Interpersonal Communication:  6 Strategies For More Effectiveness

by Dave Cleinman

 As network marketers the relationships that we build are key. In any job that requires interactions with others relationships are equally important. Even parents communicating with children and significant others communicating with each other can benefit from these strategies designed to improve and make best use of interpersonal communication. The end result is smoother and more direct dialogues that lead to solutions and improved daily interactions.

1. Be Honest: Occasionally a white lie is not a big deal. But whenever there is a major issue, a challenge that requires a solution, or personal distress, honesty is always the best policy. Speaking our minds clearly, sharing honest feelings and opinions, and not holding back details may cause some initial discomfort. The end result is worth it, though, because it allows for complete resolutions to situations, and fewer chances for repeat occurrences of offenses.

2. Be Fair: Sometimes known as fight fair. Bringing up past offenses, using unrelated examples, changing the subject, or using other diversionary techniques add a tremendous amount of resentment into a relationship and do permanent damage if such behaviors become habits. Genuinely listen to the other person's concerns, acknowledge when at fault, and take full responsibility. 

3. Think Win-Win: The best communicators desire an outcome where all parties are satisfied. There is a simple and logical reason for this. Happy customers come back again and again and again. Or, in terms of communication, satisfied parties in a dialogue will be willing to communicate with each other again and again. Trying to get a one-up position, or beating someone into submission in a dialogue, will lead to resentment, anger, and destruction of interpersonal relationships. 

4. Have an outcome in mind: Knowing what we want to have happen as the result of interpersonal dialogue will allow us to frame our words and requests specifically, and back them up with sound reasons. Simply voicing a complaint, without explaining our preferred happenings, forces the other party to read our minds and try do decide what it is that we want. Even if they know that they did something wrong, unless we explain exactly what we prefer, they may not know exactly what course of action they should take in the future to avoid a similar occurrence. Good communicators take responsibility for BOTH sides of the communication.

5. Avoid pressuring the other party: This is not always the case. It is the job of parents to put reasonable pressure on children to behave in specific ways. Between adults, however, this strategy backfires. People don't like being emotionally pressured or verbally bullied by bosses, coworkers, spouses, or anyone else, for that matter, any more than we enjoy being hard-sold at a car lot. 

6. Avoid Anger: Anger destabilizes rational thought and gives your ability to control a situation away. Anger is mostly sparked by the fear that an offense will reoccur. To avoid it communicate feelings openly, share facts, and provide potential solutions (options) so similar situations are less likely to reoccur. Keeping a cool head allows for intelligent dialogue that leads to problem-solving. Anger turns people off and, even if they are at fault, makes them unlikely to want to communicate with an angry person.

Following these strategies when communicating with others will allow for the very best results, regardless of with whom we are communicating. Since we need to take responsibility both for what we say, and for how the other party reacts, we must be cautious and reasonable in what we say and especially the rationale we are choosing in our arguments. The point of any dialogue should be to solve a challenge. It should never be to accuse, complain, or just hurt someone. Properly framed dialogue, done honestly and ethically with an end-result in mind, is very freeing and liberating for everyone involved. ◄

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Business Strategies and Tips that Are Essential But Often Missed

by Dave Cleinman 

Many new entrepreneurs have good intentions, great ideas, and strong goals. Coming from a job to starting a business, however, introduces new concepts that many new business owners are not aware of or familiar with. Some of these are legal, most are financial. These few tips will keep our businesses running smoothly and increase cash flow.

1. Have a dedicated business budget. After we have calculated total business costs such as fees or dues, we set aside a dedicated amount to spend on products, educational materials, and advertising. If there is an expensive item we want to purchase we average those funds if needed and add them to our monthly budget, cutting back on something else. If we stay within budget we will develop a good habit that will save us money and increase cash flow. As our business grows more profitable we can expand spending accordingly on advertising and other essentials.

2. We make sure that everything we are doing is legal and the companies and organizations we work with are also legal. If we are in doubt we consult an attorney. This is important for two reasons: illegal companies will rarely pay us, no matter how hard we work, and our reputations can be severely damaged by promoting illegal or illegitimate products and services.

3. We plan for taxes and remember to file a schedule C every year. We can claim a business loss, deduct business expenses, and recoup much of what we spend on our businesses. We make sure we are following the tax laws as well. Review the IRS guidelines for home businesses. In a recent Webinar only about 10% of the people in the business had filed a schedule C. Most did not know the tax laws also. Not following the laws can cost us money and also get us in legal trouble. Tax issues can be very costly.

4. We pay attention to proper and acceptable marketing techniques. We don’t spam, we don’t blast ads inappropriately, and we don’t spam social media sites. We provide value and position ourselves as leaders who truly want to assist others. This is the method the leaders use to build and maintain their lists. It is much more effective than spam and ad-blasting.

5. We keep organized lists of actions to take, results we have achieved, and places to improve. This includes tracking ads, tracking responses to article and video posts, and tweaking our efforts as necessary. Being organized in this way maximizes results and reduces effort accordingly. I personally am not well organized so keeping track of everything is really important for me and makes life much easier.

Simple organization and tracking will make running our businesses simpler and more enjoyable. Paying attention to legal issues and taxes will reduce liability risks and increase cash flow. Budgets help us develop good habits and control our expenditures. Simple efforts can produce massive results in many areas and will improve the quality of our businesses. More important is that a good foundation in these areas when our business is small will pave the way for our business to grow huge with few complications.  ◄

My Special Offer, no expiration!

I'm willing and happy to work with you one on one to help you get started and have success in network marketing, provided that you can:

• Tell a scam from a real business & avoid get rich quick garbage

• Help yourself by helping others be successful

• Follow a simple and Proven system and share it with others

• Be part of a team & interact freely, honestly, and professionally

Once you are established and having success, I will only ask that you teach others the same thing so they can enjoy the same level of success.

If you wish to take me up on this offer, please feel free to contact me on Yahoo instant messenger or Skype.  

My Yahoo id is dcleinman.  My Skype ID is dave.cleinman