My thinking is this, people delete SPAM so they will delete you. Well, I think it goes deeper than that. I'm not a marketer or an expert on self promotion. I don't even play one on TV. I do happen to have a passion in learning how self promotion can be used and how the concept of marketing yourself is an important upward engine. Its one of the reasons why I decided to go back to school and focus on Psychology.
Have permission: Make sure the people you talk to have given you “permission” to promote yourself. That doesn’t mean you have to start every conversation with “Can I take a few minutes of your time to tell you about…” (though that’s not a bad opening in some circumstances); what it means is that you should make sure the other they’re receptive to your message. You don’t want to be bothered when you’re eating dinner with your family, in a hurry to get to work, or enjoying a movie, right? In those moments, you aren’t giving anyone permission to talk to you. Don’t interrupt other people or make your pitch when it’s inconvenient for them — that’s almost guaranteed to backfire. - lifehack.orgI think the author makes a great point, a point that can be lost in the gray area of human interaction. Its the nonverbal clues that can help you determine if the person you are talking to is interested and wants to continue the conversation. Its the nonverbal clues you send that help transmit your message. It's all about building positive relationships right?
The question that I have to ask myself if, how do we take these traditional Nonverbal Communication Skills and adapt them to our digital world? How can we use nonverbal clues to steer the conversation? Are their nonverbal clues in Social Media? How can you use this in things like YouTube Training Videos? Most of my calls are global and done via the web. What are the options for these types of calls? I have lots of questions.
With my calls it means I am left with only verbal communications. Speech itself is hard to understand without context. Making things a bit more difficult, the interpretation of the context changes according to the tempo, rhythm and sound of our speech. Other things like how long we pause and how long we wait after someone has spoken before initiating a response can make or break a call. I think this is a skill that should always be worked on.
So for today study notes I'm going to refresh my knowledge in the The Lost Art of Nonverbal Communications. Then find ways I can apply techniques interpreting them during my calls.
How do you use non-verbal communications in todays digital world?
