Real-Life Communication
Howard Smith is the co-owner of a small web design and multimedia
company.
He says communication skills are very important for small
business owners like him and his business partner. "In our work, we have to
communicate with our clients," he says. "Because if we don't communicate with
them, we won't give them something that they like in the end. If you can't
communicate, you are not going to come across professionally."
Technology
like e-mail has eased communications.
"When you e-mail something, you
can clearly formulate what you want to say and get all the points across exactly
as you want them," Smith says.
He and his business partner have also
set up an instant messaging system that connects them across the hallway that
divides their apartments from where they work.
"So we bounce little
messages back and forth. It's really, really efficient actually."
You
run a home business designing web pages. Today, you're speaking at a business
lunch for your local chamber of commerce.
This is a great opportunity
for you to find new customers, so you want to write an opening speech that
will really impress people.
You're not going to try and explain the
Internet to them in a couple of minutes, but you are going to try and sell
them on the idea of using the Web for their businesses.
Here are the
points you want to get across:
- Tens of thousands of people are hooking up to the Internet every day.
- Some 3 billion people currently have access to the Internet.
- With a web page for your business you could attract a whole new clientele,
as the majority of Internet users are between 18 and 35.
- Placing a home page on the Internet for a year costs as much as placing
an ad in a local paper for a week.
- The Internet has become a powerful business and marketing tool.
Take the points you want to make and weave them into a great sales
pitch.
You won't have long to speak, so keep it under 200 words.