The ability to conduct business negotiations, correspondence, and communicate correctly with clients are irreplaceable skills for any specialist (even if you seldom interact with other people in your work) and an entrepreneur. Our article is about how to become more confident in communication and solve your business issues with it. Here is a list of the basic communication skills that everyone should have:
1. Ability to listen and hear an interlocutor.
This is perhaps the most important one among communication skills. The thing is that very often when an enthusiastic person begins to talk about some question he or she is engaged in, this person becomes so involved that does not hear an interlocutor, who is not even interested in presented information. And this person is not at all inclined to listen to you and dismisses you as if you are an annoying insect, saying that your speech is not interesting at all. Remember the following: in no case, you can offer something without knowing what a person needs.
2. Ability to concentrate on the conversation.
Now there are quite a few communication tools – various messengers, mail, etc., and besides, other sources of information can be distracting. One of the most important communication skills is the ability to concentrate on the conversation. Do you want to conduct a conversation if your interlocutor is busy with some other things? Probably no. One should not simultaneously talk with a person on Skype, at the same time check an e-mail, correspond with others, and so on. In this case, you risk losing your interlocutor.
3. Make a comfortable appearance and correct facial expression.
A strained expression is not something that will help in business communication. Of course, your facial expression should not be false; your smile should be natural. It naturally arises when a person begins to behave at ease. Smile even if you are talking on the phone.
4. Overcome your fears.
It is very important. To develop in business, you must have a very high motivation, which gives you an internal strength, so you can smile, be persuasive, joke and behave as required, even in case you have many cares, lots of different things to be done, and in general, sometimes something goes wrong. This is also why business is not for all people, but for those who want to win against their weaknesses. Fear is a barrier to success, so the ability to overcome fear is very important. Fear of encirclement, fear of ridicule, fear of encountering misunderstanding and negativity. How to deal with this? You just need to do what you're afraid to do. It is important to control your thoughts because many people do not even realize that they are afraid of something. Instead, they come up with thousands of objective reasons not to do so. As soon as you realize that the real reason for not wanting to do anything is your fear, just go for it.
Overcome your fear! This will not bring you any material benefit at first, but you will defeat your main enemy. Go to meet your fear. If you run away from it, it will overtake you and crush you.
5. Control your body and appearance.
In business communication, your body, your gestures, and appearance are just as important as speech itself. Watch yourself – how you look, what poses you take. You should be able to talk to a person like this in order to set it up in a positive way so that he or she can relax and perceive your information.
6. Know the topic you are talking about.
While conducting business communication, one should know the subject of conversation well. Knowledge gives us confidence. Remember your feelings when in your school years you were answering teacher’s question and did not give a correct answer. Excitement, hitching, stress ... the same thing is in business negotiations. At any time, your interlocutor can ask a question, and you may not know the answer to it. And then your ignorance will return you to fear, self-doubt, which itself is fatal, and, also, this shows the person that you are incompetent in the matter that you want to offer.
7. Ability to communicate on one level.
The main drawback of people who know something well is that they start talking in such a manner that is incomprehensible to other people, using unknown terms. Hosting, domain, matrix, bonus, debit – these words come thick and fast, and that can cause irritation. You should definitely understand your interlocutor, to take his/her place. In addition, you should be able to stay at the same level or even lower morally and psychologically. Do not allow to prevail over your interlocutor and others. Try to be on the same level, and, in addition, know when enough is enough, do not overdo trying to do your best.
Communication skills are so-called soft skills, and therefore everybody must have them, that is why the demand for communication skills courses is constantly growing. If you don’t want to improve your communication skills on your own, we are glad to help you. Advanced Business Communications Skills course from the Atton Institute is an ultimate solution for mastering your communication skills.