Ben Decker on: Communicating with Influence

On today's episode of Meaningful*FM, I'm joined by business communications expert, Ben Decker. Ben is the CEO of Decker Communications, has worked with hundreds of leaders in Fortune 500 companies to strategize and implement communication solutions that are practical, direct and attainable. Ben’s new book (co-authored with his wife, Kelly , Communicate to Influence: How to Inspire Your Audience to Action, reveals his top tips and tricks on how to best communicate your ideas and influence others to your way of thinking. And today, Bens going to share some of those big ideas from the book so that you too can learn how to communicate to influence others -- both in  life and in business.

Here's what you'll learn about in this conversation:

- The top 3 biggest takeaways from Ben’s book: Communicate to Influence (co-authored with his wife)

- How to use body language to influence others more effectively.

- The biggest mistakes people make when they're trying to communicate their ideas to other people?

- The best way to handle a conversation with someone that you know doesn't want to listen to you — or even worse — doesn’t trust you.

- The "5 White Lies of Communication” and how to find em’, fix em’, and use em’ to your advantage when you’re trying to communicate your ideas and influence others

- Win-Win-Win negotiation tips to ensure you’re not screwed over when you’re in the middle of negotiating important things — like getting the best damn price when you’re working with a used car salesman.

Meaningful*fm Episode #62. 
Communicate to Influence with Ben Decker

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Show notes

- People tend to *inform* when what they should really be focused on is how to *influence*

- 2 powerful personality traits you can start cultivating right now to become better at communicating to influence others:

• #1. Empathy. Instead of trying to hammer home all the reasons why you need to “get them to listen”, it might be helpful cultivate your empathy muscles… To do this, consider approaching the situation from the other person’s perspective, and tailor your communications accordingly.
• #2. Emotion. Use your real personality and inject it into the conversation to spice up your communications, make your ideas resonate, and drive your point(s) home for the listener.

- Avoid closed body language and closed gestures when communicating with others.

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Books mentioned

Communicate to Influence by Ben Decker & Kelly Decker

Drive by Dan Pink

Start With Why by Simon Sinek

Made to Stick by Chip Heath & Dan Heath 

Decisive by Chip Heath & Dan Heath 

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Selected links

CONNECT WITH BEN DECKER:

• decker.com

CREDITS:

• Music: "Some Time" [EDM.com Exclusive] - Slo Dogz