Table of Contents
Praise for Talk Less, Say More
Talk Less, Say More is packed with powerful advice to get your points across and make things happen in todays time-pressed world. Connies forward-thinking, actionable communication shortcuts can elevate anyones game.
Bruce Carbonari, Chairman & CEO, Fortune Brands
Connie Dieken is a true communication virtuoso and a genuine phenomenon. She is on a mission to elevate our ability to communicate. Talk Less Say More should be required reading for all leaders and emerging leaders. It can instantly transform the way people respond to you, giving you the power to deliver brief, clear messages that influence the world.
Robert Johnson, Managing Counsel, McDonalds Corporation
Connie Diekens three-step strategy is a smart, practical guide for business leaders and others who want to create a high-performance culture. Its an important, powerful book on how to master communication in the 21st Century.
Tom Swidarski, President & CEO, Diebold
Talk Less, Say More has become an integral part of our sales training program. In todays manufacturing environment, our sales engineers must be able to quickly gain mind share of our customers, deliver the appropriate messages, and win new business. Talk Less, Say More provides the communication tools critical for success.
Dana Fritz, Manager, Global Sales Training, Rockwell Automation
Talk Less, Say More is the answer to become an effective communicator. Connies principles can be employed immediately to improve both your personal and business interactions.
Terry Bauer, Corporate Director of Sales Execution, Reinhart FoodService
Thanks to Connies communication expertise, she makes it easy for anyone to transform from a good communicator to an excellent one. Her three simple principles are based on real-world experiences and demonstrate the power of a strong communicator.
David Lingafelter, President, Moen Incorporated
To the two most influential people in my life,
Spencer and Ali
Introduction Connect-Convey-Convince
Face-to-face communication skills are plummeting in the twenty-first century. What does it take to be an influential communicator in todays information-overload, attention-deficit, distraction-driven world? Do you have to morph into a superhuman communicator to keep people tuned in to your ideas when youre face-to-face?
No, when it comes to communicating influentially in our fast-paced, Twitter-happy society, less is more.
Now More Than Ever, Less Is More
You can become a high performance communicator if you simply get into the practice of using three habits in the right order. This simple shift in how you get your points across will create an enormous change in how people respond to you, whether youre talking to an audience of one or one thousand.
Forget the endless communication techniques that youve heard about over the years. All of those techniques actually boil down to just three skills: Connect-Convey-Convince. I first discovered this high performance secret when I was a television news anchor and talk show host with access to communication masters such as former president Bill Clinton, sex guru Dr. Ruth Westheimer, and General Electric CEO Jack Welch. I studied skilled communicators as they influenced our television viewers, studio audiences, and television production staff, which sparked my decade of high performance communication research and, ultimately, this book.
Tired of Struggling to Get Your Points Across?
This book is brief but meaty by design. It will teach you how to use these three principles to win positive responses in a world of short attention spans, even from the most difficult people in your life and those who are the most distracted and impatient. Suddenly, people will pay attention to you, understand you clearly, and commit to action.
Consider how you currently approach communication. In our crazy busy world, words flow from your mouth or fingertips. You explain, request, plead, sugarcoat, apologize, question, and/or demand. All in a quest to make things happen. Sometimes your words inspire action. However more often, they dont. Even worse, your attempts spark subsequent back-and-forth exchanges to clarify what you really want. Time is wasted, mix-ups occur, and opportunities are squandered.
In your rush to meet todays overwhelming demands, youre probably using tech tools to dodge and deflect. Case in point: how often do you do these things?
Check caller ID, think, Not you, not now, and send the caller to voice mail jail, playing digital dodgeball?
Check voice mail and e-mail simultaneously?
Grow impatient with long-winded callers and zap their messages in midsentence?
Return peoples calls, hoping theyre not there, only to be disappointed when they pick up the phone and you actually have to talk to them?
Talk to someone in person when your cell phone rings... and you answer it, leaving someone hanging?
Communi-fake, pretending to be on your phone to avoid talking to someone in person?
The question is, How often are others doing this to you? Every one of us has our own buttons that get pushed, leading to negative results, including tune-out. People push your buttons. You push theirs, too, even when you dont intend to.
Its time to press the right three buttons for results in todays fast-paced world to keep people tuned in and raise your ratings.
Its Time to Engage, Gain Clarity and Commitment
Becoming an influential communicator is the solution. This sequence of habitsConnect-Convey-Convince will help you grab attention, gain complete clarity, and sway others to make things happen. It will help you successfully influence even the busiest people.
The strategy is simple, and yet it creates profound differences in how others respond to you. Suddenly, youll become a high performance communicator who keeps people tuned in and wins positive results.
Lets get started maximizing success by minimizing words.
HABIT 1: CONNECT
MANAGING ATTENTION
Give People What They Want and Value So Theyll Tune In
10 SIGNS
YOU MAY BE A WEAK CONNECTOR
Do You Do This?
You have trouble getting people to listen to you, pay attention to your ideas, or return phone calls or e-mails.
ISSUE: CONNECTING ESSENTIALS
FIND HELP: page 11
Youre impatient, easily distracted, or often multitask while communicating.
ISSUE: STAY IN THEIR MOMENTSTAY RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW
FIND HELP: page 19