Marketing Essentials

Chapter 8: Communication Skills

Chapter Summaries

Section 8.1

• Effective verbal and nonverbal communication is clear and concise presentation of a message so that the reader or listener can understand it easily.
• Listening is crucial in communication. It involves recognizing, assimilating, assessing, and evaluating the message.
• The global economy has brought new pressures on companies to communicate with customers and vendors around the world. Overcoming cultural barriers to listening with understanding is now more important than ever.
• Reading for meaning is reading carefully, figuring out the meaning of new words, searching for answers, and analyzing and evaluating information.

Section 8.2

• Formal speaking requires organized ideas. Enumeration (listing items in order), generalization with examples, cause and effect, and compare and contrast are four ways to structure ideas.
• Effective telephone communication requires a pleasant tone of voice, enunciation, and speaking loudly enough for the other person to hear. The speaker should convey all necessary information and be prepared to take a message.
• Persuasion is used to convince others of the value or importance of an idea or thing – an essential skill in marketing. The simplest and often most effective way to persuade others is to learn their needs and propose a way to fulfill them.
• The keys to writing persuasive business letters and other messages are knowing your audience, knowing your purpose, and knowing your subject. Thoughts should be organized into an opening paragraph, a persuasive body, and a concluding paragraph.