Archive for the ‘Conversation Tips’ Category

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Calling Customer Service: How to Get a Person on the Phone

Thursday, February 4th, 2010

 

blog by Tracey E. Bennett

You’re calling customer service. But you land in a maze — or daze. How do you get a person on the phone? You could get your problem handled in a jiffy if only someone would talk to you.

Here are 8 tips adapted from Reader’s Digest:

1. Don’t push any buttons. The computer will assume that you have a rotary phone and send you to a real person.

2. Push zero. Sometimes that sends you to a helpful soul.

3. Press a mess of buttons.

4. Mumble. It confuses the system and (more…)

Posted in Conversation Tips, Helpful Info | No Comments »

How to Split the Check Without Looking Cheap

Monday, January 18th, 2010

"SAVE!"

Have you ever gone to dinner with friends and ordered only a drink or appetizer? But when the bill came around, you got stuck with a chunk of it? How do you pay your fair share — that is, for your smaller portion — without looking or feeling cheap?

Here’s a tip from Ramit from Scrooge Strategy. He’s all about saving money, and he’s got a good tip about saving face, too. (more…)

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Delta Flight Attendant + Crayons = Connection & Conversation

Sunday, December 27th, 2009

What does it take to calm an irritated customer, connect people, start conversations, and build relationships? What could do all that? As this story shows, it just takes one person thinking outside the Crayon box.

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. –  AP – A museum is showing artwork collected by a Delta flight attendant who started handing out crayons to passengers after the Sept. 11th attacks.

The Palm Springs Air Museum is showing "Plane Art — Connecting People" through Jan. 25. Several dozen pictures are hanging at the museum, and many others are available for visitors to leaf through in folders.
 
The pictures were collected by Delta flight attendant Jewel Van Valin. She got the idea a few months after 9/11, when the airline began substituting paper for linens as tray table covers.
 

She said one passenger (more…)

Posted in Conversation Tips, Start Conversations | No Comments »

Simple Advice for Parents Trying to Raise Happy, Healthy Daughters

Sunday, December 6th, 2009

mum and a daughter

A criminologist who has spent decades studying the lives of girls and women who end up in prison has some simple advice for parents trying to raise happy, healthy daughters: Listen.

"We need to listen to our daughters, not just talk to our daughters. That what girls tell us," said University of Hawaii professor Meda Chesney-Lind. "They want to be heard. Parents think they are talking with their daughters, when they’re really talking at their daughters." [from the opening 2 paragraphs in Friday's Star-Bulletin story by writer Christine Donnelly.]

My stepfather listened to me. Maybe that’s why I loved him so much. We traded stories:  he and his brothers dumped a nest of mice (more…)

Posted in Conversation Questions, Conversation Tips, Listening | 2 Comments »

Conversation Tip: How to Turn a Good Compliment into a Terrific Compliment

Monday, October 19th, 2009

Leil Lowndes photo 

Today’s post is by guest blogger and conversation expert Leil Lownes. I wanted to say "conversation diva," but Leil’s no diva; she’s delightfully down to earth. Today she tells us how to turn a compliment into a great compliment. Take it away, Leil. 
 
++++++++++++
 
SAVE YOUR KUDOS UNTIL THEY REALLY COUNT!
                
Of course you please people when you praise them. They enjoy it — all by themselves.

Let’s say a colleague did an excellent and speedy job on a project at work. Naturally she’s delighted when you compliment her. But  don’t you think she’d be a lot more delighted if (more…)

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Posted in Conversation Tips | 1 Comment »

Before You End a Friendship, Try This Tip

Friday, October 2nd, 2009

End a friendship 

 

by Tracey E. Bennett, Queen of Conversation

 

I’m driving home from the bark park, thinking about my ex-friend Mary Wagner. I’m feeling the hurt of being dumped after 30 years of close friendship. And it’s not a new hurt either;  it’s been more than 10 years since Mary announced she was ending the friendship.

Why? On our trip to Guatemala and Costa Rica, I had bugged her with judgments about her singlehood. 

Who, me? A couple mentions, yes. But over the top? I had no idea. Is that enough to end a friendship? (more…)

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Posted in Conversation Tips | 5 Comments »

A Good Presentation Tip from One Smart Cookie

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

Today’s post was contributed by Hawaii’s top presentation coach, Pam Chambers:

  You’re wandering down the cookie aisle at Your Groceries USA. After some moments of indecision, you are seduced by the Pepperidge Farm Chocolate Chunks. Three inches in diameter, packed with chips and nuts — what’s not to like?

It is the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act that protects you from ripping open the bag only to find (more…)

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The Hawaii Writers Conference Sparks Good Conversation Starters for Your Conference or Group

Thursday, September 10th, 2009
Hawaii Writers Conference logo

What a great Labor Day weekend! How did you spend your time off? Did you do something fun? (That’s a good conversation starter, by the way, because it invites the sharing of personal information.)

For the third year in a row, I volunteered at the Hawaii Writers Conference, (the weekend formerly known as the Maui Writers Conference).

 

Ahhh! 4 days of bliss for everyone who loves writing, books and movies. That would be me and 700 of my dearest writer friends.   (more…)

Posted in Conversation Questions, Conversation Tips, Listening | No Comments »

Good Communication Skills: Do You Make This Common Communication Mistake?

Thursday, August 27th, 2009

 

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"George" committed a communication faux pas last night. When he did it, his audience’s attention wandered. Unless you’ve learned this essential communication skill, I bet you make this mistake all the time, too.

Let’s set the scene and see if you can spot the problem:

 

(more…)

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Posted in Conversation Tips | 3 Comments »

Communication Skills: A Funny Lesson on How NOT to Use PowerPoint

Friday, August 7th, 2009

 Tips for Powerpoint Users 
  Corporate comic Don McMillan shows us how NOT to use PowerPoint. I bet you can relate; I can.

Thanks to Pam, the presentation coach extraordinaire, at PamChambers.com for this lead.

 

Did Don miss your PowerPoint pet peeve? Please comment.

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Posted in Conversation Tips, Humor | 2 Comments »

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