If your like me you have trouble taking out the knowledge you have implanted in your brain. However this is very important when you are trying to simplify business communications and get your client to understand what you are talking about. This is important on many levels of business from delivering a presentation to motivating your client to gather information you need them to get you to complete a project. You don’t want to overwhelm them or nothing will get accomplished besides turning your client off.
Here are some tips on how to simplify business communications with your clients:
1) Educate yourself at your clients level. Even if you’ve been in your field for years there are always new ideas, services and products available in your industry. Educating yourself and mapping out a strategy on your clients level will help you see things through their eyes. We recommend using pictures and to keep your messaging simple use only the size of a sticky note per idea. Your client will appreciate level of understanding they will receive and be more open to your ideas.
2) Know your audience and present information on your clients level. Now that you have your message broken down now it is time to pull it together in a way that makes sense to your client. However, how do you ensure that they will receive what you say?
The best way to do this is to know your audience and deliver the message on their level, filling in the knowledge gaps where is needed. If you are talking to the CEO of a company that is different than talking to a person working on the factory floor. Put yourself in the audience’s shoes. What are their needs, what questions will they have and what is it that they need to know. Don’t overwhelm your clients with facts that do not add to getting your message across.
3) Keep things interesting. Once you know your audience it is time to engage them and keep them interested. You can’t afford to bore them and you can’t assume that you have the audiences attention just because you are in front of them. They must be drawn to and curious about what you have to say in the first place.
It is known that pictures speak louder than words, human beings are just wired that way. Images conquer language, cultural and many other barriers that verbal communication cannot. Expecting clients to sit and read your whole website or even sit through a 5 minute video can be presumptuous and hurt your business. That is why they say a picture says a thousand words. Using images to back up your message in a power point presentation or on your website can be very powerful and help to simplify business communications.
4) Standing out from the crowd. Looking around at your competitors to see what they are saying and how they are saying it. Then deliver your message in a unique and powerful way. Printed brochures with images are great visuals as well as promotional materials. These are excellent ways to educate as well as give your client as a take away. During a presentation use power point or create a video to get your message across. Whatever you do be memorable.
Christof Appel gave a great TedTalk on how businesses and individuals can be memorable. That you need to not only deliver your message in a unique fashion but also touch on peoples emotions – so make it personal!
5) Practice, Practice, Practice. Once you’ve taken the time to create the perfect message make sure you know how to communicate it simply. Flush out the problems no matter how small or significant and make sure it is understandable to others.
Get a trusted friend or colleague in to give their honest feedback. They can give some rather valuable feedback and possibly some collaboration on coming up with creative solutions to simplify your business communications in your message.
Taking the time to work through all of these steps will be well worth the time and effort. Not only will your clients appreciate your tactics but often times good work gets passed around and will lead to referrals from these clients who have become raving fans.
