Communication Archives

Captivate: The Science of Succeeding With People—Overview

Do you feel awkward in social situations? Do you know how to have interesting conversations and get people to like you? In Captivate: The Science of Succeeding With People, best-selling author Vanessa Van Edwards provides strategies to help you become a social superstar. By taking control of social situations and presenting your best self, you can dazzle the people you want to know and forge meaningful relationships. Keep reading for our overview of this practical and encouraging book, including an exercise that will help you prepare for social success.

How to Turn Customer Conversations Into Useful Feedback

How can you use customer conversations to make your product better? What information should you gather during these discussions? In The Mom Test, Rob Fitzpatrick recommends taking customer feedback to determine if your business is worth continuing. To get this feedback, you need to talk with customers in the first place. Keep reading to learn how to take advantage of your customer conversations.

5 Smart Ways to Gather Customer Feedback

Why should you gather customer feedback? What do you do with that feedback? Feedback is important in any workplace, but especially important if you have a new idea you want to test. Rob Fitzpatrick’s book The Mom Test suggests five ways to gather feedback from customers that will determine if you have a great idea on your hands. Keep reading to learn how to gather customer feedback with Fitzpatrick’s five strategies.

Product Design Critique: Example of the Sprint Method

Looking for a product design critique example? How does the sprint method inform design critique? Jake Knapp’s Design Sprint method aims to teach product designers how to test a product idea in just five days. Using the sprint method for design critique is helpful if you’re stuck in the middle of a project that seems to be going nowhere. Read on for a product design critique example from Knapp’s bestselling book Sprint.

How to Write a Sales Letter: Dan Kennedy’s Winning Strategies

What are sales letters? Are they effective? How should one be written and used? You don’t have to attend an elite institution to learn how to turn words into money, says multimillionaire entrepreneur Dan Kennedy in The Ultimate Sales Letter. Whether you’re a new business owner or just interested in writing persuasively, you can use Kennedy’s strategies to sell. Continue reading to learn what a sales letter is, how to write a sales letter, and how to use a sales letter strategically.

How to Talk to Customers and Apply Their Feedback

6 Tips for Providing Effective Customer Service

Do you need to know how to talk to customers? What do you get out of talking to customers? Turning discussions with customers into constructive feedback should be an ongoing routine at any business. In The Mom Test, Rob Fitzpatrick gives advanced tips on how to use discussions with customers to enhance your business. Let’s look at how to talk to customers to give your business a boost.

4 Persuasive Copywriting Techniques to Boost Sales

What is persuasive copywriting? How can you spread your company’s message in the market? An essential part of crafting an effective advertisement involves writing copy that builds on and reinforces the message in your headline. In Breakthrough Advertising, Eugene M. Schwartz offers four strategies for achieving this. Check out these persuasive copywriting techniques that will convince customers to buy your product.

Cal Newport on Email & the Problems With Instant Messages

What does Cal Newport have to say about emails? Why does he warn against constantly checking your email? In A World Without Email, Cal Newport argues that email makes workers less happy and productive. He further explains why this is, and the downsides of the distracted mindset emails create. Read below for a better understanding of Cal Newport’s email warnings.

The 4 Problems With Emails in a Knowledge Workplace

What are the major problems with emails? Is checking your email a bad thing? Checking your email isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but if it’s taking up most of your day, it might be distracting you from important work. Cal Newport’s book A World Without Email claims that a habit of constantly checking emails causes a hyperactive hive mind workflow (HHMW)—which can hurt you and your work. Let’s look at the four problems with emails, both for companies and individuals.

6 Discussion Questions From Crucial Conversations

Are you looking for discussion questions for the book Crucial Conversations? How can these exercises help you improve your communication skills? A crucial conversation is a discussion characterized by high stakes, differing opinions, and strong emotions. If handled poorly, these stressful conversations can derail and even destroy relationships. Here’s a brief background of the book along with Crucial Conversations discussion questions.