Knowing how to effectively communicate is KEY to success in any business. The purpose of communication is to get your message across to your prospects in the best way possible. Good communication takes skill, since messages can often become misinterpreted by one or more of the parties involved. When this happens it causes unnecessary confusion and moves you further away from connecting to new prospects.

Your communication is only successful when both the sender and the receiver perceive it in the same way.

By successfully getting your message across, you convey your thoughts and ideas effectively. When it’s not successful, the thoughts and ideas that you wish to convey are lost, causing a communication breakdown. This breakdown of communication can cause you to lose the trust of a prospect instantly.

To communicate effectively, you must clearly understand what your core message is and how your prospect will perceive your message.

Communication breakdown can pop up at every stage, causing you to lose out on tons of opportunities. Therefore, to become a more effective communicator, be sure to get to the point quickly so there is no misunderstanding or confusion. Your goal should be to lessen the volume of your communication by breaking it down into steps that are clear, concise, accurate and well thought out.

5 steps to becoming a master communicator

Step #1: Establish yourself as a master.
To do this you must first establish credibility with your prospect. This involves displaying in-depth knowledge of the subject, your prospect’s needs and problems, plus the step-by-step context in which your message is delivered.

Step #2: Consider how your message is received.
Written, oral and nonverbal communications all are affected by your tone, your individual communication style and what you leave in and what you leave out.

How you communicate both verbally and in writing is very important. It determines how your prospects perceive your point of view. Your message should motivate and inspire your prospects into taking action and buying from you.

Step #3: Consider how best to communicate with your prospects.
You may choose to communicate verbally in person, email, telephone, text, hand written card or all of the above.

Step #4: Keep in mind the actions or reactions you hope your message prompts in your prospects.
Keep in mind that your prospect also enters into the conversation with his or her own communication style. Their communication feedback will include new ideas, feelings and emotions that will undoubtedly influence how they understand and relate to your message, and also how they respond.

To become a master communicator, you must consider the possible responses before delivering your message. This will allow you to be better prepared and ready to respond with the appropriate answers.

Step 5: Consider the personal feedback, verbal and nonverbal reactions to your message.
To deliver your message effectively, you must commit to break down the barriers that exist in each of these stages of the communication process. If your message is too lengthy, disorganized or contains incorrect information about your products or services, you can expect to be misunderstood … and not sell.

Also, the use of ineffective body language that confuses the message or shows your lack of confidence will also allow you to disconnect with prospects just as quickly.

When in doubt, less is oftentimes more. Don’t offer too much information too soon.

Remember to listen more and talk less when you begin a conversation with a new prospect. And always be respectful of your prospect’s time, and keep their interests and concerns in the forefront.

Once you understand how these five steps work and start to implement them into your communication process … you will see your communication skills improving and your opportunities soaring!