Persuasion

We had a great conversation with clients recently, in one of our Persuasive Communication Skills Workshops. And the topic of this conversation was typical. We were discussing with participants the need for getting to the point in the 21st century business world. And several of the participants were politely but firmly pushing back, concerned that I was coaching […]

Your audience will only remember a small percentage of what you say. Some studies suggest it will be less than 20%. Fact. Other studies suggest that the average adult attention span is now about 8 seconds. Bummer. So what do you do about it? Focus on all three aspects of the audience experience: Make sure […]

Originally posted with the Forbes Coaches Council, April 2019 Maybe this has happened to you: You walk into a conference room fully confident that you’ve prepared well and put together a crisp, persuasive presentation that will instantly wow your audience. The proposal you’ve developed is clearly the right choice, and you know the numbers that support your […]

We spend a lot of time here coaching people on how to get the outcomes they want. And in some cases, the outcome is a sale of a product or a service. But in many cases, the outcome is the “sale” of an idea or a plan. The vast majority of persuasion that happens in the […]

So often in preparing to communicate, we make a fundamental mistake: we enter a messenger mindset. Rather than establishing a clear goal and aiming to persuade our audience, we set out to inform, to update, to share. On this path, we end our inquiry with a period: here’s what I need to say, full stop. But […]

In so many organizations, we see discussions around problem solving go wrong. To be an effective problem solving organization, there has to be a framework of questions that will lead towards full alignment on the issue. Once we have that alignment, then we can have a serious conversation around legitimate solutions. In a world where everyone […]

We post frequently on this blog about listening skills. Listening is of critical importance to your ability to persuade, sell, lead, follow… everything in the work place. But here is an important question for you to think about. How well do you listen to people you don’t like? We all come in contact with people […]

I’m so happy to introduce my former Broadcast.com and Yahoo! colleague Tim Sanders to our Latimer Group community. Tim is the author of five books including the New York Times Bestseller, “Love is the Killer App.” He is a top-rated keynote speaker and CEO of Deeper Media. Tim preaches generosity toward others at work. He […]

Have you ever sat through a meeting, or a conference call, or a presentation, and thought to yourself, “Oh my god… I wish this person would get to the point…“? Yeah. Me too. Many, many times. We all know what it feels like to have our time wasted by someone who just won’t, or can’t, get to the […]

Communication clarity is really hard in the 21st century… a mantra I have recited over and over in this space. It’s hard because of the noise, the competition for mind share, and shrinking attentions spans. But often the best way to combat difficulty and noise is to focus on the most simple, basic elements of […]