An Organization’s Key People Need to Convey Expertise, Confidence and Authority
Impact Communications, Inc. is a national communications skill-building training organization that is committed to helping individuals craft powerful messages and deliver them confidently. No matter what your business, achieving mission-critical objectives and keeping a competitive edge are what counts. Impact Communications, Inc.’s presentation skills, telephone skills, and personal coaching classes will ensure that the professionals in your organization communicate your messages successfully and are perceived in the best possible manner. Read More »
Presentation Communication Skills Training
Tailored Presentation Communication Skills Training to address specific issues for an individual or company-wide. Training can be developed for one-on-one or for groups. Our training focuses on what makes a great presentation and how to present a great presentation. You will learn to:
- Create clear, concise messages that persuade others using the 15-Minute Planner.
- Balance information with relationship elements.
- Engage your audience.
- Eliminate distractions.
- Interact effectively with visual aids.
- Control question and answer sessions.
- Harness fear and be yourself.
- Become credible, confident and authentic communicators.
- Answer difficult questions and handle challenging situations effectively.
- Have immediate impact.
Telephone Communication Skills Training
Our Telephone Communication Skills Training can be tailored as an in-house program, for specific groups or for individuals and organized to address specific issues. Refined and proper telephone skills help to keep existing clients. You will learn to:
- Exceeding customer expectations every.
- Effective Telephone Skills for Inside Sales Representative.
- Coaching Award Winning Customer Service.
- On-the-Job Telephone Coaching.
Recent Blog Postings
An American Accent — Here Are Some Good Resources
In one month, Impact Communications received 17 requests for help in achieving an American accent. We heard from actors and actresses living outside of the U.S. who want to expand their career options. We also heard from inside sales and call center representatives in...
Great Presentations are a Conversation
Picture yourself attending a staff meeting. How happy are you when the host of the meeting drones on about the numbers or the specifications of a product. Most of us hate lectures. What we do like and appreciate is a great conversation. So how do you as a speaker turn something that seems like a formal presentation into a more relaxed conversation?
5 Content Tips That Drive Action
Convincing people to act on your ideas is an art. If you are one of the people who approach preparing content by opening PowerPoint, this newsletter is for you. What follows are five content tips that will help you to create high impact presentations. On the surface, they may seem too simplistic. The reality is that most people overlook these pointers and end up with content that is confusing or uninspiring.
Make Your Difficult Callers Relax with the AAH Technique
Does this sound familiar? You pick up a call in the cue in your normal professional manner and the caller on the other end of the line explodes. The person has been in cue for ten minutes, and when he does get a live person—you, he starts ranting and raving about his...
How to Hire Super Stars for Your Call Center
Call centers are the heart and soul of an organization. Customers form an impression of you and your organization within seconds based on the person on the other end of the line. If the first impression of a call center representative is positive, customers will be pleased and continue to do business with you.
Making It Stick by Keeping It Simple
As speakers, we are actually training our audience to spread the “good news.” With a limited number of key points, listeners have a better chance of remembering what we have said, and they can accurately share that information with others who have decision-making power or with those who missed the presentation.
Tell a Story and You’ll Connect
Most people begrudging attend meetings with vendors or salespeople. They look upon them as an interruption. The last thing they want when they are busy is more information about a product or service thrown at them. When they actually do meet with you, they are often distracted and pre-occupied- anything but focused on you. In addition, when the meeting is over, they quickly forget your message as they move from meeting to meeting. Your job is to pull distracted executives into your world; otherwise, all your hard preparation is for naught. Your one-time golden opportunity may be lost forever.
What to Do When the Customer Will Not Let You Talk
How many times have you had customers who seem like they are on a rampage. They won’t let you talk or try to resolve the problem. They seem to repeat the same story over and over. Understanding why that happens is the first step to dealing with the issue. Typically, it is the result of four critical missteps on the part of the customer service or technical support person.
Speak Up!
Soft voices are the bane of many people. As a soft talker, you may think it is not such a big issue. However, for your listeners, a voice that is not clearly heard is maddening. It causes people to interrupt or to tune out, especially if they are on a long conference call. Most people with soft voices feel it is just something they are born with, and there is nothing they can do about it. In fact, to them, their voice sounds plenty loud enough since it is bouncing off the gray matter in the skull. There are some solutions.
What Marv White Says about Making an Executive Level Presentation
An executive’s time is valuable. These individuals go from meeting to meeting. It is not unusual for them to have as many as 10-15 meetings a day. For Marv White, Chief Technologist for Innovation at ESPN, an entertainment sports programming network and formerly CTO of Sportvision, a sport and data content company that created the “yellow first and ten line,” it’s all about the ideas and figuring out how to execute on them. In interviewing Marv, he offered these suggestions on what a successful executive level meeting should be.
Inflection Matters!
A voice with inflection is captivating and motivating. It commands attention and makes people want to hear more. A voice without inflection is flat, a monotone. An uninteresting voice bores, annoys and confuses those having to endure it. As you consider how you might up the bar in your customer service skills, record your voice and review it as if you were a customer. Is it a voice a customer would like to hear? If not, make a conscious decision to bring more inflection into your voice. Consider the following suggestions.
Connection Matters
How you relate to others matters when making a face-to-face presentation. What creates a connection with any executive, manager or peer, first and foremost, is strong eye contact. Another way is to allow your spontaneous sense of humor and playfulness to surface during the conversation. Finally, connection also comes from being observant and using the person’s name.