Are We Communicating or What, Part 3 of 4

Before I begin, I just wanted to let you know that my column will now appear on an every-other-week schedule. As of this week, it’s officially two years since I started writing this Web column for Catalog Success. For the year prior to that, I wrote a monthly column in the print magazine.

When you break it down, that’s about 200 pages worth of information I’ve written on direct and catalog marketing.

From a pace perspective, I try not to repeat myself too often, but then again, there are always those basic concepts that warrant repeating.

So, I’ve decided to slow my pace down a bit so I won’t run out of fresh and useful ideas to bring to you.

In the meantime, there are two more things I want to express:

1. I want to thank you, my readers, for your loyalty for the last three years. (And thank you for your feedback and article ideas, too.)

2. And finally, I wish to offer a call to action to you, for more suggestions on what to write about in the future. As I’ve said before, I don’t write for me (to bloat my ego). I write for you, which makes for a fitting and ironic segue into today’s article. — Jim

(For part 1, click here, and for part 2, click here.)

What we have here is a failure to communicate!
I’ve learned I’m a much better communicator via written word than in person. With writing, you can choose your words carefully, so not to miscommunicate your intention.

We all know there are two forms of communication: verbal and nonverbal. In person, nonverbal communication is sometimes more powerful. While I cannot address nonverbal communication, as I don’t personally know you, I felt it deserved mention. But I digress.

What stops us from “clean” communication
Did you ever play that game telephone when you were a child? You know, the one where you whispered a message to someone next to you, and they told the person next to them and so on, and by the time it got to the last person, the message had changed.

Well, that’s how we communicate every day. For most people, the goal of communication is to make sure the message they state is heard. The truth is, that’s only three-quarters of the total communication path.

Four touchpoints
When you think about communication, there are four major touchpoints:

1. What you’re thinking;

2. what you actually say;

3. what the other person hears; and

4. how the other person interprets what’s heard.

Let’s think about the four touchpoints above, and in two weeks we’ll continue this discussion by examining how to overcome the gaps between what you think and how people interpret what you actually say.

Jim Gilbert is president of Gilbert Direct Marketing, a full-service catalog and direct marketing agency. His LinkedIn profile can be viewed at www.linkedin.com/in/jimwgilbert or you can post a comment here or e-mail him at jimdirect@aol.com.