At the end of the classic movie, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Willy Wonka gives his entire factory to young Charlie Bucket after Charlie returns the valuable Everlasting Gobstopper candy he received during the factory tour rather than selling it to a rival candy maker. “So shines a good deed in a weary world,” Wonka whispers after Charlie’s selfless gesture.
The common courtesy you display probably won’t earn you a chocolate factory, but it will distinguish you as one of the few job c…
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Added by Ellen Dunnigan on July 15, 2009 at 1:00pm —
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How is your 60 second introduction? Are you using words and phrases that will connect you with the people you are meeting with everyday?
For example if you are an IT professional, what are you saying that will help the people you are networking with and meeting with understand exactly who you are and what you do?
Does your introduction sound like this?
“Hello, my name is David, and I work for XYZ IT Solutions, and I am a developer.”
That introduction is not very memorable, is it? Why don’t yo…
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Added by Ellen Dunnigan on July 14, 2009 at 1:00pm —
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Remember: when selling by phone, 84% of the message is conveyed by the quality of the voice and the intelligibility of the speech. Pitch, tone, inflection, and pronunciation matter!
The customer uses “Credibility Detectors”. These sensors in the brain are activated by tone of voice and body language; not words. They give us important information about the speaker’s sincerity, integrity, and emotional intelligence (EQ). Some people equate this to the “gut-level hunch” we often sense.
HOW you sa…
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Added by Ellen Dunnigan on July 13, 2009 at 4:15pm —
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Saw a couple of videos this morning from an intelligent and typically well-spoken business owner. Somehow he has experienced a disconnect between the use of videos as a "new, cool" medium and the use of videos as the best manner in which that specific message will be seen, heard, and UNDERSTOOD. He was positioned in front of a blah wall, his head was tilted nearly the entire time (which made it look as if he was questioning his own thoughts), and there was no passion or "oomph" or authority in h…
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Added by Ellen Dunnigan on June 30, 2009 at 4:00pm —
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I've not listened to, watched, or read any local or national "news" for the last 8 days. No 5:30am news while on the treadmill. No 11pm news in bed. Paper's in the trash. Deleted my news feeds on my laptop. My life is so much the better for it.
Try it. Turn off the negativity.
I want to issue a
challenge to our local newspapers, radio, and TV stations: Get Positive or we're moving on. If just one of our stations "Got Positive", they'd enjoy the masses of viewership, listeners, and…
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Added by Ellen Dunnigan on March 7, 2009 at 5:01pm —
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In 1999, Ken Dychtwald, Ph.D, published in Age Power the following: “Currently, 47 percent of people over age 85 – the world’s fastest growing demographic segment – suffer from some form of dementia”. As a nation, we are not prepared for the boomers who start turning 65 in 2011. We’re in a crisis and very few states have a commissioned task force to prepare for aging and dementia. Young or old, insured or not, republican or democrat, we should all be concerned. If I’m preaching to the choir, hel…
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Added by Ellen Dunnigan on February 10, 2009 at 6:27pm —
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The above title is an interesting quote from Albert Camus. Have you ever felt that way, too? I mean, how many of us have sat through a proposal or a podcast or a teleseminar or a webinar or a conversation with a new acquaintance and thought, "Gee, I don't have a clue what he just said -- but it sounded good".
We're writing a new article about the pitfalls of muddy communication, poorly crafted proposals, too much techno-jargon or psychobabble, meaningless ambiguity, etc. Would love to hear your…
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Added by Ellen Dunnigan on January 22, 2009 at 7:09pm —
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Worried about How Your Voice Sounds? Think You Might Need some Voice Help?
If you’re wondering how your voice sounds or concerned about the quality of your voice, we have a great opportunity for you. From now until Saturday, you can receive a professional evaluation of the quality of your voice. It’s really simple:
1.Call our voicemail at (317) 218-5115 and record 100 words reading aloud…then say your full name and e-mail address and the date …hang up.
2. Send us an e-mail at Ellen@Acce…
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Added by Ellen Dunnigan on January 7, 2009 at 7:30am —
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Watched a few local business video blogs last week. Certainly the blogs allow for the dissemination of information and quick messaging to staff and to customers. The words we heard were all good messages. You and I both know, though, that communication follows the “93/7 Rule”. 7% of what is communicated comes from the words chosen. A full 93% comes from the image left behind from body language, nonverbals, facial expressions, and inflection (tone of voice). In our office, we’ve certainly seen th…
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Added by Ellen Dunnigan on January 5, 2009 at 7:00am —
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Yesterday I blogged about Caroline Kennedy’s “You Know” Video (watch it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAgI4AS1NVg ).
Here’s another angle. If you’re concerned that you say, “you know”, “like”, “um” or “uh” too often in running conversation, you’re probably not using it as a filler (as stated in yesterdays blog). Really you’ve developed a habit. We have a quick and virtually pain-free method of irradicating that habit, which we’d be happy to share with you. Just contact us and we’l…
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Added by Ellen Dunnigan on January 3, 2009 at 7:00am —
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Don’t know if you’ve seen the Caroline Kennedy interview, aka the “You Know Video”, in which she said “you know” way too many times (138, to be exact) in under 3 minutes. It was painful to listen to and difficult to understand. some people call these "verbal tics", but I call them "fillers". We all use fillers from time to time during casual conversations, still the real reason she struggled so much was that she hadn’t prepared for any interview, not just that one. The “fillers” became her defau…
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Added by Ellen Dunnigan on January 2, 2009 at 3:00pm —
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