OPENING REMARKS and PLANTING TIME
Tuesday, April 13, 2021 - daily column #6727
To produce bountiful crops, farmers and gardeners invest in preparation. You cannot grow bumper crops on rocks or gravel or where it is too dry, too wet, or too shady – you need essentials of good soil, nutrients, water and sunshine.
If planting seeds of an idea to seal a deal and grow a relationship, we should plant in a fertile environment, right?
So, how should we open?
Imagine, next time you come on stage to address your audience, when you leave a voice message, or when someone says hello when entering your Zoom call, chatting with someone in a grocery store aisle, or sending a proposal out the door – what vibe are you sending?
Most of us are inconsistent, underestimating the value potential of an incredible opening and miss untold engagement opportunities when we have a weak or awkward start that causes people to shrink away or close up because we’ll never learn what possible because we either turned them off or failed to convey a compelling message.
When we adjust our actions and attitude, we get different results, better results, and sometimes stunning results!
However you see this, as equivalent to chess game-opening gambit, catching up with old friends, or prospecting with new customers, your opening: what you say, how you say it, and most importantly, how our listeners receive it is crucial beyond calculation.
Whatever our message or medium, live or recorded, stage presence matters.
Is our voice enthusiastic without being rude or over the top?
Are we making eye contact, showing undivided attention?
Are we happy to be there, do we have the time, are we prepared and undistracted, and does it show?
In so many cases, it is not so much what we say or how we said it as it is what our audience heard and how it made them feel.
For an audience of one, or hundreds, the issue is the same.
One-on-one, and whenever our calls or messages are recorded – we could always ask ourselves if what we are about to say will be received as we intend it to be, and whether we want that recorded, played over and over, or forwarded, or posted somewhere.
Every time we walk on stage to give a speech or contribute on a Zoom Webinar – our first impression is key to getting a receptive audience prepared to hear our essential message. Isn’t the same true then, when it’s a phone call to a client, a colleague, a friend, a competitor, or anyone else whose face we cannot see or whose mood we cannot measure?
If we want the ground to be fertile, we have to prepare the ground first.
Does it impact business and reputation?
Absolutely.
It might not be consequential every time, but when it is, who wants to get that wrong?
The solution, then, is to play a proactive, positive role every time we open our mouths …
Note to self: just because I’m calling an old friend, client, or family member – I don’t know how they are feeling, what kind of day they are having, or if they are receptive to my messaging today; it only takes a few moments to find out, to set the stage for what I have to say.
Reader feedback:
I want machines to give me the best possible info ….; you never mentioned this as a replacement for politicians! .. Just a thought, NB, Calgary, AB
A machine that could write your column? The way you produce so many insightful columns, I thought you were a machine, DM, Calgary, AB
No machine can replace you Mark, RT, White Rock, BC
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