one ever really bothers to criticise a speaker who is too slow. It is the speaker that is too fast that becomes a problem to the listener.

By deliberately dragging out your words you will find that you have acquired a new dimension to your diction, a dimension that affords you a kind of confidence, authority and conviction that you may have completely lacked before.

This new aura of confidence and authority is certainly one step in the right direction towards the total business like impression you are trying to create in the person you are communicating with.

Link
http://www.go-between.co.uk