Maine Creative Services

Tom Peters (the “other” Tom), who’s a pretty fine communicator himself, recently celebrated the first anniversary of his blog. And he pointed out that blogging, like most forms of communication, is a two-way street:

“I have learned so much from you! And I, a ‘professional communicator,’ have learned so much about communication—ahem, make that ‘conversation,’ a different kettle of fish.” Link

Ahh, conversation. The real, authentic stuff. We’ll be talking about that a lot in future posts.

I am. Of course, if you’re also self-employed, you could probably tell. How?

I created this blog and posted my first Profound Utterance… on a Saturday 😉

So, here are my first couple of questions.

1. Do you regularly work on weekends?

2. Why? Are you overloaded and just catching up? Or are you like me — you love what you do so it’s hard to leave it alone?

3. Are you self-employed?

Years ago, Jimmy Messina of “Loggins & Messina” fame told me, “In the creative life, there’s no distinction between working and not working.” At the time, I didn’t know quite what he meant. Now I do.

I think he might have been quoting somebody even more famous. Anybody know who?

Why didn’t they say yes?

Why couldn’t you close that important sale? Why didn’t you land that new job, or get the promotion you’d been hoping for?

You made your pitch, but they just didn’t “get it”.

Why not? Why didn’t they value what you’re so passionate about? Why didn’t they get excited about your ideas? Why didn’t they say yes?

As the warden in Cool Hand Luke put it, what we have here is a failure to communicate.

To get what you want in business — and in life — requires the cooperation and support of other people. For that you need communication skills. The more effective your writing and speaking skills, the easier it will be to get what you ask for.

To persuade others to do what you want, you must organize your ideas, present them as irresistibly as you can, and convince them that saying “yes” is in their best interests, too. That’s what the Better Business Communications blog is all about.

Remember: It’s your job, not theirs!

It’s not their job to “get it” — to see the wisdom in your ideas. It’s up to you to make them see it. To present your case clearly, persuasively and powerfully. To answer the other person’s unspoken question: “Why should I say yes? What’s in it for me?”

Improving your communications skills isn’t like school – it’s not about getting an A on a term paper. Effective communications skills are far more important.

With them, you obtain money, power, success, advancement.
Without them, it’s almost impossible to get what you want.

Ask any CEO. Ask any successful person how important their written and spoken communication skills are. The more successful the person, the more likely they are to credit their business and personal success to their ability to communicate — quickly, effectively, persuasively.