FIRST A NOTE: I hope you all had a great time at the Birthday Bash yesterday! I had a ball and learned a LOT from my guest "speakers." Due to an infestation of the Gundar Kind (our techie gremlin), we had some techie issues with the coupon code and various other sundry glitches so we are extending our contests and 50% off sale for a day or two until we can work out the details. That'll give more of you a chance anyway. It was a very fun but VERY LONG day. My fingers are still sore for typing 120 words a minute for 12 hours straight. A BIG thank you to Traci of Your Web Tech Team for keeping...
Continuing with part three of my article series that left off last Wednesday, I bring your attention to lesson three: Don't let anyone distract you. You may have noticed that little children are like a freight train barreling through anyone who dares to interrupt them or try to distract them from their goal. They will ask sixteen times in a row, if they have to, in order to obtain the cookie. I refer you to last Friday's Communication Friday Funny where little Sophia, aged 2, wanted a lollipop. As we grow older and wiser, we learn to become sensitive to other's needs and this is a good thing, but we also learn to exchange our tenacity for fear and our ...
If you missed Monday's first communication lesson from five year olds, click here. Here's today's installment: Lesson Two: Listen Wide-Eyed. Young children are notorious for their wide eyes as they soak up information. You may not think they are paying close attention, but they absorb almost everything around them. You know this because, if you aren't careful, they repeat things you said that you wish you hadn't. We adults could learn a great deal from this trait. To a young child, everything is wondrous. When they ask a question, they don't care whether that person is educated, important, powerful or well-respected. They expect an answer. They often don't even much care if the answer is correct. How would they know...
Little children are inexperienced in communication, but as I will share over the next two weeks, we can all learn some valuable communication lessons from them. Lesson number one: Speak Plainly. Adults say, "The honour of your presence is requested at the...blah blah blah..." Adults go to great lengths to use the right words, the perfect invitation and the most respectful language, but at the end of the day, it can often sound confusing, standoffish or pompous. Children say, "Wanna come to my party?" Children put things simply, succinctly and honestly. They don't worry about how it sounds. They just say what they mean and because they don't know big fancy words, they don't use them. Children don't send mixed...
I hope you have enjoyed this series on effective email. I’ve talked about the importance of choosing a good email address, your subject line, given you some tips for a more effective body of text in two parts. Last week, I talked about your signature line and some “Other Stuff” important for effective email and today I conclude my series No article series on effective email would be complete without a section on how to email customer service and get results! This is a very different kind of email and, as such, it requires a little different approach. Here are some tips: 1. Make sure you are emailing the correct department. If you are asking about an order, you probably...
