Home Center Merchant

Bill Fishman & Affiliates 1'1650 lberia Place San Diego, Ca.92128

This is the first of a nro part discussion of communication skills b1'columnist Bill Fishman. The concluding segment will appear in next month's issue-ed.

I weS INTRODUCED to Nanq Stern last I yearjust after she completed a training course for top and middle management executives at Handyman. That chain utilizes videotape to get important front office messages delivered throughout the chain. Subjects such as an address by the company president or a merchandiser presenting the features and benefits of a product line are dramatically videotaped and viewed by all. the store oersonnel.

Nnncy Stem. who is president of Communications Plus, San Diego, was retained to give the Handyman executives communlcatlon guidance to make the periodic tapings more dynamic and more effective. I was impressed enough with results to invite her to conduct a seminar on communication at the Home Center Show and to work with the other panclists to give more impact. The audience rated her session as one ofthe best.

Here are Nanry Stern's views on achieving excellence through effective communication.

Gening your message across effectively is the single most important activity in your life. Understanding how the communication process works will help you to avoid those dreaded breakdowns which can cause anxiety. loss of income. and wasted tlme.

Communication is the transfer of meaning. There is a sender and a receiver and each has attitudes, knowledge, experiences, skills, perceptions, style and culture. Because no two people arc identical, the probability ofperfect communication is zero. Therefbre, the sender must orient himself to the receiver without making assumptions. Once the sender has decided what he wants to communicate, he must encode his message. Messages are composed of verbal and non-verbal language. Ninery three percent is non-verbal. It's notjust what you say: it's how you say it that can make or break your message.

The tone, pitch, volume and rate of your voice; your posture, facial expressions' appearance and gestures can prevent your message from getting through to your listener. Also, be sensitive to eye-contact; you have greater possibility for communication breakdown when you do not look directly at your Iistener.

Once your message is transmitted to the receiver through the senses using verbal and non-verbal language, the receiver decodes and delivers some sort of feedback (a response to the message; a nod ofthe head etc.). Ifthe receiver responds with another "full" message, he beconres the sender and the process repeats itself. Remember, communication is a two-way process and both the sender and receiver are responsible lor its oulcome.

If you want to develop stronger powers of communication, start by establishing high expectations of yourself. People who are most adept at gening their message across are usually those with plenty of self-confidence and the ability to make others feel good about themselves, too. The following tips wiJl help you to be a more effective communicator whether you are in the sending or receiving role:

(Continued next month)