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HOME » NEWSLETTER & ARTICLES » NEWSLETTERS & ARTICLES ARCHIVE » New Communication Workshop from STAR
New Communication Workshop from STAR
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Bill McCormick
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"What we have here is a failure to communicate."
- from the movie Cool Hand Luke
NEW WORKSHOP FROM STAR
With the start of the new business year, Sales Training And Results, Inc. (STAR) is pleased to announce that we are introducing a new workshop titled Communication Skills. The purpose of the new workshop is to improve your ability to communicate in person, over the phone, and via email.
Because email has become a preferred way to communicate in the business world, the new workshop teaches many practical tips about how to write and use email more effectively, as well as to provide some advice about when email is not appropriate. This month’s newsletter will focus on some advice about writing and using email. This newsletter is the first of a 3-part series on communication skills and next month's newsletter will highlight some other skills from the new workshop.
USING EMAIL EFFECTIVELY
Our new workshop spends a little time on some basics about email, but focuses primarily on some advanced techniques that are often overlooked when writing and replying to email. This newsletter will highlight three suggestions:
1. Email tone can be tricky. Because email doesn’t allow the sender or recipient to pick up on verbal and non-verbal cues, the overall tone of an email is often interpreted incorrectly. One way to avoid misunderstanding is to use the most appropriate communication style when writing your email. We teach in the workshop 4 distinct communication styles, and how to select the most appropriate style for each email.
For example, some email should purposely be written in a factual and persuading way, whereas other email messages need to be more collaborative and relationship-oriented. It sounds obvious to say this, but most people overlook this point and tend to write the same type of email to everyone.
2. The purpose and desired action of the email must be clear. A clear purpose helps you select the best communication style as the writer of the email. Just as importantly, have you clearly communicated the desired action that you wish the recipient to take? One of the most common frustrations about email is that the recipient either doesn’t respond at all or overlooks the action that you wanted him or her to take. Be clear about the desired action, and make sure that you highlight the action step early in the email.
3. Email is not the best communication method for every situation. Another common mistake is to rely on email when telephone or face-to-face communication should be used instead. Here are some common business situations when email should NOT be used:
- When you are negotiating with the other person
- When you need to ask a lot of questions to the other person
- When the situation is emotionally charged or likely to become emotional
- When you want to ensure that the message will remain confidential (keep in mind that no email is private)
WHERE DO YOU GO FROM HERE
Visit our website to learn more about our new Communication Skills Workshop for your team. We also offer 1-on-1 coaching if you are interested in improving your personal ability to communicate more effectively.
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