You are receiving this email from The Beckham Publications Group Inc because you purchased a product/service or subscribed on our website. To ensure that you continue to receive emails from us, add barry@beckhamhouse.com to your address book today. If you haven't done so already, click to confirm your interest in receiving email campaigns from us.
 
You may unsubscribe if you no longer wish to receive our emails.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Better English 101
Timely Communications Tips
3 July 2008, Issue 22
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tips from Denver
-- THE ALMOST FRIENDLY SKIES OF UNITED
-- DENVER SHERATON NEEDS HELP
-- TIPS FROM MAGGIANO'S LITTLE ITALY
-- SPEAKING BETTER--E-COURSE LESSON 4

Are you wondering why the subtitle is Timely Communication Tips? Well, people have written kind letters referring to my blog, my grammar letter, my letter, and even my magazine. So I thought I'd try to make my purpose clearer: it's a newsletter about communication tips. And thank you for the compliments.

After four nights in the Mile High City, I encountered enough communication issues to fill up this issue. And increasingly it seems that good communication is equal to good customer service in the business world.


THE ALMOST FRIENDLY SKIES OF UNITED
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 I must say that the landing at Denver International Airport was the smoothest I've ever experienced. True, I'm usually asleep during the landing, but this pilot really had the feather touch. Too bad that he never shared his name with us, despite his nice welcome message before taking off from Baltimore.

On the return to Baltimore, I was delighted to hear the attendant remind us, "United Airlines is a non-smoking airline." I hope their copywriter rephrases it to something like, "United Airlines prohibits smoking onboard."

Or do you think that the copywriter actually believes that the smoke spit out by the Cubana Airlines engines is from cigars?

Often I have to upload files that are too large to send by email. Here's the solution I'll share with you...

DENVER SHERATON NEEDS HELP
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Submit your essay to our new site about Barack Obama. We're publishing the best in book form. Click here for details--

Well the first thing that I noticed as we got to our room in the Sheraton is that there was no stationery kit! What writer or publisher could endure that slight? What guest who just needed to jot down notes from a recent telephone conversation could feel comfortable? And the notepad was only about three pages and two generous inches wide.

Hey, I hear that they are preparing a multi-million-dollar refurbishing. Let's hope that they give a public relations agency some of those dollars. Should I mention that the room had no safe, and that one telephone was missing? And that concierge: he sent us to a car rental location seven miles north rather than to the one within walking distance.

But our customer-friendly cab driver insisted on going inside the Hertz office with us to be sure that they had a car reserved for us. Not to worry, I left a scathing list of unacceptables on the Sheraton guest comment sheet and signed my wife's name.

Well at least I could keep in touch with the world through the free "USA Today" and "Denver Post" that lay at our door every morning. But I wanted to see what the big boys were saying in Denver and so splurged for a copy of the "Denver Business Journal."

And that's where I saw the ad for the Absolutely Public Relations firm. The headline declared, "Impactful Public Relations."

Sorry, but my colleague in crime whom I don't even know, John McIntyre, an assistant managing editor of the "Baltimore Sun," has made it quite clear in his blog that "impactful" does not appear in six major dictionaries. It other words, it's not a word, Alice.

However, I'm afraid that "deplane" has been in the "American Heritage" dictionary since 2000. Ugh, you're right, United.

Also, "impact' which I hate when used as a verb, does have legs. Like "to parent," "to input," and "to host," it is considered a verbed noun that through the ages becomes acceptable. Steven Pinker in "The Language Instinct" maintains that many English verbs were once nouns.


TIPS FROM MAGGIANO'S LITTLE ITALY
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 My veal was too chewy. Ramona the waitress at Maggiano's apologized, but equally important, explained how the chef's cut could be the reason.

Hers is a great lesson to follow. It's one thing to make a statement like, "I'm sorry it happened," or ask a question like, "May I get in line before you?" But it's much more effective to add that "because" phrase. The waitress Ramona said that the veal could be stringy "because."

Then the manager came over to apologize, to say that he would talk to the chef, and that my replacement chicken cacciatore would not only be coming soon, but also would be free.

Have I ever mentioned that "free" is one of the most powerful words in marketing? Look at the ads.

Well of course I thanked him again as we were leaving, and learned (I had an eerie feeling before) that he too was a Yankees fan!

How did I send my hard copy messages from the Sheraton since they had no stationery kit? Using email, I faxed my communications from my laptop. You can't beat the efax service. Here's a special offer

Now that we had two doggy bags of food that we couldn't eat, we left the restaurant and walked down the 16th Street Mall in hopes of finding a homeless person.

We noticed one a block away, huddled against a wall. We offered him the package. His smile of appreciation lit up the mall. But he also, in the next breath, pointed out again the importance of the thank-you and how we in far more fortunate circumstances use the term so casually.

Imagine how many times we say "thank you" in a day and don't put much heart into it. But his face expressed authentic gratefulness. And he followed it with "God bless you" as we crossed to the other sidewalk.


SPEAKING BETTER--E-COURSE LESSON 4
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 USE THE MIRROR

Practicing in front of the mirror can help you find things that need improvement.

If you place your notes in front of you, you'll notice how often you look down at them.

Watch you gestures and facial expressions. Are they appropriate and not distracting? Be alert for those nervous frowns and overactive hands

Are you standing in a way that conveys confidence? Think of how straight John F. Kennedy stood. Hands out of pockets? Not jingling those keys?

How is your breathing? Is it a visible strain or is it natural?

Take notes on everything that you want to change, take a break, then come and back practice again.

Savor the fantastic flavors o f  Dale & Thomas Popcorn


www.newnovelist.comA powerful software writing tool

Sincerely,
Barry Beckham


Quick Links...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  • Newsletter
  • Beckham Publications


    • Contact Information
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Email Marketing by