Regardless of whether you are making a presentation to your board, to a group of prospects, talking to a friend or a co-worker, effective communication skills are essential for optimum results. Effective communication skills is even more important in the business arena, as a misunderstanding and assumptions between a prospect and a sales person could mean millions of dollars in lost revenue. Effective communication skills are vital to be a leader, to solve problems or to make decisions in an organization.

According to Webster dictionary, communication is "the act of transmitting, the exchange of information or opinion". The key word here is exchange! What that means is that both parties are engaged in a two way dialogue or exchange of information. It is not one way. Both parties are engaged in active listening, talking and exchanging information via verbal, nonverbal or written actions. Today, I will be focusing my attention on verbal communication, which makes up the majority of communication within any organization. I will be talking about communication in e-mails, letters and text messages in a later article. Effective verbal communication skills means that you are transmission your message clearly to the listener without any misunderstanding. It is the act of sending and receiving these messages as clearly as possible. It is both talking and listening actively. So in essence, it means that the person sending the message and the one receiving the message must be actively involved in the process. If only one is involved in the communication process, then it can result in costly errors. In fact, effective communication means that both the sender and the receiver of the information understand the same information.

It is essential, especially for people in sales and marketing, to have complete control over what they say and what they think they heard in any business situation. As sales people, we tend to talk more than we listen and this can be detrimental in the long run. You may find yourself losing sales or even important contracts, because of the fact that you were talking when you should be listening. This is not easy for sales people, because we are trained to talk about our product features and benefits, while the prospect listens. It should be the other way around. You should be talking only 30% of the time, while the prospect talks and tells you all about his/her business challenges and how you can help them.

Have you delivered a message to someone who totally misunderstood you? Or have you ever been in a meeting where one individual dominates the meeting constantly by talking most of the time? This person doesn't give anyone else a chance to talk and he pays no attention to what anyone else is saying. He may be listening, but not hearing what is being said. This is where misunderstanding can occur, and the consequences can be detrimental to some or all, without malice.

Being able to communicate effectively is crucial if you want to build a successful business career. It is not just about talking with a deep tenor voice, but being able to articulate your thoughts, ideas and opinion clearly, so that everyone listening understands what is being said. To do this, you must understand your message, your audience, and how the message will be perceived. You must also understand the conditions surrounding your communications, such as situational and cultural context.

Here are a few things that I would consider when communicating in a business setting.

Use questions and restatements: Use probing questions to seek clarification, particularly when the consequences are significant, is a skill that we all should develop. Questions when used correctly can help you avoid jumping to conclusions and can be an effective way of making sure that your message is understood and that you understand what was said.

Show an interest: Show an active interest in what the person is saying and avoid thinking about what you are going to do that night or what you should have done earlier that day. When you show interest in what is being said, you are less likely to misunderstand what was said.

Listen more than you speak: I often wondered why humans have two ears and one mouth! It is because we should be listening twice as much as we talk. I am only kidding! But, if we get serious for a moment and apply this principle, we are less likely to fall into the ASSUME trap. You all know what that means, so I don't need to spell it out.

Everyone communicates. At home, school or even at the office. Understanding the elements of the communication process helps to improve the results of our communication. So the next time you are engaged in a dialogue, sending an e-mail, texting, writing a letter, make sure that you are clear as to what message you want the other person to receive. If you don't, you may spend an inordinate amount of time explaining what you wanted to say in the first place.

Keith Gooden is a business consultant, who works with small to medium size businesses and focuses in the areas of sales, marketing, strategic planning, customer service, personnel management and business operations. He can be reached at (407) 446-2419 or kgooden@carusaconsulting.com

I read an article a while back in one of Florida's main business magazines about a very large company that went through a multimillion dollar embezzlement scheme by a couple of mid-managers and a senior-level manager. The embezzlement scheme would have worked had it not been for the company voluntarily complying with the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which the federal government passed in response to some high profile corporate accounting scandals, such as Enron, Tyco and WorldCom. Although only public companies need to comply with the act, this private company saw it necessary to put into operation, among other things, a corporate audit committee and an internal audit personnel. But let's go back to the embezzlement scheme for a moment. The scheme was so amateurish and low tech (using corrective fluid to change what would have been thousands of dollars into hundreds) that I thought to myself, what were they thinking? Between these individuals, they bought sports cars, Rolex watches, new homes and even gave some of the company's money away. In short, these individuals lacked honesty, integrity (we will address this topic in the future) and failed to carry out their fiduciary responsibilities. But what really struck me was the way in which the senior level management addressed the problem once the scheme was busted. They brought in internal and external auditors, lawyers, government officials and other representatives to ensure that the investigative process was transparent. This is what leadership is all about! Never denying that things will go wrong or have gone wrong, but also taking the responsibility and appropriate actions to make sure that the same thing does not happen again.

I mention the above example for the reason that this company is now stronger, closer and better prepared than ever before, because of the strong leadership that was displayed during this crisis. When you lead you take responsibility, when you manage, you say it was someone else's fault. Some people might even argue that leaders are born, while others may counter with the fact that the environment has more to do with their development than their genes. I have not seen any evidence to support the idea that people are born with leadership skills or traits. What I have read and seen is that people can learn these skills just as if they were learning to ride a bicycle. It takes repetition to get it right. I remember one of my favorite writers, Steven Covey, who said in his book entitled Principle-Centered Leadership (this is a must read for everyone who is leading people) that "Ethics is ultimately grounded in a commitment to doing right things". The fact is that when you are a true leader, you demonstrate a high level of ethics, which goes along with how your peers and subordinates respond to you and trust what you ask of them. How do you expect people to respond and follow you if you are not demonstrating consistency in your behavior? Do you manage people or do you lead them? Do you know what you stand for or are you influenced by what is popular at the moment? Do you have what it takes to lead?

Here are a few things to keep in mind when leading a team or organization.

Have your people believe in you
As a leader you must be able to have your people believe in you. This starts with having consistency in everything you say and do. Your life must be a reflection of who you are inside and out. When you are away from the work environment, you should exhibit the same behavior as when you are at work. If not, people will start to see through the pretense and not trust you. Having people believe in you is the beginning of great things happening to you, your people and the organization.

Provide them with proper training
As a leader you must properly and honestly assess the skill level of your subordinates, and provide them with the proper training. Once you recognize their weaknesses, you will be able to help them reach and surpass their potential. You should also provide them with a platform to demonstrate their skills to others in the organization.

Inspire them with your passion
Leaders who consistently outperform their peers are those who have a passion for what they do. They are committed to their success, as well as the success of their subordinates. They exhibit confidence in what they do and they take the intelligent risks to get the job done. They inspire others to do their best and for them to show the same attention to their people.

Get to know your people well
Once a leader knows his/her people well he will be able to lead them better. He will know what motivate them (see #6) and what will keep him/her from not reaching their goals. You will be able to better understand them when certain situation arises.

Give them praise
Everybody wants to receive some form of recognition, no matter how small it may be. We all want to feel appreciated from time to time and getting this kind of feedback from your supervisor will motivate your subordinate to want to do well. Getting a pat on the back will always help to keep motivation high.

Know what motivate them individually
As I mentioned above in #4, it is important to get to know your people well. Once that is done, you will find the right button to push to motivate them. Some people are motivated by money, while others don't mind receiving recognition in front of their peers. Knowing what motivates them individually, you will be able to have them reach and surpass their objectives and goals.

Ask the right questions
When you as a leader ask the right questions of your subordinate, you will get them to start thinking and analyzing things differently. They will now be motivated to review areas of their project/plan that they may not have thought about before. Your questions should not be intimidating, but rather they should be probing. A skilled leader will always ask the probing questions to get a realistic assessment of any situation. By asking questions, you are engaging in open communication.

Leadership starts with an individual and when you have the wrong person in a leadership role, the whole organization could be affected negatively. It affects productivity, morale and can even change the culture of the organization over time.

Keith Gooden is a business consultant, who works with small to medium size businesses and focuses in the areas of sales, marketing, strategic planning, customer service, personnel management and business operations. He can be reached at (407) 446-2419 or kgooden@carusaconsulting.com

In today's competitive and uncertain business environment, it is imperative that everyone in each company assume some sales responsibility. I know that many of you who are reading this article might be saying that "I am not a salesperson", "I can't sell anything", and therefore look upon this statement as being trivial. This is far from being trivial or unimportant, as I will explain to you in a moment.

Years ago when sales people use to be able to call on an account and say, "How much of this product do you want?" or "I am going to send you 2 cases or 5 cases of this product" and the owner/manager just go ahead and approve the order without much dialogue or conversation, cannot happen anymore. Since more and more managers/buyers are more sophisticated, along with the fact that consumers are more educated and discerning, it will take much more than a smile and nice personality to sell your product (not that these are not good qualities to have as salespeople). It takes persistence, knowledge about the customer's need, what are their pains, who make the buying decision, what is the decision-making process, and do they have a reason to purchase your goods or service. In other words, will your product or service be satifying a need that is not being fulfilled presently.

The reason why it is important that everyone in your company sells is as important as developing leaders at all levels of the organization. Now, what I am advocating is not that everyone should be visiting customers and making all kinds of sales presentation when that is not what they are trained to do on a daily basis. What I am saying is that everyone that works for a company is a representative on that company and therefore must tell everyone they meet about that company and their products or services in every opportunity. That does not take away from those people who are hired in the company to sell. That is their job and they should increase the activity during these difficult economic times, not slow down. Why? During difficult economic times, it is easier to make a sale because most people who should be out there selling, is actually doing something else. They tend to shift their attention away from selling and that gives opportunity to those who are focused and motivated to grab that chance to make a sale.

Those who are not in the sales department must have a 30 second script as to who they are, what their company does and how they have helped other companies in that specific business sector. Here is an example of a 30 second script for non-sales person. "My name is John Class and I work for ABC Technical Company that is located in Anyway, Florida. My company works with business by providing them with technical solutions that starts from computer software, hardware and networking capabilities. We go in to each company and work with the technical staff and develop a plan that is designed and implemented by both company's technicians. We have been rated #1 in our business over the last five years, with a satisfaction rating of 95%, which is one of the highest in the sector. If you want additional information, I would be willing to give you a call to discuss how ABC Technical can be of help to you". The same thing must happen for each sales person that works in your company. They must also have their 30 second sales pitch that is committed to memory and should be given to everyone that comes within three feet of them.

Because no company is immune to slumping sales during hard economical times, it is imperative that sales people are motivated to increase their activity and change their negative attitude to positive. It is during these hard times that those who are good and have the proper attitude succeed. Here are a few things to focus on that can help you and your sales people during these hard times.

Change your attitude – This is not surprising, because the more the economic situation gets worse, the more we feel that it will be harder to make a living selling. We feel that more people will say no during economical downturn compared to good economical times. That is far from the truth.

Clarify all objections – It is natural that most prospects come up with several objections before making a buying decision. Most prospects use objections, "too expensive", "I don't have any time", "I have tried it before and it don't work", etc. as smokescreens. We must clarify these excuses in order to get down to the real reason why they are not buying. During this phase, you can say to your prospect "tell me more", "Is there anything else?" or "Which one of those things are the most important to you?" Probe deeper to get to the real reason that is stopping them from making a decision.

Expand your market – In a previous article I spoke about defining your market. Well, when you are faced with critical decisions in these hard economical times, it is better to look at expanding your market beyond what you usually service. That would mean making an external analysis of where you would be able to sell your goods or service without much additional cost. If you can get a fair return on your investment, then you should pursue that other market.

Provide Incentives – Not only should you provide an incentive to your sales people, you should also think of ways to provide incentives to your customer. This can be in the form of discounts, rebates or additional products on volume sales.

Deliver more than is expected – During difficult times people are expecting to get value for their money. If your company can deliver value to customers, you will be able to sustain business during difficult times.

Because we all know that in difficult economic times people are more reluctant to spend their money, sales people have to be creative and think outside the box to survive. This is what they do day in and day out, so they should not be scared by what the media is saying about the economy. Instead during these hard times, sales people should change their attitude, adjust their strategy and stay out of the office. Somebody, somewhere needs their product or service and they would be missing out if you thought that no one would want to buy their product or service. So, get up, get out and start selling in these difficult times.

Keith Gooden is a business consultant, who works with small to medium size businesses and focuses in the areas of sales, marketing, strategic planning, customer service, personnel management and business operations. He can be reached at (407) 446-2419 or kgooden@carusaconsulting.com

Since the introduction of the internet, a large number of companies have had the distinct opportunity of expanding their market and customer base without spending a lot of money. The internet or world-wide-web (www) has changed the way many companies do business today and it will certainly play an even more integral role in the way business is conducted in the future. If you own a company, run an organization, looking to broaden your customer base, or simply advertise your business, products and services to a broader audience; then you definitely need to be utilizing the web to help you get to some of your goals.

Have you ever gone to a networking meeting and the first thing that the person you meet says to you is "do you have a business card?" Then the very next question that usually follows is, "do you have a website?" These questions are not uncommon in the networking environment and as you participate in them, you are expected to answer in the affirmative for both of these questions. You are expected to have enough business cards with you whenever you attend a networking session and apart from your name, phone number, fax number and e-mail address, your business card is also expected to have your website. The website will be able to give additional information to prospects about your company, your products, your services and other pertinent information that will assist your target customers in making a buying decision. Most, or if not all of the pertinent information should be on your website.

In order to market your business, products, services or yourself, a website can be a cost-effective way of accomplishing that goal. If you have not thought about developing a company website, then you should start to think seriously about getting one completed. Many people think that by just setting up a website, customers will automatically be drawn to it and purchases will be made. That is not the case. It would be like having a store with all four brick walls and nobody knows what you are selling inside. The website is just like an electronic storefront. If done correctly, it can be a cost-effective way of generating revenue for your business. In fact, based on a 2006 Arbitron report, more than eight in ten Americans are now online, 71 percent of Americans have the internet at home and 34 percent have the internet at work. Additionally, 33 percent of online consumers say they are spending less time watching television due to their online activities and 52 percent of the respondents have made an online purchase. The online customer base is growing by approximately 150 percent per year. With only a small investment, you could be reaping a high returns on your investment.

There are three key basic things that you should consider before embarking on developing your website. First, you must decide how you want your website to function; second, you must decide what it will look like; and third, you must decide how you are going to market and optimize it to your target customers.

I am not an expert on websites building, but when you embark on marketing the website all the elements of marketing (4 P's) will come into play. Since many of you will be building a site for the first time, I would suggest that you seek out an expert in that area. Just like you would seek out a lawyer for legal advice, an accountant for accounting advice, you should also talk to an expert who has the capacity to guide you in the right direction with respect to building your website. Since the website is not going to be a static site, it is important that you have someone who you can have access to in the event of any major changes. This may cost a little more than you are willing to pay, but in the end this additional cost will be worth it. The return on investment is bigger than if you had done it another way.

Here are a few other guidelines that I would suggest you take before embarking on building your website.

Before you start to construct your website, you must meet and review as much as three web developers before deciding on the one who would build your site. Also, you must consider who will be hosting your site, who will be making the updates and how much you are willing to pay to get the site build and running for customers to access it.

Make sure that your front page tells each customer what you do. Why they should come back and visit your site and why they should tell a friend about this site. Most people stay on the front page for a couple seconds, so if the front page does not tell them what they want to hear, they will go somewhere else.

Make sure that your website has a call to action. The site should allow yor customers to place an order, call your phone number, request additional information and supply chain management.

Ensure that you have in place a plan to monitor your website traffic. Many customers find product or service information by entering "key word" phrases into search engines such as MSN, Yahoo or Google, etc. Search Engine Optimization is part of Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and SEO requires the support of software programs that track web traffic.

As I said before, the business landscape has changed and will continue to change as technology continues to drive growth. Whether you decide to get a website now or in the future, make sure that you work with an expert in getting yours up and running. Do not take the chance of doing it yourself (DIY), because in the end it will cost you more than you think.

Keith Gooden is a business consultant, who works with small to medium size businesses and focuses in the areas of sales, marketing, strategic planning, customer service, personnel management and business operations. He can be reached at (407) 446-2419 or kgooden@carusaconsulting.com

You had this BIG idea, which you thought would bring you millions of dollars if only you could get a business started and sell the product to the world. Without hesitation, you went ahead and register your company and started selling your novel product or service. The only thing is you did not complete your homework, in terms of finding out if this business is a viable one, or if there are sufficient customers who can afford to buy your product or service in the market in which you decide to sell it. You did not think that this ground-work was necessary, so you forged ahead with your plan to "open your business". In your haste you forgot to complete one of the fundamental steps of starting any business. You forgot to complete a Business Plan. This like the "blueprint" to building or starting your business. You would not attempt to build a house without the plans and the same is true to starting a business.

This example seems simplistic, but it has happened in so many instances. Many of us would not build a new home without first drafting up the "blueprint" of what the home will look like. You would want to know where the kitchen will be placed, how many bathrooms you will have and where they will be placed in the house, how many bedrooms and where they will be placed. You would want to have a clear picture of what your new home is going to look like before it is completed. In the same way, your Business Plan will give you an idea of what your business will look like before you actually get it launched. You want to identify each competitor, what marketing strategy you will use to gain market share, how you would price your products versus the competitors and how will you promote your product or service to the target customers.

Based on a recent survey by the U. S. Bureau of the Census, Bureau of labor Statistics and the U. S. Department of Commerce, there were more than 25.8 million small businesses in the United States in 2005, small businesses represents half of all private sector employees, pay more than 45 percentage of total U. S. payroll, are employers of 41 percent of high tech workers (such as scientists, engineers and computer workers), and are 53 percent home-based and 3 percent franchises. It also states that two-thirds of all new small businesses survive at least two years and 44 percent survive at least four years. So you can see from the statistics that small businesses have played and will continue to play an integral role in the growth of the US economy. But while these statistics show us the value that small business plays in the economy, it also enlightens us to take proper caution and preparation before starting one. Because of the high failure rate of small businesses, it is imperative that entrepreneurs get the proper assistance before moving ahead with launching their business. It would be unwise to move ahead with starting a business without proper help and assistance from business consultants.

Business consultants can steer someone who wishes to start a business in the right direction, giving them guidance into financial, management, marketing, sales, operations and budget planning. The business consultants can also play a key role in helping the entrepreneur with the structuring and development of a strong business plan that can be used in securing startup financing and future expansion. Again, the consultants bring to the table a wealth of experiences that he/she can share with the entrepreneur in the development of the business plan. The consultant can act as a guide, a coach and a mentor to the business owner.

There are key questions that must be answered before moving ahead with your Business plan. The plan must be able to answer which business you will be in? What are your critical success factors? What are the company's goals? What are the company's strengths and weaknesses? How are your products different from the competition? Who will make up your customer base (direct and ultimate end-users)? What is the size, maturity, and competitive nature of the business sector or industry? What are barriers to entry and growth? What is the industry financial position and performance? What are trends in your target market? And finally who are members of your management team?

These are just many of the questions that should be answered in your business plan. Certainly, there are many more areas and questions of the business plan that I have not touched on here, but clearly this gives you an idea of how to go about structuring your plan. So having answers to these and many more questions in your business plan will help you to develop a strong plan that is fit for securing financing.

To help in securing financing, it is important to have a clear idea of the amount of money needed for your business, for what and for how long. The strengths or weaknesses of your management team cannot be overstated when it comes down to securing investment or financing. A mediocre product with a great management team will always receive favorable responses from financial institutions, compared to a great product with a weak management team. Additionally, a well written Business Plan will almost always guarantee you that investors will look at your request favorably.

Make sure that your business plan is working for you. Use it as an operational tool, financial tool and use it as a plan for future growth. In short, do not shelve it once the business has started, but use it for your long term strategic planning.

Keith Gooden is a business consultant, who works with small to medium size businesses and focuses in the areas of sales, marketing, strategic planning, customer service, personnel management and business operations. He can be reached at (407) 446-2419 or kgooden@carusaconsulting.com

In today's competitive business environment, it is quite easy to assume who you think your competitors are without first making the proper analysis. It is also necessary that businesses have a firm understanding of its external environment in order to properly satisfy its customers. An understanding of what is happening in the external environment will also help in developing the right strategies to establish and grow the business. A valuable framework for performing external analysis is to look at two of the 3 C's (company, customers and competitors) of market analysis. We all know that we must conduct an internal (company) analysis first, before we can undertake the completion of the other two C's. Certainly, they are all important and none should be given less importance when conducting a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis. Today's article will focus on the competitors; while a follow up article will focus on the customer.

Many companies are offering the same services or products in today's marketplace, but should they necessarily be considered your competitor? Why is that so? How could it be that this company is selling the same products or offering the same service, but is not considered your competition? Michael Porter on Competition said that "in the fight for market share, competition is not manifested only in other players. Rather, competition in an industry is rooted in its underlying economics, and competitive forces exist that goes well beyond the established combatants in a particular industry". There are many factors that must be considered when deciding if a company should be considered a competitor.

First, you have to know who your main customers are and whether the competition is selling to them and second, whether the competition have the resources to actually compete with your business. Obviously, there are many other factors that should be considered, in order to properly analyze the competitive environment.

To stay ahead of your competitors, you must have a clear understanding of what their strengths, weaknesses, and relationships with your target customers are. Once you are able to obtain details and accurate information on your competitors, you will be able to compare or benchmark your performance. You can also use this information to set goals and objectives for your business. You may be saying to yourself, this information is great to have, but how can I obtain it and is it accurate?

Because of the need to stay ahead, many businesses have been providing competitive information without even realizing it. Competitive information comes in various forms and sources. It can be obtained from brochures, pamphlets, flyers, annual reports, trade publications, press releases, and even the internet. If your company does not have the resources to monitor competitive activity regularly, consider hiring an outside independent research company to perform this function. The company will be able to conduct customer surveys that may reveal their attitudes toward your company versus your competitors. Additionally, customers are usually more willing to discuss their attitudes and feelings with someone they are not used to, than to someone who they know and see on a regular basis. Competitive information helps you to identify how you can gain a larger share of the market from your competitors and what actions you should take to protect your business. It is also important that a process be implemented within your company that would provide competitive data and information on a regular basis (monthly, quarterly or annually), depending on the product and the business sector.

In order to properly conduct a useful competitive analysis, there are a few questions that should be considered before proceeding with your data or information gathering.

Ask yourself the following questions:

• Can I measure the competitors that compete against me? Do they compete directly or indirectly?
• Where are my main competitors located? How big (revenue, profits, sales force, etc.) are they to my company and other companies that we compete against? Are they growing?
• How much of my business do these competitors threaten? (quantify the threat).
• How do my products or services compare with my competitors' offerings? (quality, price, service, distribution, brand image, value and reputation, etc.)
• How strong are my competitors' relationships with the key customers and how long have that relationship been established.
• Who are my competitors' main customers?
• What are customers' attitudes toward my competitors and toward my own company?
• What are some of my weaknesses and that of my competitors?
• Which of my customers might switch to my competitors, and why would they switch?
• Which of my competitors' customers do I want to win over?
• Does my company have the expertise and resources to overcome the competitive threat? For how long will I be able to sustain any form of competitive actions?

The competitive information that your company collects will only be valuable if it is used effectively. It should be used to help your company readjust their strategies and to take defensive action to protect its business. By just simply gathering competitive information without analysis or action is a waste of resources. Finally, it is imperative that all data and information be validated before executing plans. Wrong assumptions may be made from published information, while the confidential and strategic information that is vital in your analysis may be harder to come by.

Keith Gooden is a business consultant, who works with small to medium size businesses and focuses in the areas of sales, marketing, strategic planning, customer service, personnel management and business operations. He can be reached at (407) 446-2419 or kgooden@carusaconsulting.com

This month I had planned to focus my article on "ethics in the work-place", but because of what transpired with firing of the radio personality from CBS and the recent shootings and killings of 33 people on the Virginia Tech campus, I thought this month I would focus my attention on something that many of us take for granted – Words, spoken and unspoken and the effects it has on your business.

Although both cases described above seem totally different in nature, the outcome had some bearing on what was said and what was not said. On one side, the radio personality use of racial slur to describe the members of the Rutgers Women Basketball team certainly made these women feel degraded and worthless. On the other side, the shooter shot the 32 victims (and himself) and left us wondering what triggered all this. Why did this happen? You might also be wondering, what all this has to do with business. Everything is interconnected! From the university, students, radio stations, T.V. stations, advertisers, to the consumers, there is a business relationship. What you say, how you say it and what you don't say, has a lot to do with your business results.

Let me dissect this issue into three parts. I will explain what can happen in business when words are spoken; I will talk about what can happen when no words are spoken and then expand on how you speak.

First of all, words are powerful. Words can change a business deal on a dime. Your interpretations of words are stronger than what is being said or what was said. Because spoken words are so powerful in business, it is important that we choose our words carefully and wisely. In one instance it could mean you getting that big sale (if you say the right things) ; while on the other hand, it could mean you losing the sale (if you say the wrong things). When you look at the many instances during the day that you have to interact with your employer, your employees, your clients, your suppliers; you will see that well chosen words can help you get your message across in an effective manner. It can help you to paint the perfect picture that the client sees and can move him/her to make a decision. As a business person looking to place an ad for example, you want to make sure that the words within the ad are as effective as the pictures in the ad. The words within that ad must be selected carefully so as to get to the emotion of the customer and urge them to take action and buy your product. Remember that the differentiating factor may not be what the product can do for the customer, but the perceived values that the customer sees in your product. This is where carefully selected words can make a difference in an ad, a brochure or a flyer.

Another example is that of a salesman who had worked quite hard to get this important prospect to see him. He kept on calling this prospect over a couple months and finally the prospect agreed to see him. During the product demonstration part of the salesman presentation, the salesman asked the prospective client if he would consider buying his product. The client said yes, but there was another product that he had been using for the past couple years that was similar in feature and gave basically the same results. The price was also on par with this new product. When the salesman heard the name of this competitive product, he jumped at the opportunity to start talking about the company and how unethical the salesmen were and that the product was no good. What this salesman did not know, was that the other company representative was a relative of this client and that he had purchased that product, not because of what it can do for him, but only because he was related to the salesman. Well, you can all figure out what happened to that big sale, he lost it! The sales presentation was shortened and the client whispered something under his breath that cannot be mentioned here. As sales people we all want to laud our products and make the competition look inferior, unsafe or not having any value. But what you must keep in mind is that by "bad-mouthing" the other product, you have just reduced yourself to a level far below what the client may be considering.

When we hear words, we react because of what we feel is the essence of the meaning of these words. The essence of the meaning comes from our experiences and the meaning that we have attached to the words we hear. Not saying anything can mean losing thousand of dollars, compared to saying the wrong thing. You can all remember the saying, "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me". This is also true in business when no words are spoken. I have seen that so many times in business meetings where something needed to be said and no one said anything. Everyone sat on their hands and no-one had the guts to come out and say that "this project will not work" or "we need to redesign the specs before launching this product". By not saying anything, these hypothetical products could end up costing a company thousands of dollars if they were allowed to enter the market. Once in the market, these products can even cause hard to the consumer, again costing the company unnecessary expenses.

In addition to saying the wrong thing and not saying anything at all, the results are equally as bad when how you say what you say is offensive or unprofessional. I was recently in a meeting and I met a friend of mine whom I had not seen for a while. I was in the meeting with several other people, but the way my friend greeted me, the other people walked away immediately. He was familiar with me, so he chose to approach me that way. We have to be careful in these business settings not to let our guard down and speak in a familiar manner. Many of our other business colleagues may not like that approach and would still want to maintain that business environment.

Are you using your words to make a difference in your business? Do you understand the power of what comes out of your mouth? Be aware of what effects your words can have on a person the next time you are closing a sale, or even giving your opinion. Make sure that you maintain professionalism at all times, thereby differentiating yourself from others, especially in a business setting.

Keith Gooden is a business consultant, who works with small to medium size businesses and focuses in the areas of sales, marketing, strategic planning, customer service, personnel management and business operations. He can be reached at (407) 446-2419 or kgooden@carusaconsulting.com