1. Appeal to everyone's #1 interest
2. Understand their three needs
3. Build Trust
4. Answer their six questions

I wrote about tips 1 and 2: include WIIFM and understand people's three needs (click here for that newsletter). This month I promised to explain tips 3 and 4: build trust and answer the six questions.

If your audience doesn't trust you, they will tune you out or listen defensively. When I teach "Creating High Performance Teams," I share Duarte and Synder's three factors for building trust:

1. Performance and Competence
2. Integrity
3. Concern with the Well Being Others

Honestly assess your behaviors and sincerity around these three factors. People are adept at spotting "fakers" pretty quickly and won't listen to your message if they believe you're not trustworthy. If you think you are competent at these critical components, also check Stephen M. R. Covey's book, "Speed of Trust," where he has identified 13 trust behaviors.

Do you remember the what, why, who, when, where, and how of our messages (5 Ws and H) when you learned how to write? You may tend to take these answers for granted and not state them explicitly. Ironically, adults need to know this information to make decisions about the importance of communication; furthermore, if you leave out any of this information, then people may question any of the three trust factors above.  Not including these basics will frustrate instead of engage your audience.

Appeal to everyone's best interest, understand their three needs, build trust using three factors, and answer their six questions, then people will be engaged and listen to you. If you're interested in more information about effective communication, contact us.