At training last week, we spent a lot of time talking about the how – how you talk to people, how you portray yourself, and how your use body language to communicate. 

This is especially important for everyone to understand, not just businessmen/women, because only 7% of most received messages are based on content (the words you’re saying).  The rest of the pie is divided between tone (38%) and body language (55%).  This is not to say that your content can be sloppy or disconnected, but when thinking about the overall message you are trying to send, tone and body language are incredibly important – 93% important!

My favorite little quote I say all the time is, “It’s not what you say, but how you say it.”  So true!

Instead of blabbering on and on about my thoughts on this topic, I thought I would share some of the quotes that were posted around our room last week.  I think they paint a better picture about all of this than I ever could.

 

Does the breakdown between content, tone, and body language surprise you?