Today is my birthday. It’s early in the morning and I will be catching a plane back to Perth from Brisbane in a few hours. While I’m waiting to go to the airport, I’d like to share a topic that is close to my heart: Success Communication.

When someone asks me what I do for a living, I say: I’m a Success Communicator. It leaves a look of bewilderment in their eyes and begs for a more elaborate explanation. Normally, the title of Internet Marketer replaces it to make it more mainstream but even that isn’t taken all that seriously. I suppose internet marketing is more of a dream job than a well respected one. The time has come to explain this term as it has been in use since 2005 and I have never really elaborated on why I use it in the title of this blog.

I sign off as Success Communicator and even print it on my business cards, although I rarely carry cards as an internet marketer. The point is that I don’t need much offline exposure. How silly does it look if I cannot market myself online as an internet marketer? Online is affordable and efficient. Actually, mostly it’s free and that works well for me.

What Is Success Communication?

Success Communication is the art of communicating with other people and making yourself understood – and to do so successfully. I do not claim to be the best in the world at communicating but I am constantly improving through awareness of this topic. I constantly stay aware of the obstacles that we set ourselves and the “lack of” effort there is when some people transfer their opinions or teachings to others. The lack of tolerance – or ignorance – that is displayed around the world in communicating between cultures is the number one reason for conflict. I think it is fair to say that we could easily improve our communication skills and decrease conflicts all over our globe.

Needless to say, the effort required to enhance our skills in this area is minimal. All it takes is a little care about other people and respect for their opinions. Bluntly put, it means being more selfless and less selfish. Accepting that others will think differently and that it does not harm you, will leave you much more at ease with any issue that normally burdens many people’s life’s.

How To Communicate Successfully

As a Success Communicator, my aim is to understand what the other persons values are. When I understand their values, I understand their motivation and what guides their opinions. Dr John Demartini talks about a persons Hierarchy Of Values. It establishes what is most important to them and the hierarchy their values follow from there on. If someone is interested in Formula One Cars, and I’m talking about internet marketing, they are unlikely to pay a lot of attention to my topic. It is not a matter of respect. It is more a case of getting their attention. So if I talk about how internet marketing can improve their lifestyle and get them to next years Formula One Race in Monte Carlo, I have their attention! I am simply communicating my story to them successfully and in line with their values.

I got myself in a spot of trouble a few years ago, when I was seriously starting to take interest in the art of Success Communication. I was a Switching Officer in a High Voltage power station. My job was to isolate the high voltage supply and ensure people were safe before they started work on any equipment. The difference between me doing my job properly – or disrespecting it – could be life or death for someone else. My supervisor’s Hierarchy Of Values seemed heavily career based, with safety second on his list. My values were safety first and, if needed, I would go against his directives happily knowing that my safe outlook would result in some worker going home that night to his family rather than being fried to a crisp by 33,000 volts.

One day when my supervisor argued (quite loudly) with me about slowing down an important job, because of the poor way he had communicated it to me and my co-workers, I simply responded:

“The difference between humans and animals is the ability to communicate in an intelligent way. You have failed at this! I suppose this put you in the second category”

Maybe I was a bit harsh at the time and he did take offense to this statement. The point I’m making is this:

Communication Is A Gift

We have been given a gift. It is the gift of speech and the ability to communicate with others. We are given words, tone of voice & body language to give a 100% account of our communication to another human. Why not use it and master it to the level we were meant to? There is far too much assumption and expectation going on – that the other person has all the information and knowledge that we have accumulated during our life. Meanwhile, they are never going to get the message simply based on words coming out of another persons mouth. There is more to it than that!

Use these 3 tools to master the art of being a Success Communicator:

• The written word – 17% of communication
• Tone of voice – 34% of communication
• Body language – 49% of communication

Looking at the above percentages, we can see that simply writing a letter wont be very successful in getting your message across. People will only understand 17% of what you intended in your message.

If you however spoke to someone on the phone, they will get your Word (17%) as well as your Tone Of Voice (34%) and that will communicate 51% of your message to them. This is why a phonecall is far more effective than a letter.

However, if you were to speak to a person face to face, you are able to look them in the eyes, use your hands and body to display your truthfulness, mood and ethics to the other person along with the Word and your Tone Of Voice. You are now using 100% of the tools you are equipped with to communicate.

Your Hierarchy Of Values

Now the question has to be asked: You are using 100% of your communication tools, but are you communicating successfully? This is the time to start thinking about what the other persons values are – and more importantly – what are their Hierarchy Of Values?

As a Success Communicator, I understand that most relationships, be it business, marriage or friendship, break down due to a lack of communication. Learn this skill and prosper in life. Yes, it takes Two To Tango and you may as well be the one that leads. Harness the skill of a Success Communicator and the world will be a much better place with more of us sharing this skill.

I’ll leave you with a comment a dear friend of mine stated to the Woodside Petroleum Hierarchy after he had accidently shut down production and cost them over $1M of lost production:

“If you think you can laugh at this 12 months from now, you might as well laugh now”

They didn’t see the funny side. I suppose their Hierarchy Of Vales were different to his. But his fresh outlook saved him his job and we all got a good laugh out of it.

Until next time, have a most outstanding day.

Sean Rasmussen
Success Communicator
Aussie Internet Marketer © 2004 – 2009

Tagged as: Aussie, Internet Marketer, Internet Marketing, Social Media, Success Communication, Success Communicator