Blog | Travis White Communications

Jargon — When and Where?

Published September 29, 2011

We all complain about jargon. So why do we use it so frequently? On the one hand, we use it to show that we belong to an “in-group”. We’ve been initiated and we know what we’re talking about. If others understand it, we know they’re part of the group. If they don’t understand, we know they’re outsiders. So jargon can be an important “group grooming” tool. It can also make you seem arrogant and stuffy to anyone who is not initiated.

More importantly, we use jargon because it can be a good communication tool; it’s a very precise and efficient way to communicate with other people who know the code. For people who don’t know the code, however, it’s confusing and irritating. As you hone your communication skills, remember that jargon is very appropriate in some situations; very inappropriate in others. The video will help you understand the difference.

Posted in Content, Sound Bites | Tagged communication skills, communication tool, good communication, jargon | Leave a comment

Building Brands by Building Trust

Published September 23, 2011

What’s a brand? In essence, it’s a promise that’s been consistently fulfilled. The promise has been kept in the past and we’ve come to trust that it will be fulfilled in the future. Coca Cola, for instance, has always tasted the same — no matter where or when the product is purchased. We’re confident that the same taste will be delivered in the future. In other words, we trust Coca Cola will keep its promise and we feel safe in buying the product. The brand has reduced risk and uncertainty in our lives.

What’s the essence of brand building? Consistently fulfilling the same promise. If the company behind the brand has many employees who deliver customer services, then they all must understand the brand promise and fulfill it in their daily activities. If they do, trust will be enhanced and the brand will grow. If they don’t, the lack of consistency undermines trust and customers lose confidence in the business. Customers will start to wonder whether they can trust that the brand will fulfill its promises in the future.

Learn more in the video.

Posted in Brand, Content, Featured | Tagged brand, brand building, brand promise, building a brand, building trust, business, essence of brand building | Leave a comment

Are older people wiser?

Published September 22, 2011

Many cultures around the world consider old people to be wiser than young people. Why would that be? It may be very simple — old people have forgotten a lot. They forget the details and the minutiae. They remember the important stuff. That’s also very good advice for creating powerful, persuasive presentations.

Get more tips for improving your verbal communication skills in the video.

Posted in Content, Featured, Miscellaneous | Tagged age and wisdom, creating presentations, persuasive presentations, powerful presentations, travis white, verbal communication, verbal communication skills | 2 Comments

Your metaphor or mine?

Published September 14, 2011

The world is just too complex. It’s difficult to understand all the different things that are going on around us. Some people retreat to conspiracy theories to try to make sense of the world. Most of us do something simpler: we create metaphors. A metaphor is simply a way of saying, “the world is like this…” It simplifies the many complexities and makes the world — and our arguments — easier to understand.

But what happens if my metaphor for how the world works is different from your metaphor? If I say that life is like baseball, then I’ll probably tolerate a little deceit in life. After all, the hidden ball trick is acceptable, no? If you say that life is like a court of law, you’ll probably have a much different view of what’s acceptable. We could wind up talking right past each other. Worse, we could get very angry at each other without really understanding why. It’s not an effective communication tool for business or for romance. Learn more in the video.

Posted in Content, Featured, Miscellaneous | Tagged business, effective communication, effective communication tool, metaphors, romance | Leave a comment

Your frame of reference or mine?

Published September 8, 2011

You go to a department store and buy $300 worth of stuff. To pay for it, you present a general purpose credit card. The clerk tells you that you can save 10% immediately if you apply for a department store credit card. From the clerk’s perspective, it’s a very logical argument — save $30 just by doing a little paper work. Your perspective may be different — it’s one more card to manage, one more bill to pay each month, and so on. If you’re like me, you’ll decline the offer. The long-term hassles outweigh the short-term benefits.

What we have here is a frame-of-reference issue. The clerk’s frame of reference is much narrower than yours. The clerk’s argument is very logical; indeed, it’s airtight. But your frame of reference allows more information in and you decline the offer.

To be persuasive in an argument, your communication skills should include the ability to argue logically within your audience’s frame of reference. To do that, you need to know your audience better than your business or product. Learn more in this week’s video.

Posted in Miscellaneous, Rhetoric | Tagged argue logically, business, communication skills, frame-of-reference issue, know your audience, logical argument, persuasive argument | Leave a comment

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