Business English Skills 360

The Skills 360 podcast is now available in iTunes: Free iTunes Subscription Free Resources: Quiz & Vocab | PDF Transcript Hello and welcome back to the Skills 360 podcast! I’m your host Tim Simmons. Today I want to start with a situation. Imagine this: you are sitting in your office trying to catch up on paperwork. A colleague walks in with a panicked look on his face. He says, “This proposal has to go out by 4:00pm but the formatting is all messed up. Could you help me?” Sound familiar? And I bet you’d like to reply, “I’m afraid I’m too busy at the moment.” But what you really say is “well, okay.” Or “hmm, I’m kinda in the middle of something but maybe during lunch…” Or “let me think about it…” Why is it so difficult to say no? Well, of course you want to be polite, and kind, and agreeable, and a good person who helps out his co-workers. If it’s a boss who is asking you for something, you may fear losing favor or opportunities. And if it’s a client or customer asking for something, you might not want to ruin the relationship. But what I want to tell you is that in many cases you should say no. And you should know how to say it. You and your time are important, and if you’re too busy, well, you’re too busy! You need to avoid overcommitting. If you try to do too much, you’ll do nothing well. Saying yes to everything can lead to disaster, even though you feared the results of not saying yes. And remember that people can usually see when you want to say no but can’t. That doesn’t make you appear very strong and confident. Those people will keep asking you until you find a way to say “no,” clearly, firmly, and honestly. That’s the key: you need to be clear, firm, and honest. There are several ways we can do this. First of all, treat “no” as a normal thing. If you make a big deal of your refusal, it will seem like a big deal. So avoid long explanations. And don’t be too apologetic. Many people apologize automatically, saying “I’m so sorry Dave, but I can’t.” But should you really be sorry for being busy? Save your apologies for times when you really foul something up. Second, learn to be firm. You may want to hesitate or hedge by saying “well, I’m not sure…” or “that might be possible…” In many cases, you’re just doing this because you’re trying to find a way to say no. So just say no firmly. Don’t leave the door open to negotiation or discussion. If it doesn’t work, say “that doesn’t work.” This is not only firm, but clear. You see, we often want to give excuses for not being able to do something without saying clearly that we can’t. So your boss asks you to come in on Saturday, and you say “Gee, that’s the weekend, and I was thinking of going golfing.” That’s not clear. “I can’t come in on Saturday” is clear. People appreciate honesty, so tell them the truth. If something is not possible, say so. And be specific. So if a customer asks for a quick turnaround when your company doesn’t have the resources to make it happen, then say that. Like this: “There’s no way we can do it in that timeframe.” You can even highlight your honesty by starting with something like “I have to be frank here” or “to be perfectly honest with you.” That emphasizes the fact that you’re being realistic. One final tip for today: if you really want to be clear, the start your response with our magic word itself.

The Skills 360 podcast is now available in iTunes: Free iTunes Subscription Free Resources: Quiz & Vocab | PDF Transcript Welcome back to the Skills 360 podcast for the second part of our look at getting the most out of your negotiations. I’m your host Tim Simmons and today we’re going to tackle the actual negotiation. What should you be thinking about and saying when you’re sitting down at the table working on a deal? Let’s start with the idea of control and restraint. And here I’m talking about controlling yourself. You might want to go in with guns blazing and overpower the other party with a show of strength. But that is usually the wrong thing to do. You might scare them right out of the room. Enter the negotiations calm, cool, and collected. Like I said in the last episode, treat it as a business discussion. So discuss, don’t attack. Now, a wise man once said ‘we have two ears and one mouth and we should use them in those proportions’. In other words: listen more than you speak. When you listen, you get information. And the more information you have, the better your position. Listening also makes the other party feel validated. And that’s important, because if they feel they are not being heard, you have slimmer chances of success. Of course, the other party might not have listened to this podcast. They might be belligerent or have poor listening skills. They might use fear or pressure tactics. But remember, if you lose your cool in the face of these methods, it means they work. So continue to show restraint and resist emotional responses. This is business, and you shouldn’t take things personally, even when it feels personal. Okay, so that’s all about control and restraint. Now how can you deal with the actual give and take of a negotiation? Well, I’ve got a few tips for you. First of all, when you talk about money, don’t be the first to give a number. You might miss out on a sweet deal if you divulge too much information. For example, maybe your company designs websites and you’re in talks with a big company about a project. Their budget might be much bigger than what you usually charge. If you learn that, you stand to gain a lot. But you also need to remember not to get too hung up on money. Price might be an important point, maybe even the most important point to you, but it’s never the only one. Some negotiations get stuck on the issue and never move past it. There could be a great deal possible for both parties but they don’t even realize it because they’re not talking about other terms. Negotiations are all about concessions. You get some, and you give some away. And hopefully you get more than you give. So you should always be looking for the chance to gain concessions. Never give anything away for free! If the other party says “oh, we need this faster than the three months you propose,” then you can say “well, that will come with a higher price tag.” And when you make concessions, try to find ones that are easy for you but very valuable to the other party. For example,

The Skills 360 podcast is now available in iTunes: Free iTunes Subscription Free Resources: Quiz & Vocab | PDF Transcript Welcome back to the Skills 360 podcast. I’m your host Tim Simmons, and today we’re going to explore the topic of negotiations. Negotiation is something we all have to do on some level. You might be part of a team discussing a huge contract, or on the phone trying to get a good deal on office supplies, or in your manager’s office asking for a raise. Negotiation happens every day. In fact, you might say that in business everything is negotiable. To kick off, we’re going to look at what you do before you start negotiating. That’s right, this is about doing your groundwork. It’s impossible to overstate the importance of being prepared, not matter what type of negotiation you’re headed into. The more you know and understand going in, the better deal you’ll walk out with. So where do you start? Well, good preparation begins with learning about the other party. You want to understand their style, personality, and the way their groups work. And you also want to understand their negotiating style. What exactly do we mean by “style”? No, this isn’t whether they dress conservatively or casually. This is about how they negotiate. Are they formal or informal? Are they analytical or emotional? Are they aggressive or passive? Knowing these things will help you tailor your response and approach. For example, if you walk into a negotiation and open with an informal and slightly aggressive approach, but the other party is accustomed to more formal and rational negotiations, you may put them off. Of course, a lot of negotiating style comes down to culture. Germans, Koreans, Russians, and Indians will all negotiate differently. So do a bit of research and find out how these groups typically approach a negotiation. This will reduce misunderstanding and help you craft your own approach. Beyond style, you need to know how the other group operates. How do they make decisions? Are they aiming for group consensus? Or is there a top dog who you need to focus on swaying your way? Does the person in front of you have the authority to sign off on a deal? These are things you need to know. So do your homework and find out exactly what you’ll be facing. Great. Now you also need to understand the other party’s position. That is, what exactly do they want and need? And what are they willing and unwilling to give up? To do this, you can try to get inside information, analyze their business situation, and find out about previous deals. Why did they succeed or fail? Everyone heads into a negotiation with a list of priorities. It might not be written down anywhere. It could just be a general idea like: we can’t play around with price too much, but the timeline is less important. If you know this, you have power. You can also benefit from information about their options. If they can’t make a deal with you, do they have others waiting? Or are you the only one who can give them what they need? How time-sensitive is a deal? Can they wait? Or is that simply not an option for them? Again, this type of information will help you immensely during the negotiation. Understanding the other party’s position is also necessary in order to figure out your own basic positions. And you shouldn’t have one position in mind. In fact,

The Skills 360 podcast is now available in iTunes: Free iTunes Subscription Free Resources: Quiz & Vocab | PDF Transcript Thanks for tuning in to the Skills 360 Podcast. I’m your host, Tim Simmons. Before we jump into today’s lesson on dealing with problem people, I just want to mention the coming release of our Course Builder web app. With Course Builder members can create courses by searching and saving lists of BEP lessons. Take a look at the demo video on BusinessEnglishPod.com to see just how quick and easy it is to make a personalized course. So we’ve been looking at how to deal with problem people. These are the people in your office that drive you nuts because they’re so difficult to get along with. Last week we talked about how to deal with specific incidents with difficult individuals. Today, we’re talking about ongoing issues. This is about the constant thorn in your side, whether it’s your colleague, your boss, or the angry IT guy that gets annoyed every time you ask for some simple information. In extreme cases, these people can make you dread going to work each day. So how can we deal with them? First of all, if there’s someone causing problems on a continual basis, it’s best to act instead of just reacting. Don’t let the issue, and your resentment, fester. The problem won’t go away all by itself, and if you wait to deal with it, there’s a good chance that when you do, you’ll lose emotional control. So be proactive. You know there’s a problem, now go out and do something about it. And doing something about it means talking to the person causing the problem. But before I get into that, there are a couple of other tips I want to share with you. The first is to document everything. Keep a log or journal of the problem. Save relevant emails. Record dates, interactions, and details. This will give you clear points to take up with the person directly and also if you have to discuss the problem with a supervisor. My second tip is to let someone know that you’re experiencing a problem with someone – the person you tell could be a colleague or it could be your boss. Don’t whine and complain, and don’t ask for help. Just let the person know there’s an issue and you’re doing what you can to deal with it. Okay, next comes the hard part. What you need to do is confront the person who’s causing the problem. This is easier said than done, and you need to keep several things in mind when you do this to avoid making the problem worse or getting pulled into a pointless argument. Make sure you ask the person to talk in private. You can start with some very open-ended questions to try to get the person to open up about any issues they’re having. For example, you could say, “So, I’ve noticed that you seem stressed. Is everything okay?” What you may learn is that the person has a problem that is not related at all to work or to you. You can then kindly inform the person that the problem is affecting work and the people around him or her. The problem may also be related to work. You may find, for example, that the person feels his or her opinion or work is not valued. You can then attempt to address those problems. A little compassion can go a long way toward m...

The Skills 360 podcast is now available in iTunes: Free iTunes Subscription Free Resources: Quiz & Vocab | PDF Transcript Hello and welcome back to the Skills 360 podcast! I’m Tim Simmons, and I’m looking forward to an especially exciting year of podcasts. There’s lots of great stuff in the works for 2012, so stay tuned. Now, the New Year is a really important time for most people. For one thing, we use it as a time for setting goals. And if you want some help doing that, be sure to check out the Skills 360 podcast on ‘achieving your goals’. The New Year is also a time when we feel refreshed and optimistic about the future. It’s a brand new start, right? Well, unfortunately, that feeling is not shared by everyone. You might go to the office in the New Year with a smile on your face, but there are people who seem determined to wipe it off. I’m talking about problem people. Every office has them. They might be uncooperative, rude, confrontational, overly competitive, or just plain unpleasant. Whatever the case, they’re a pain in the butt to deal with. These problem people test our patience and push our buttons. But they don’t have to. You just need to stick to a few basic principles and you’ll have better success in dealing with these situations. Today I want to talk about how to deal with specific incidents with these difficult people. Maybe you’re in a meeting and someone is screaming and shouting at everyone and everything. Or maybe a grouchy colleague walks up to your desk and wants to start an argument. Or maybe someone on your project team is in a really bad mood. These are the kinds of incidents I’m talking about. So how do we deal with them? Firstly, try not to judge the person. Don’t assume you know what’s going on. The source of the person’s behavior might be completely unrelated to you or work. It might simply be coming out in your presence. The other thing you need to realize is that difficult people are often difficult because of insecurity or fear. For both of these reasons, reacting in ways that increase anxiety are going to be counterproductive. Instead, you need to find ways to decrease anxiety. This means, first and foremost, remaining cool, calm and collected. Stay rational rather than becoming emotional. Even if the person seems to be baiting you, try not to get involved in an argument. Take the high road and, even if the person is getting personal, don’t stoop to their level. In many cases, remaining calm and refusing to involve yourself in an argument can defuse the situation relatively quickly. So, if someone says to you “Hey Jack, your idea stinks. That would never work in a million years,” resist the temptation to strike back with, “Yeah, well your idea isn’t so hot either.” If the person persists, one technique you can use is to repeat back what he or she is saying. Like this: “So, you think my idea stinks and it would never work?” Or you can rephrase it, like this: “So, you think my idea is terrible and I don’t know what I’m talking about?” Just be careful not to infer too much. You might cause a bigger argument if you overinterpret what someone says. But if you repeat back the basic idea or words, sometimes people will realize what they’ve just said and how it must sound. Now, sometimes people cause problems because they don’t feel understood. A solution for that is very simple: listen.

The Skills 360 podcast is now available in iTunes: Free iTunes Subscription Free Resources: Quiz & Vocab | PDF Transcript Hello everyone, Tim here with another Skills 360 podcast. The end of 2011 is fast approaching, and it’s the season for performance reviews and end-of-year appraisals. Few people actually look forward to sitting down with their supervisor and talking about the past year. For most, it’s quite a nerve-wracking experience. But today I want to show you that if you’re prepared, there’s no reason to be shaking in your boots. First up, as you may have guessed if you’re a regular listener, is preparation. I really can’t overstate the importance of good preparation. A lot of people think that the performance review is something we just have to grin and bear every year. But that’s not really the case. If you are an active participant in your own review, it can be a golden opportunity. So take the bull by the horns, make sure you’re prepared, and walk into your review with confidence and a smile on your face. But how exactly should you prepare? Well, a good place to start is to look at the situation from your supervisor’s perspective. What is he or she looking for? What topics will likely be covered? What questions will you be asked? What are some of the things your supervisor probably doesn’t want to hear? Think about what you would do if you were the supervisor. Once you’ve given this some thought, you’ll be ready to focus on what really matters and put the trivial stuff to the side. What else should you think about? Well, remember that a performance review, or at least an effective one, evaluates you based on established goals and past points of comparison. So look back to your last performance review. What objectives did you and your supervisor set for yourself? What did you do well? In what areas was there room for improvement? You want to show that you’ve progressed as an employee and worked hard to be successful. To do that, you need to use that last review as a point of reference. Okay, I mentioned both the positive and the negative there, and that’s important. Performance reviews address both successes and failures. Let’s start with successes. Reflect on the past year. Browse through your reports, your calendar, and even your email just to jog your memory. As you do this, make a quick and dirty list of your greatest achievements. These could relate to how you found solutions to problems, how you made the company more money, or how you improved some aspect of the workplace. You need to emphasize achievements that relate directly to the past objectives you set as well as to your job description. But that’s not all. You really want to show how you went above and beyond the call of duty. Show your supervisor how you stepped outside the box and did something that was not expected of you. And whenever you can, put numbers to your achievements. What do you think sounds better: “I sold more paper,” or “I established five new major corporate accounts and increased my year over year sales by 34%”? Get the picture? Now, you have to be realistic, and you can’t overlook your failures and weaknesses. So think back on the year and make a list of instances when you could have done better. Remember that supervisors don’t expect perfection – well, some do – but they do want to see that you have identified your weaknesses and thought abou...

Free Resources: PDF Transcript | Quiz & Vocab Transcript Welcome back to the Skills 360 podcast. My name’s Tim, and today we’re going to look at some more tips and ideas for making the most of your personal learning. And FYI: listening to Skills 360 just got easier. Yes, this podcast now has its own channel on iTunes. If you don’t already subscribe, visit BEP or myBEonline for the free subscription links. Okay, so last week I talked about setting yourself up with a system of personal learning. Today, I’m going to be talking about maintaining your momentum and staying on track. All right. You’ve set some goals, found some resources, and come up with a plan for your personal learning. How are you going to stick to that plan? One of the greatest things you can do to maintain your momentum is to establish a routine. If you keep thinking that you’ll study if and when you get the time, or if you just try to fit in some listening practice every now and then when you get 20 minutes of free time, chances are you won’t achieve your goals. You’ll go nuts with frustration. You need to be regular. This usually means studying at the same time every day. Whether it’s on your commute, over your morning cup of joe, or part of your evening routine, doing it the same time every day will help make it a habit. It will become second nature, just like brushing your teeth. Part of your routine should include a regular review of what you’ve already done. There’s nothing worse than putting in the work to learn something and then forgetting it a short time later. In last week’s episode we talked about variety, which means the breadth of input. But you also need depth. So don’t forget to look back and reinforce what you’ve already studied. Now, remember in our last episode I talked about setting goals… SMART goals? Well, as you work toward those goals, you need to track or assess your progress. Are you actually coming closer to reaching your goals? Assessing your progress could involve breaking your goals down into stages. Reaching those stages means making progress. This could also mean keeping a careful record of what you do and what you can do. You will be able to look back through your record and see how far you’ve come. Another way to track yourself is to use our BuddyBucks system on mybeonline.com. What are BuddyBucks? Basically, they’re points that you earn for participating and learning. The more BuddyBucks you earn, the more progress you’re making. It’s a great way to see how much you’re getting done. But tracking your progress is not always enough to keep your learning on track. You might need to dangle a carrot in front of yourself. I’m talking about rewards, which are closely related to motivation. You have to feel like you’re getting something for your hard work. You can certainly set different kinds of rewards for yourself for achieving certain milestones or reaching certain goals. For short-term goals, it could be something as simple as a cup of coffee. For larger goals, it could be a movie or concert or even a weekend away. And this is another way that BuddyBucks might help give you a spark. When you earn enough BuddyBucks, you can cash them in for access to more Business English Pod resources. Or access to human resources... by that I mean teachers... which brings me to my next point.

Free Resources: PDF Transcript | Quiz & Vocab Transcript Hello everyone, Tim here with another Skills 360 podcast. Hope you had a fantastic summer and now you’re feeling refreshed and ready to get down to work. We’ve got a great lesson today on making the most of personal learning. And here’s some good news for everyone interested in personal learning: the Skills 360 podcast is now available as its own channel in iTunes. Just head over to the BEP or myBEonline websites for the free subscription links. Okay, now I mentioned personal learning. And I’m guessing that if you’re listening to this, you must be a pretty motivated learner. Am I right? You are keen to improve your language ability, your communication, and your overall business skills. And you’ve decided to tune in to a podcast to do those things. That’s great. But does it stop there? Is that all we have to do? No, not if you want to make good progress, so lets look at some ideas to make the most of your personal learning. Let’s start with goals. Now, I went on a lot about goals and how to achieve them in a previous episode of Skills 360 series. Anyone remember what makes a good goal? Well, in case you don’t recall, let me jog your memory: goals should be SMART. That’s S-M-A-R-T. And what do those letters stand for? S is for specific. M is for measurable. A is for attainable. R is for relevant. And T is for time-sensitive. So make your goals specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely. If you do, they’re SMART goals. Feel free to look up our previous episodes, if you want more on setting and achieving your goals. Now, your goals can be big or small. Whatever works for you. I mean, one of your goals could be to devote one hour every day to studying English. That’s pretty straightforward. Or your goal could be to develop your skills enough to attain a high score on an English test such as TOEIC or BULATS. Achieving a goal like that will most likely mean you will have to set many smaller goals (to achieve it). Great. Now your goals can be a part of something bigger, part of what we call a personal learning plan. To create a personal learning plan, you need to sit down and figure out what your strengths and weaknesses are, which skills you want to develop, how much time you have, how much money you can commit, and what exactly you want to accomplish. Then you can create your plan. This will help put some method behind what you’re doing. The word “personal” is very important. Your learning should suit you, your interests, your schedule, your abilities, and your SMART goals. There are gads of online tools that can help you do this. You can use bookmarking tools like Delicious, social networking tools like Google Plus, as well as YouTube and SlideShare. In fact, if you think about the online tools that you use for business, communication, and entertainment, these are probably all useful in building a personalized learning plan. If you want to take it up a notch, you can try the new “Course Builder” tool on mybeonline.com. All right, now one thing to keep in mind is variety. Variety in what? Variety in everything. You should be varying your type of input, the source of that input, and the difficulty of your input. Your type of input could include both reading and listening, as well as vocabulary work and grammar, if that’s up your alley. The source of your input could be radio, television, podcast, newspapers, and face-to-face interaction. And the difficulty could range from materials created specifically for language learners to those targeting native speakers. In a word, mix it up. Listen to some of my 360 shows, work on a couple of BEP podcasts,

Free Resources: PDF Transcript | Quiz & Vocab Transcript Hello and welcome back to the Skills 360 podcast. I’m Tim Simmons, and today we’re going to have a closer look at telephone skills. In particular, we’re going to talk about controlling the call and the flow of information. Communicating effectively on the phone is an essential skill. And whether you’re talking to a client, a colleague, a supplier, your boss, or a bicycle courier, you need to make sure your purpose and the information is clear. Last week, we focused on your telephone attitude. Today, we’ll look at ways you can make sure information is flowing smoothly and that you are guiding the conversation. Good telephone communication can actually begin before you pick up the phone, with a bit of preparation. Grab a piece of paper and jot down your key questions or issues that you need to resolve. Put them in a logical order so that you’re not just jumping from topic to topic. The less you have to rely on your memory, the better. Nothing’s worse than hanging up and realizing that you didn’t get everything you need. People are busy, and it’s best to handle things with one call rather than two, or three. So, if you’ve got a clear purpose for your call, then you can start working down your list. And that paper and pen should be handy for taking notes as you’re talking. Okay, you’ve managed to get ahold of the person you want to talk to, you’ve got the right attitude, and you’re dealing with information. Now you need to make sure everything is clear and that you’ve understood what the other person is saying. To do that, you need to confirm information. You can do this in a couple of ways. First off, you can repeat information back to the other person. So, if someone says “I can meet you at 4:30,” you can say “Right. 4:30.” You can also do this by asking for confirmation and restating the information in different words. So, if someone says “It’s pretty unlikely that the delivery is going to make it there on time,” you can say “Do you mean that our delivery is going to be late?” And when you do this, it’s best to restate things in the simplest and easiest language possible. Just to avoid any confusion. Another thing you need to do with information is give feedback about it. In other words, tell the other person clearly what you think about what he or she has just said. “I can meet you at 4:30” could be followed by “4:30 is a great time for me.” Or “The delivery is going to be late” could be followed by “I understand and I’ll let everyone else here know.” After you confirm the important points and give feedback, you can move on to another question. Remember, the person who is asking the questions is in control. By asking questions, you can direct the conversation to the topics you want. Sometimes when you ask questions, it’s a good idea to limit options rather than leaving things open-ended. Think about the difference between these two questions: “What day is good for you?” and “How about Tuesday or Wednesday morning?” Which is easier to answer? Which will reduce the amount of discussion involved? That’s right, the second one. Tuesday or Wednesday. Whenever possible, limit the number of options to two. If neither option is acceptable, give another two. In some cases, you won’t be able to reach the person you want to talk with and you’ll have to leave a message. Don’t forget to leave a complete message. That includes your name, your company, your purpose, and your number. Leaving out any of those pieces of information will reduce th...

Free Resources: PDF Transcript | Quiz & Vocab Transcript Hello and welcome back to the Skills 360 podcast. I’m Tim Simmons and I’m glad you could join me. Today we’re going to take a look at an activity you do every day: talking on the telephone. Telephones don’t stay at the office anymore. We carry them around in our pockets. We use them when we’re commuting, when we’re out for lunch, when we’re working on the computer, and even when we’re supposed to be talking to someone else face-to-face. They’re always on. And that means we have to be ‘on’ too. Being ‘on’ means having the right attitude. The right attitude starts with promptness. When you hear that ring, don’t delay. Grab it before the third ring so the caller knows he’s important. And when you answer, be sure to smile. You might be thinking that a smile is unnecessary because the other person can’t actually see you. But in this case, smiling is about more than just turning up the corners of your mouth. Smiling is an attitude. It means having a voice that is pleasant and enthusiastic. That voice helps create a connection with the other person and open the door to good communication. And keeping a smile on your voice is something you should do when you initiate the call as well. It’s not just the job of the person receiving the call. Okay, you’re smiling, but what should you say? If you’re answering the phone, you can always fall back on the standard four-part greeting: you need to greet, to identify yourself – and your company – and to offer help. That goes something like this: “Good afternoon. This is Jim at Kepler Marketing. How can I help you?” Even if you know who’s calling, you should still keep this same format, even if you present it a bit more informally. For example, you might say “Hi, this is Jim. What can I do for you?” Want more information and practice on this kind of thing? Look up BEP 69A, which is all about answering the telephone. Now, if you’re the caller, you will follow a similar blueprint. But instead of greeting, identification, and offer, you’ll have a greeting, identification, and request. That could go something like this: “Good morning. This is Fred Collins with WebStar. I’d like to speak with Mr. Tony Flair.” Again, if you’re calling someone you’re familiar with, you’ll still follow the same pattern. For example: “Hi Sue. Fred with Webstar here. Could you put me through to Tony?” Great. You’ve started the call out with the right attitude. Now keep it up throughout the call. How you communicate is just as important as what you communicate. Remember to speak slowly and clearly. The less people have to ask you to repeat yourself, the better. Surely you’ve seen a person in the street with a mobile phone at one ear and a finger plugging the other, saying “pardon?” and straining to hear what the other person is saying. Let’s try and avoid that. That also means choosing clear words. Say “yes” instead of mumbling “uh-huh.” And “I understand” instead of “got it.” Another important tip is to stay focused on the call and the other person. If you’re trying to do several things at once, the chances of miscommunication shoot up. And it’s usually pretty obvious to others when you’re trying to order a sandwich at the same time as talking to them. Give the other person all the courtesy you would if you were dealing with him face-to-face. That includes being patient. Let the other person take the time he needs to talk. In return, you should receive patience and the time to talk as well. The same goes for common manners.

Free Resources: PDF Transcript | Quiz & Vocab | Game Transcript Hello and welcome back to Business Skills 360. I’m Tim Simmons, and I’m glad you could join me today for more tips and techniques for selling your ideas. Now, you know your ideas are good, but how do others? You need to make them think or even just feel that they are good. Last week, we looked at some techniques you can use. In this show, we’ll look at attitudes that you can adopt. This isn’t exactly about what you say, it’s about how you say it and the feelings or impressions your delivery creates. The first attitude is positivity. People naturally gravitate to positive people and tend to avoid negative people. So, make a habit of doing simple things like saying hello to people in the hall and at the water cooler. Keep discussions upbeat. Show excitement about your ideas and keep smiling. There’s a lot of power in a smile, and you should use yours to cultivate an atmosphere of positivity and warmth. People will be drawn to you, and, as a result, to your ideas. Another attitude that will bring people on board with your idea is empathy. This is about showing people that you understand how they feel. Not just that you know what they’re talking about, but that you have felt it too. If that person is feeling frustrated by red tape, describe an experience in which you also felt frustrated by red tape. They will feel you’re on the same side. Show people that you get it, and they’ll be more likely to believe and follow you. Empathy creates a feeling of inclusion, or belonging. And there are other ways of doing this. Have a welcoming attitude. Your great idea is more than just an idea. It’s an idea plus all of the people who believe in it. In this sense, your idea has its own little club, and everyone who believes in it belongs to that club. So talk about “we” rather than “I” and make people feel like accepting your idea admits them to a group. People want inclusion and fellowship. You can make them feel this with a welcoming attitude. Okay, now there are other tacks you can take when you’re trying to sell someone on your ideas. One of them is shock and disbelief. This is a very useful tool for making people feel that another idea, maybe one that disagrees with yours, is useless or absurd. It goes something like this: “Did you hear what the consultant said? He actually thinks we should spend more on marketing. My jaw dropped when I heard that.” People who might have thought the idea was good will have doubts. After all, if you think the idea is crazy, then other people probably do too. One more attitude or impression is something called the “last resort.” The last resort is the only option. It may not be a perfect option, but it’s the only one remaining. Your idea might actually be one of many, but if you talk about it as though it’s the only one left, people will stop considering other ideas. “Well, we’ve looked at all the alternatives and none of them are up to scratch,” then you can hit them with the punchline, “So I guess we really don’t have any other choice…” You see how this works? People will get the impression that all the other options have been explored already. So, remember that bringing people on side doesn’t just mean giving them reasons to believe you. It also means adopting certain attitudes to create an emotional response. That’s all for today. If you’d like to test yourself on what we’ve just covered, have a look at the myBEonline.com website.

Free Resources: PDF Transcript | Quiz & Vocab | Game Transcript Hello and welcome back to the Business Skills 360 podcast. I’m Tim Simmons and today we’re going to take a look at how to ‘sell’ your ideas. You may be full of great ideas, but exactly how do you get people to buy into them? How do you get people on board with your brilliant plans? Well, today I want to share a few tools and techniques that will help you do just that. These tools and techniques have two important effects: they build connections and they build credibility. The connections can be between you and your listeners, but they can also be between your listeners and your idea. Those connections will generate buy-in. And that credibility can be your credibility and your idea’s credibility. You, and your idea, have to be believable and trustworthy. Okay, let’s start simple. One of the most basic yet powerful tools you can use is a person’s name. People love to hear their own name repeated in conversation. It makes them feel important. It tells them that you care about them as individuals. This creates a strong personal connection between you and your listeners, which makes them more receptive to your ideas. So instead of telling me, “I think you should do a presentation on your project,” tell me this: “Tim, I think you should do a presentation on your project.” The effect is subtle, but strong. Great. Now, let’s talk about what you do with your idea. You need to help people connect to that idea, to understand it, and to see how great it is. Making comparisons can help do that. People love to compare things, situations, points in time, people… We do it naturally, it’s how we organize our world and how we evaluate things. So show people the difference between your idea and others. Show them exactly how your idea will make a difference. It’s like the before and after pictures in an ad for a weight loss product. It’s clear and persuasive, and people will be able to connect better with your idea. Now, why should people believe you? Well, you and your ideas need credibility. You need to demonstrate that you’ve thought your ideas through, and that there is good reason to believe in them. To demonstrate that, you need to give evidence and provide concessions. Evidence is basically proof that your idea is a good one. Don’t assume others might agree with you just because you’re a fun colleague or a hard worker. Tell them why you believe what you do, and if the reasons are strong enough, they’ll believe it too. Keep the evidence real. Show them examples that they can relate to, ideas that improve that connection between them and your idea. And then there’s concession. Giving concessions means actually mentioning evidence or ideas that go against what you’re trying to say. Don’t talk about this too much, but show that you realize things aren’t black and white, that nothing is perfect. It improves your credibility. Just think about the last time you heard someone refuse to admit any kind of criticism of their idea. That person didn’t sound too reasonable, did they? Now, there’s another reason to mention ideas that go against yours: to knock them down. You set them up, then you knock them down. You have to anticipate the criticism or the arguments against your idea. Then you acknowledge them. You say exactly what they are. And then you say why they don’t make sense or should be ignored. In this way, you are taking and destroying weapons against your idea. It’s a preemptive strike, so to speak. So remember, your ideas are only truly great if you can sell them to othe...

Free Resources: PDF Transcript | Quiz Hi! It’s Tim Simmons here with another edition of Business Skills 360. I’ve been listening to the current series on handling a crisis, and I just wanted to jump in with a couple of important points on the language we use in a crisis. We’ve heard some folks dealing with a pretty serious crisis: an accident at a factory. And maybe you’ve noticed how some of the people are quite careful about the words they use. Careful is important. You see, a crisis is a sensitive situation. Emotions are running high and people are on edge. There is the potential for conflict if you do or say the wrong thing. At the same time, the clock is ticking and you may not have time to manage everyone’s feelings. For these reasons, you have a very fine balancing act between being diplomatic and being direct. What do we mean by being "diplomatic?" Well, diplomatic language is polite and careful. We use it so people don’t feel offended or get upset. Let’s see how this works in practice. Imagine you need to tell your boss about a bad accident. Do you say “There’s been a bad accident?” You could say this, but it’s probably too direct. To cushion the blow, you could say something like “It seems that there’s been quite a bad accident.” How is this more diplomatic? Well, it starts with “It seems...” That’s an indirect way of introducing something. “Perhaps” and “maybe” are other common ways to do this. Or you can use “apparently,” like this: “Apparently there’s been quite a bad accident.” Now, the other thing you heard there is “quite,” as in “quite a bad accident.” That’s a minimizing expression. It makes the situation sound not as bad as it really is. We do this when we say things like “this problem is rather urgent” and “we have a slight problem.” Just by adding words such as “quite,” “rather,” “slight,” “a little,” and “a bit,” we can be more diplomatic. Okay, another way to be diplomatic is by using questions. Imagine you think someone made a lousy decision. You could say “You made a lousy decision.” But chances are that person is going to react negatively, so you should be diplomatic. In this case, you can use a question, like “Are we sure this is the right thing to do?” Or maybe you think someone is trying to decide on a course of action too quickly. You could say “Wouldn’t it be better to talk about this a bit more?” Questions, especially ones starting with “would” and “wouldn’t,” are more diplomatic than direct statements. Okay, but do we want to be diplomatic all the time? Definitely not. Diplomatic language can be rather indirect. And for that reason, people might not understand just how serious we are. Sometimes we need to convey a sense of urgency or give very clear instructions. In these situations, we need to be direct. Imagine you’re having a head-to-head with an employee after a big accident, and you don’t want him to talk to the media. You could be diplomatic and say “It might not be a good idea to talk to the media.” But that’s not strong enough. In this case, you should be direct and say, “Don’t talk to the media.” This is what we call an imperative, which is a sentence with no subject. We use them for commands, like “Fix the problem” or “Tell me what happened.” Imperatives are direct, not diplomatic, which is exactly what you need here. Direct language is also essential when you’re giving instructions, which need to be clear, especially in a crisis. Imagine you want an employee to inspect some machinery, repair any problems, and then file a report. Do you start with “Maybe we should have a little look at that machinery”? Is that clear? That sounds like you’re thinking out loud.

Free Resources: PDF Transcript | Quiz Transcript Hello and welcome back to Business Skills 360. I’m Tim Simmons, and I’m glad you could join me today for the second part in our series on effective English presentations. Last week, we talked about keeping it short, simple, engaging, and real. Much of that happens in the preparation. Today, we’re going to talk about what happens when you stand up in front of that audience and have to start speaking. Take a deep breath... Your first goal should be to make a connection with each and every listener. That connection is the pathway along which your message travels. If you have a good connection, there’s a good chance your message will sink in. To make this connection, you have to do two things: you need to control the audience’s attention and you need to engage their minds. Remember that: control and engage. And to do these two things, you have three tools: your voice, your props such as PowerPoint – and your body or movement. Let’s start with your voice. It needs to be confident and clear. Show everyone that you know your stuff. Speak slowly and steadily. And remember that silence can be your friend. You need to pause sometimes to give people a chance to think. If you fill every space with your voice, you might start to get on people’s nerves, and the words won’t carry any power. Try very hard not to use “ums” and “ahs” when you’re thinking. Think silently, choose your words carefully, and deliver them confidently. Otherwise, people will tune you out. When you speak, you should invite people into your presentation by asking for input. That means using questions. Ask easy ones so that people don’t have to think too much. Some of your questions can be open, to the entire audience. Some of them can be directed at specific people. Don’t move on until you get an answer. As soon as people start contributing by answering questions, their engagement goes up. They feel like they are participants, not just listeners. The next tools are your props and visual aids. That could mean PowerPoint slides. But it could also mean a whiteboard, a flipchart, a wall chart, or anything else that people look at that is not you but is part of your presentation. The most important thing is that you use these aids. Don’t just let people look at the slides. The slides should help you illustrate your points. Don’t put up a graph and not explain it. It should be worked into your presentation. These aids are useful, not just for giving information, but for keeping attention moving. Humans – and not just children – have short attention spans. They can’t concentrate on one thing for long. So you have to work with that, and take their attention somewhere else before it wanders somewhere else. Move people’s attention back and forth between you, your aids, other listeners, a handheld prop, back to you... and so on. Now, your body, and what you do with it, is also important. I’m talking about body language and movement. Let’s start up top with the face. Firstly, make eye contact. Don’t just quickly scan the faces in the room. Look directly at an individual when you’re making an important point. That person will respond with his or her attention, and the connection will last. That person’s engagement in your presentation will shoot up. Try to do this with every individual in the room at some point. Okay... your face also includes your mouth. And what are you going to do with that? You’re going to smile. Sure, you’ve heard it before, but it’s easy to forget once you get nervous. The smile is universal.

Free Resources: PDF Transcript | Quiz Transcript Hello, I’m Tim Simmons and you’re listening to Business Skills 360. We’re going to kick off the New Year with an insanely great show on presentations. But first, I want to wish you all an awesome 2011. Hopefully the coming year is unbelievably wonderful for you. I know it will be for me. Now, let’s get to all that awesomeness... Okay. Forget everything I just said. I’m not Steve Jobs, and I don’t have a shiny “new” gizmo to show you. If I keep using words like “awesome,” you’re going to get sick of me really fast. You might have heard that Steve Jobs gives great presentations. Well, he can wow a crowd of people who already love Apple, but should we really try to copy him? His style and his adjectives don’t really work when English is not your first language. And they fall flat when you are an HR manager presenting a new compensation plan, or an engineer reporting change orders on a big project. So exactly how can you make an impact? How can you tighten up your presentation so that it connects to your audience? I’m sure all of you have heard of the mnemonic device KISS – short for “Keep it Short and Simple”. This is excellent advice for all types of business communication, and I completely agree with it. But KISS misses a couple of key points that you also need to consider so I’ve added these and now like to use KISSER- which stands for “Keep it Short, Simple, Engaging and Real.” Let’s look at the first term: “short.” Many bad presentations have too much repetition or unnecessary information. People want what is important and relevant, and that’s what you should give them. Try this: after you prepare your presentation, go through and cut out 30%. You should be able to do that without damaging your central message. What remains will have much more impact because it’s not surrounded by fluff. This applies to PowerPoint slides, charts, and diagrams as well. As a general rule, try to limit slides to one per minute. And if your boss gives you ten minutes to speak, make sure you can do it in just five. Next is “simple.” Simple means organized and clear. Start with the purpose of your presentation, which you should be able to summarize in one sentence. Something like: “make people understand that expenses are too high.” From that purpose, organize your ideas into three or four points. If you want, you can frame these points as questions, like this: “What expenses can we reduce? What expenses can we eliminate? And what are the long-term savings?” And tell your audience what the outline is at the start. If your questions are good ones, they’ll want to figure out the answers. “Simple” also applies to your language and visuals. Don’t try to impress people with technical lingo. It won’t work. And keep PowerPoint slides simple. No confusing charts or graphs. Only the essential information, in simple form. The text on your slides should not be too hard to see, no smaller than a 30-point font. This will force you to keep the text simple. I promise you, people will appreciate that. Okay, now we come to “engaging.” You need to catch and hold people’s attention. You want them to be interested. And how do we do that? In terms of what you say, there are a lot of great techniques that we’ll cover in our upcoming podcast series on impact presentations. They include repetition, rhetorical questions, metaphors, and visualizing facts and figures. One thing that is not engaging is information overload. Don’t overwhelm your audience. Use pictures and other visual aids to illustrate your points. If you’re doing a PowerPoint, don’t put two “informational” slides right after each other. Mix it up.