Bob Musial - Soft Skills. Hard Returns.

Soft Skills arent anything new.

Maybe.

T HERE HAVE BEEN TONS of articles written about the lack of soft skills regarding not only recent college graduates, but also with people whove been working for a while.

What you say. How you say it. Why you say it. When you say it. It all matters. Whether youre in sales, finance, customer service, engineering, HR, Marketing or IT. B2B or consumer. Everybody needs to communicate in some way, shape or form to get their ideas across, accepted and importantly ... implemented. That means knowing how to listen, write, speak, present, follow up and collaborate. And doing it persuasively. Of course, the converse is also true.

Because if you cant do those things and do them effectively, youll be putting a choke hold on your success. But, if you can do those things, and do them well ... youll be in demand.

What youre about to read will help you avoid the former and enjoy the latter.

Its like a Soft Skills CliffsNotes or SparkNotes based on over 40 years of compressed business-development experience, combined with 570+ tips and article-relevant links that have been shared over 5,800 times on social media platforms. Each topic is presented in a short-story format, sprinkled with humor and includes a checklist of key takeaway points at the end. Dont want to read the story? Just skip to the end for the How to tips.

The chapters and topics are anchored on four, revenue-related categories with a business-development flow most businesses and nonprofits have in common:

Awareness

Things you need to do to get and keep a clients or prospects attention

Presentations and Proposals

Things to say and do once youre lucky enough to be invited to do either

Account Management

How to keep the revenue ball rolling once you get the business

Revenue Protection and Expansion

Important things to do to make sure you keep it

As you read, youll notice a recurring theme revolving around three words: Credibility. Trust. Value. When you focus on providing those three things to prospects, clients, and colleagues another word will reveal itself. Revenue.

Last point. You dont need to read each chapter or story in sequence. If you see a topic in the Table of Contents that looks interesting, jump to it. The topics are interrelated, so it doesnt matter where you start.

Because in business and in life, what really matters is what you learn along the way, how you use it, and where you finish.

Cheers.

Generating awareness.

And maintaining it.

I F YOURE IN A BUSINESS development, sales, account management, or any type of customer experience position, the first step in effectively communicating with prospects, as well as clients, begins with grabbing their attention and keeping it. Making them nod their head in appreciation, smile, and be receptive to your message. Thats where things like advertising, public relations, social media, content development, your website, and regular outreach programs come into play.

On the other hand, miscommunicating those things will negatively impact how your target audiences perceive, relate, and react to your ideas, products, services and the value your company can offer.

In order to do those things well and do them consistently, it helps to familiarize yourself with the subtle aspects of persuasive selling techniques related to things like different sales stages, buying personas, understanding your audiences hot buttons, the impact of micro-messaging, and more.

Youll also need to know to speak the different languages common to various positions within a company. How to best answer questions when theyre asked. How to use intriguing tools to tell your companys story so prospects and clients will want to listen to you and how to follow up.

Youll find answers to those How Tos in this section.

21 StreetSmart sales reminders.

In one way or another, everyone is in sales. Here are 21 reminders thatll help anyone in business, no matter what your position.

T HEYRE BOB-ISMS Ive picked up from doing business development for ... well, suffice it to say Ive been doing it for more than a week or two. Look, there are a ton of things of things that go into being a good salesperson. Things like knowledge, preparation and research, motivation, empathy, integrity, storytelling ability, presentation skills, listening skills, creativity and more. A lot more.

But, I also believe there are other things equally, if not more, important. Or said another way ... my lessons learned and words I try to live by.

Im sure you have yours. Here are some of mine, in no particular order.