Top 7 Essential communication skills for entrepreneurs

As a business communication coach, trainer and yes, I have the opportunity to organize workshops for entrepreneurs and small business organizations, as well as personal coaches entrepreneurs, consultants and other coaches. Each year the titles of the seminars may change but the fundamental values ​​do not. The question we must ask ourselves is: what are the essential communication skills entrepreneurs need? I want to share with you, so you can start developing your talents as quickly as possible, and assess their own strengths of personal communication and group and weaknesses.

To be a successful entrepreneur you must be able to:

1 - Make a winning first impression - every time. We need to network up, right? Every person we meet, by chance or appointment, may be our next customer or lead us to a partnership or large business. We all judge a book by its cover, so it is important that your first impression is great. If you need to hire an image consultant, do it. If you need to learn the art and science of rumor and impression management, then hire a coach, attend a workshop or buy a book. We are not allowed to have an 'off-day' as so much of our income depends on our first impressions, over and over again as we build our database and word-of-mouth referrals.

2 - to speak well in public. For the most part we can not avoid speaking in public. We need to give presentations to banks and potential investors, we have to run team meetings, we may need to address programmatic, run information seminars, etc. If you are shy or uncomfortable speaking into the microphone, you could damage your brand image. Try to join a local 'Toastmasters Club' to improve rapidly. The use of beacons and organization of influential key messages to get more comfortable to talk or presentation.

3 - to persuade, influence and sell. It 's funny how many of us entrepreneurs hate the idea of ​​selling, when in fact we would go anywhere without marketing and sales. We like to think that salespeople are slick con-artists, when in fact a truly great sales representative is very interpersonal and very empathetic. They read books by Dale Carnegie and studied NLP, and you can too. We must move beyond the old stereotypes and realize that continuing to experience and sales in theory and persuasion is really beneficial.

4 - Dealing with difficult people without a hitch. The fact that we are self-employed does not mean that in theory we can choose good customers, but if it is able to handle difficult people, ie people who are stubborn, see things differently, difficult to sell or difficult to work with etc. then we're going to end up having a very small customer base and few people can work. Learning to manage conflicts and disagreements is essential as it expands. Rule number one: there is nothing personal. Get your ego and address the key issues and emotions. Turn enemies into friends.

5 - Manage people. The definition of interpersonal skills may be the ability to manage people in a fairly friendly without alienating them. Personnel management skills is essential and makes you a better leader. Think of a boss who had previously been great. Now think of one that was terrible (in your humble opinion ...). What job did you want to escape? Not be the boss.

6 - Read people accurately. Watch their eyes, face and body language. Do not ignore your intuition. Ask questions and really listen to the answer, but also wonder if there is more to the story that the communication from the surface. Very often there is a lot of water under the ice of an iceberg - 90% in fact - and in our communications statistics are often comparable. Listen to what people say and try to determine what they really mean, and what emotions, values ​​and hidden messages behind their words.

7 - Communicate with confidence. If you do not seem to believe in yourself, your team, your brand, product or service, so why should I? Getting your message out there verbally and on paper is important, and you need to build trust and confidence in your soon to be clients and customers. Uses a safe, make known your credibility, sell them on how you can avoid pain and move towards pleasure, when you follow. Show the logic to help seal the deal. Most of the purchases (if not all) are emotional, and the logic used to justify the decision to buy. Be confident and clear, but do not go too far. Nobody likes a bully, and nobody likes over-the-top cockiness. Be calm, cool, safe and under control.

Start thinking about how to classify you or your team in these 7 communication problems. Hold a meeting to discuss this report, and where we can improve. There are more than 7, of course, but this is a good start to get you focused on the importance of excellent communication in business and help you grow as an entrepreneur ....