How to Write a Business Proposal in Response to a Request For Proposal (RFP) Or Quote (RFQ)

Here's the situation: a potential client asks you for a proposal for services or products in response to a Request for Proposal (RFP) or Request for Quote (RFQ), but where do you start? If you have never written a business proposal before, this can be a daunting task. However, by using a logical document format, you can develop a quality proposal that will maximise the chances of it being accepted. Then you'll discover that you can repeat the same formula for any subsequent proposals. 

This article recommends and details the minimum content areas that you should address in a business proposal. In this case, we assume that there is no formal document structure requested by your client - so it is for you to decide on the form of the proposal. 

Your Aim

How to Write a Business Proposal in Response to a Request For Proposal (RFP) Or Quote (RFQ)

Before you start writing any proposal, you must consider your aim - to make a sale of your goods and or services. Two of the major issues considered by your client in deciding whether to accept your proposal are whether, in their opinion, you understand their business needs; and that you can deliver what you promise. You must continually refer to these two fundamental questions when you write your proposal. Referring back to these issues also helps you with developing the content of your proposal.

Proposal Contents

Any business proposal should contain the following areas:
Scope of Work - this requires you to provide an overview of your services or products that will meet their business needs. The client's needs are obtained from a Brief that may range from a formal written document through to a verbal conversation. You need to provide the client with the confidence that you understand their business needs and demonstrate how your products or services meet them. Project Approach - in this section, you need to provide some explanation about how you are going to approach the work. This builds more confidence for your client, as they read what you are doing (Scope of Work), along with evidence that you have actually thought about and planned the work. Past Experience - you should provide details of previous engagements in which you have delivered similar products or services. It is also helpful to include personal references, should the client wish to verify them. The purpose of this is to give the client some measure of how mature and experienced you are in delivering the services or products you are offering.  Project Team - you should always detail the specific people you intend to use during the engagement, along with their background, skills and experience. It is also useful to include a resumé or CV for each person. You should also mention who will be the main point of contact in your organisation for this project. Timeline and Milestones - this section should illustrate the tasks or products to be provided, each with a corresponding planned delivery date. For larger engagements, milestones can be used to serve as control checkpoints for the client or payment points for you (further discussed below). The timeline can be presented in tabular form, or if more complex, you can use a Gantt chart. Progress Reports and Meetings - to foster good communications and to maintain a healthy relationship with the client, you should suggest the forms and frequency of progress reports and meetings. Examples of this could include providing weekly email updates, formal written reports, or monthly face-to-face meetings. Resources and Materials Provided by the Client - if you need the client to provide you with any facilities or resources for your use or access, you need to state them here. Examples could be provision of a computer workstation or access to their computer systems whilst you are working on their site, or access to the client's key staff at certain points of the engagement. Assumptions - if there are any other assumptions that you have made in preparing your proposal, you should include them here. The point of this is to minimise any misunderstandings you may have with the client after they give you the approval to proceed with the engagement.  For example, you will not be happy if your client asks for a task that you assumed was outside the scope of the project, but never stated. Cost and Payment Schedule - the cost of your proposal can be expressed either in a lump sum or on a time and materials basis. You will need to provide visibility of your hourly rates if you are charging on a time and materials basis. If it is appropriate, or if the client desires, you can suggest to be paid according to certain project deliverables that are stated in the Timelines and Milestones section. In this case, you can align the relevant Milestones against appropriate payment amounts. If the engagement is on a time and materials basis, then you can align payments with deliverables or request that payments be made periodically such as fortnightly or monthly. Terms of Agreement - if you have any contract terms that you wish to apply to the agreement, they should be included here. These could include anything from ownership of IP through to payment terms. You can use the services of a lawyer to help you develop these terms if required.

The above areas are the recommended minimum contents of any business proposal in response to a Request for Proposal (RFP) or Request for Quote (RFQ). Used systematically, this can guide can help you to develop and refine the format of your proposals. It allows you to breakdown the task of proposal writing into relevant sections, allowing you to focus on the all-important technical content. 

When writing a proposal, always remember that you are trying to provide a prospective client with the confidence that you know your products and services, and are experienced in delivering them.  Writing your proposals using this format will help you to develop quality proposals and maximise the chances of them being accepted.

How to Write a Business Proposal in Response to a Request For Proposal (RFP) Or Quote (RFQ)
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Samantha Yee
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Tech Edit
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Tech Edit is an Australian based company offering document editing and proofreading across a variety of areas including technical documents, business documents, academic documents and personal documents.

Follow These Eight Steps to Develop Your Corporate Communications Plan

Your company needs a corporate communications plan to help guarantee the success of your overall business plan. And the best time to develop a communications plan is during your annual budgeting or organizational planning process.

"Communications" includes all written, spoken and electronic interactions between you and audiences inside and outside your organization.

A plan will help you to organize and prioritize the communication tools and initiatives you use to deliver the right information to the right people at the right time. It will help you to keep your stakeholders informed and maintain their buy-in and support for your communications endeavors. It will solidifyYour choice of communications methods, initiatives and materials What each communication program component must achieve Your choice of key audiences Timetables, tools and budgets How you measure and evaluate program results
From a communications executive's perspective, in addition to the peace of mind it brings, such a plan will help you toEstablish priorities, Determine day-to-day activities Achieve order and control Gain CEO and staff support Protect against last-minute demands
Follow these eight steps to develop an effective corporate communications plan:

Follow These Eight Steps to Develop Your Corporate Communications Plan

1. Define your goals and desired results.What is your strategic purpose with regard to corporate communications? What's the tie-in to your organization's business plan?
2. Conduct an audit to determine and evaluate your current communications materials and initiatives. You must determineWhat communications initiatives each department is using What each initiative is designed to achieve Each initiative's effectiveness
3. Define your overall communications objectives, such as reinforcingCustomer service Customer loyalty Increased sales Employee morale and teamwork Employee retention and recruitment Media relations A positive corporate image and reputation Crisis control
4. Determine which audiences you want to influence, such asCurrent and prospective customers Suppliers Current and prospective employees Federal, state and local legislators Wall Street The media
5. Decide which tools you can use -- and afford -- to achieve your goals and get your points across. Your tools can include: Print publications Online communications Manuals Meeting and conference materials Media and public relations materials Marketing and sales materials Legal and legislative documents Employee and customer newsletters Corporate identity materials -- logos, print and packaging, Quarterly and annual reports Signage Presentations Website content Blogs Internet initiatives
6. Estimate the cost of each initiative, then establish a budget.
7. Establish your timetable.
8. Include methods in your plan that you can use to measure and evaluate results periodically, and to evaluate the program's overall results at year's end.

A written communications plan is as much a defense against chaos, confusion and wasted energy as it is a business priority.
Once in place, your plan will establish priorities, fend off last-minute and inappropriate demands and bring a semblance of order to a hectic job.

Follow These Eight Steps to Develop Your Corporate Communications Plan
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Brian R. Salisbury, a writer and a public relations and communications consultant, combines a wealth of communications know-how with an engaging writing style to help his clients shape the most effective messages and deliver them with the greatest impact where they count most. Visit Brian's website at http://www.BriansQuill.com and subscribe to his free public relations newsletter and receive his free report "Ten Key Components of a Successful Public Relations Program." Or send him an email at BrianSalisbury@BriansQuill.com.

Integrated Marketing Communications - 5 Primary Communication Tools

Communication is always one of the most important and vital strategic areas of an organization's success. You can have the best or most innovative products or services, but if your internal and external communications are weak, then the demand for your products or services raises a personal flag of concern. When communicating the value of your products or services, you want to focus on how they will benefit your clients.

When planning your strategy for Integrated Marketing Communication or IMC, you want to have dialogue with your customers by inviting interaction through the coordinated efforts of content, timing and delivery of your products or services. By ensuring direction, clarity, consistency, timing and appearance of your messages, conveyed to your targeted audience, these factors will help avoid any confusion about the benefits of your brand, through the connection of instant product recognition.

When looking at your marketing mix, you're examining price, distribution, advertising and promotion, along with customer service. Integrated marketing communication is part of that marketing mix included in your marketing plan. IMC strategies define your target audience, establishes objectives and budgets, analyzes any social, competitive, cultural or technological issues, and conducts research to evaluate the effectiveness of your promotional strategies.

Integrated Marketing Communications - 5 Primary Communication Tools

If companies are ethically planning, communicating, and following industry guidelines, they will most likely earn the trust of their customers and target audience. There are five basic tools of integrated marketing communication:

1. Advertising:
This tool can get your messages to large audiences efficiently through such avenues as radio, TV, Magazines, Newspapers (ROP), Internet, Billboards and other mobile technological communication devices. This method can efficiently reach a large number of consumers, although the costs may be somewhat expensive.

2. Sales Promotion:
This tool is used through coupons, contests, samples, premiums, demonstrations, displays or incentives. It is used to accelerate short-term sales, by building brand awareness and encouraging repeat buying.

3. Public Relations:
This integrated marketing communications tool is initiated through public appearances, news/press releases or event sponsorships, to build trust and goodwill by presenting the product, company or person in a positive light.

4. Direct Marketing:
This tool will utilized email, mail, catalogs, encourage direct responses to radio and TV, in order to reach targeted audiences to increase sales and test new products and alternate marketing tactics.

5. Personal Selling:
Setting sales appointments and meetings, home parties, making presentations and any type of one-to-one communication, to reach your customers and strengthen your relationship with your clients, initiate this IMC tool.

Decisions linking the overall objectives and strategies during the marketing planning phases help to evaluate and fine-tune the specific activities of integrated marketing communication. Before selecting an IMC tool, marketing, product and brand managers must look at social, competitive, legal, regulatory, ethics, cultural and technological considerations. One thing you want to avoid when activating the tools of integrated marketing communication is reaching inappropriate audiences and causing controversy. That could be damaging when trying to build brand awareness and encourage consumer spending with your company. When marketing managers examine the beliefs, emotions and behavior of their targeted audience towards their brand, they can influence their beliefs to achieve product awareness, by attracting attention to their promotional campaigns.

Integrated Marketing Communications - 5 Primary Communication Tools
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Kym Gordon Moore is a Creative Marketing Strategist and Public Relations Administrator for Moore 2 It Productions, a firm dedicated to coordinating cost-effective, creative strategic marketing packages for new small businesses and newly published authors. http://www.moore2itproductions.com She is the author of "Diversities of Gifts: Same Spirit," Co-Founder of Favorite Things for a CAUSE, a member of the American Marketing Association, American Authors Association and the North Carolina Writer's Network. http://www.kymgmoore.com

Summer Jobs For 14 Year Olds - 3 Good Paying Jobs to Put Money in Your Pocket For the Summertime

You just turned 14 and just finished your last year of junior high school. This is the last summer before you start high school and you really want to have some fun, but in order to have fun these days you really need to have some money in your pocket and some extra cash saved in your bank account.

The only problem is finding a good job during the summertime which will also allow you to have enough time to enjoy your summer with your family and friends. Many established businesses won't hire 14 year olds simply because they are too young or it would be a legal hassle to do so. With that in mind there are still some very good summer jobs that you can qualify for which can make you some very good money in order for you to have a great time during the summer. In this article we will take a look at a few of these niche jobs.

If you happen to be lucky enough to live along the coastal area than the perfect job for you as a girl or guy would be a lifeguard. As far as summer jobs for 14 year olds, being a lifeguard ranks as probably one of the best jobs that you can get not only because you work in a very fun atmosphere but you also learn how to be responsible, because when you are out there at the beach many people's lives are in your hands.

Summer Jobs For 14 Year Olds - 3 Good Paying Jobs to Put Money in Your Pocket For the Summertime

In order to become a lifeguard you have to take a certification course, plus you also need to prove that you are a more than adequate swimmer. As far as how much you would get paid as a lifeguard it all depends on the state that you live in and whether your area is saturated with lifeguards or not, but generally the range of pay for lifeguards starts at minimum wage and goes all the way up to an hour, but like I said again you need to do some homework and ask around about the pay in your area, but if you're looking for a great job in which you mostly sit around all day and get a great tan than being a lifeguard is just the thing for you.

If however you do not live near a coastal area then it would be better for you to look in other directions for a job as a 14 year old. There are many 14 year olds that are very good when it comes to computer related things, and there are a lot of them that even have their own websites that they have built themselves. If you are also good at something like this then maybe you should do some freelance web design work on the Internet. Even during this very bad economy there is still a great demand for web designers out there and there are thousands of web design related forms in which posters are constantly in need of someone to design a website for them.

This is a niche that you can quickly start making money from and the beauty of web design work is that you can basically set your own hours so that you can do most of your work late at night or early in the morning and still have lots of time to enjoy your summer days. Most freelance web designers during the summertime don't even work over the weekends. Believe it or not, web design work is a very high-paying job and even if you are 14 years old you could still make between 0 and 0 per web design. If you want to turn this into just a part-time summer job you would only need to perform between 5 to 10 web design projects and the money that you will get paid from this will usually last you throughout your summer vacation , and you will probably have some spare money left on the side to go shopping for some new clothes for when you start high school.

There are many ways to prove people wrong when they say that it is very hard to make money at your age, but as I have shown you with a little due diligence there are some great summer jobs for 14-year-olds out there.

Summer Jobs For 14 Year Olds - 3 Good Paying Jobs to Put Money in Your Pocket For the Summertime
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If your are a 14 year old looking for a high paying job then visit http://www.teenjobsection.com/jobs-for-14-year-olds.php as they are the premier website that help find Jobs For 14 Year Olds . Visit us and you will never be out of work again.

Five Guidelines For Ethical Business Communications

Do you understand what behaving ethically entails? According to Michael Josephson, there are four principles of ethical behavior: honesty, integrity, fairness, and concern for others. You can think of these four basic principles as the legs of an imaginary stool. One missing leg will create a wobbly stool, but two missing legs makes the stool collapse. If you aren't fair or caring, your pride in being honest and having integrity means nothing.

Ethical Behavior in Business

As of late, ethical business behavior has been a number one topic of concern. Reviewing the events of the last year, it would appear that the words "business" and "ethics" are conflicting terms. Whether you look to Wall Street, mortgage companies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, or private companies like AIG, never mind all of the mortgage companies being investigated for questionable business practices, the news is depressing. It appears that the 1980's mantra "greed is good" never truly went away.

Five Guidelines For Ethical Business Communications

The criminal dealings of top entrepreneurs have been uncovered, which should motivate other individuals to behave more ethically. In truth, however, it commonly acts as an excuse for not changing poor behavior. What harm can there be in using your company's PC computer for personal business when your manager uses the company's telephone for personal long distance calls? When employees see how company management conducts itself, they begin to feel no shame for whatever little indiscretions they may have committed themselves.

Managers can unintentionally be signaling that unethical behavior will be tolerated when they put pressure on a smaller, downsized staff to produce more. When employees feel forced to meet company goals by whatever means possible, ethical behavior may go by the wayside.

They get the message, "It's OK to be dishonest, as long as you meet your objectives." As the economy takes us on a roller coaster ride, we need to evaluate our own thought patterns to ensure that we don't allow ourselves to fall into unethical behavior just because it looks like we can easily get away with it. There is always room for improvement in your business communications.

These are five guidelines to assist you in communicating ethically (source: "Business Communication, Process & Product," Mary Ellen Guffy, 2000):

(1) Be truthful. Statements that are misleading or untrue should never be made. It is also not ethical to tell partial truths or to exaggerate.

(2) Be sure to label opinions as opinions. Do not attempt to convince anyone that something you merely believe to be true is already a proven fact. Do the work; research thoroughly and assure yourself that you aren't just representing another person's opinion as your own.

(3) Do not show bias. Understand that your own subjective beliefs may come through in your writing. Even if you are passionate in your opinions, ethics call for you to be dispassionate in your presentation.

(4) Your communications should be easy to understand. You should put down your thoughts clearly, so they are simple to comprehend. Make sure that what you write can be easily understood by the reader. Don't muddy the waters by using convoluted sentences and all sorts of hard-to-comprehend industry jargon.

(5) Credit your sources. Do not copy anyone's work. Most people have the basic knowledge that they must use quotation marks if they are using a direct quote from another writer. Yet there are a number of people who do not understand that they need to properly credit other people's ideas as well. You are still cheating if you paraphrase sentences and throw in a handful of new words without crediting the author.

Summation

Not only must you communicate ethically to be successful in the long run, but it is also morally correct. Be sure you conduct yourself in the way that you would want others to emulate. If you conduct your affairs ethically and are successful, other individuals will follow your lead.

Five Guidelines For Ethical Business Communications
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Michelle Howe, MBA, president of Internet Word Magic, specializes in writing irresistible copy for websites. Transform the way you do business. Visit her website at http://www.InternetWordMagic.com for a FR^EE chapter download of her new book "Turn Browsers into Buyers".

Coping with Change: Develop Your Personal Strategy

Why do we resist change?

As the saying goes, the only people who like change are busy cashiers and wet babies. We find change disorienting, creating within us an anxiety similar to culture shock, the unease visitors to an alien land feel because of the absence of the familiar cues they took for granted back home. With an established routine, we don't have to think! And thinking is hard work.

Change is a business fact of life

Coping with Change: Develop Your Personal Strategy

Is your company is currently undergoing major changes that will affect the lives of all of its employees? These changes are probably in response to the evolving needs of your customers. They are made possible because of improvements in telecommunications and digital technology. They are likely guided by accepted principles and practices of total quality management. And you can expect that they will result in significant improvements profitability--a success that all employees will share. Because our customers' needs are NOW, we must make changes swiftly, which means that all of us must cooperate with the changes, rather than resist them.

How do we resist change?

We tend to respond to change the same way we respond to anything we perceive as a threat: by flight or fight. Our first reaction is flight--we try to avoid change if we can. We do what futurist Faith Popcorn calls "cocooning": we seal ourselves off from those around us and try to ignore what is happening. This can happen in the workplace just by being passive. We don't volunteer for teams or committees; we don't make suggestions, ask questions, or offer constructive criticism. But the changes ahead are inescapable. Those who "cocoon" themselves will be left behind.

Even worse is to fight, to actively resist change. Resistance tactics might include negativity, destructive criticism, and even sabotage. If this seldom happens at your company, you are fortunate.

Take a different approach to change

Rejecting both alternatives of flight or flight, we seek a better option--one that neither avoids change nor resists it, but harnesses and guides it.

Change can be the means to your goals, not a barrier to them.
Both fight and flight are reactions to perceiving change as a threat. But if we can change our perceptions, we can avoid those reactions. An old proverb goes, "Every change brings an opportunity." In other words, we must learn to see change as a means of achieving our goals, not a barrier preventing us from reaching them.

Another way of expressing the same thought is: A change in my external circumstances provides me with an opportunity to grow as a human being. The greater the change is, the greater and faster I can grow. If we can perceive change along these lines, we will find it exciting and energizing, rather than depressing and debilitating.

Yet this restructuring of our perspective on change can take some time. In fact, coping with change follows the same steps as the grieving process.1 The steps are shock and denial that the old routine must be left behind, then anger that change is inevitable, then despair and a longing for the old ways, eventually replaced by acceptance of the new and a brighter view of the future. Everyone works through this process; for some, the transition is lightning fast, for others painfully slow.

Realize your capacity to adapt.

As one writer put it recently:

Our foreparents lived through sea changes, upheavals so cataclysmic, so devastating we may never appreciate the fortitude and resilience required to survive them. The next time you feel resistant, think about them and about what they faced--and about what they fashioned from a fraction of the options we have. They blended old and new worlds, creating family, language, cuisine and new life-affirming rhythms, and they encouraged their children to keep on stepping toward an unknown but malleable future.2

Human beings are created remarkably flexible, capable of adapting to a wide variety of environments and situations. Realizing this can help you to embrace and guide change rather than resisting or avoiding it.

Develop a coping strategy based on who you are.

Corporate employees typically follow one of four decision-making styles: analytical, directive, conceptual, and behavioral. These four styles, described in a book by Alan J. Rowe and Richard O. Mason,3 have the following characteristics:
Analytical Style - technical, logical, careful, methodical, needs much data, likes order, enjoys problem-solving, enjoys structure, enjoys scientific study, and enjoys working alone. Conceptual Style - creative and artistic, future oriented, likes to brainstorm, wants independence, uses judgment, optimistic, uses ideas vs. data, looks at the big picture, rebellious and opinionated, and committed to principles or a vision. Behavioral Style - supportive of others, empathetic, wants affiliation, nurtures others, communicates easily, uses instinct, avoids stress, avoids conflict, relies on feelings instead of data, and enjoys team/group efforts. Directive Style - aggressive, acts rapidly, takes charge, persuasive and/or is manipulative, uses rules, needs power/status, impatient, productive, single-minded, and enjoys individual achievements.

Read once more through these descriptions and identify which style best describes you. Then find and study the strategy people who share your style follow to cope with change:

Analytical coping strategy - You see change as a challenging puzzle to be solved. You need plenty of time to gather information, analyze data, and draw conclusions. You will resist change if you are not given enough time to think it through. Conceptual coping strategy - You are interested in how change fits into the big picture. You want to be involved in defining what needs to change and why. You will resist change if you feel excluded from participating in the change process. Behavioral coping strategy - You want to know how everyone feels about the changes ahead. You work best when you know that the whole group is supportive of each other and that everyone champions the change process. If the change adversely affects someone in the group, you will perceive change as a crisis. Directive coping strategy - You want specifics on how the change will affect you and what your own role will be during the change process. If you know the rules of the change process and the desired outcome, you will act rapidly and aggressively to achieve change goals. You resist change if the rules or anticipated results are not clearly defined.

Realizing what our normal decision-making style is, can enable us to develop personal change-coping tactics.

How can we cope with change?

Getting at least this much comprehension of the big picture will help us to understand where each of us fits.

2. Do some anchoring. - When everything around you is in a state of flux, it sure helps to find something stable that isn't going to change, no matter what. Your company's values (whether articulated or not) can provide that kind of stability for you. Ours include the Company Family, Focus on the Customer, Be Committed to Quality, and Maintain Mutual Respect. These values are rock-solid; they are not going to disappear or rearrange themselves into something else. Plus, each of us has personal values that perhaps are even more significant and permanent. Such immovables can serve as anchors to help us ride out the storm.

3. Keep your expectations realistic. - A big part of taking control of the change you experience is to set your expectations. You can still maintain an optimistic outlook, but aim for what is realistically attainable. That way, the negatives that come along won't be so overwhelming, and the positives will be an adrenaline rush. Here are some examples:

Invest time and energy in training. Sharpen your skills so that you can meet the challenges ahead with confidence. If the training you need is not available through Bowne, get it somewhere else, such as the community college or adult education program in your area.

Get help when you need it. If you are confused or overwhelmed with the changes swirling around you, ask for help. Your supervisor, manager, or coworkers may be able to assist you in adjusting to the changes taking place. Your human resources department and any company-provided counseling services are other resources available to you.

Make sure the change does not compromise either your company values or your personal ones. If you are not careful, the technological advances jostling each other for your attention and adoption will tend to isolate you from personal contact with your coworkers and customers. E-mail, teleconference, voice-mail, and Intranet can make us more in touch with each other, or they can keep us antiseptically detached, removed from an awareness that the digital signals we are sending reach and influence another flesh-and-blood human being.

Aware of this tendency, we must actively counteract the drift in this direction by taking an interest in people and opening up ourselves to them in return. We have to remember to invest in people--all of those around us--not just in technology.

The "new normalcy"

Ultimately, we may discover that the current state of flux is permanent. After the events of September 11, Vice President Richard Cheney said we should accept the many resultant changes in daily life as permanent rather than temporary. "Think of them," he recommended, "as the 'new normalcy.'"

You should take the same approach to the changes happening at your workplace. These are not temporary adjustments until things get "back to normal." They are probably the "new normalcy" of your life as a company. The sooner you can accept that these changes are permanent, the better you can cope with them all--and enjoy their positive results.

Notes

1. Nancy J. Barger and Linda K. Kirby, The Challenge of Change in Organizations: Helping Employees Thrive in the New Frontier (Palo Alto, CA: Davies-Black Publ., 1995). This source is summarized in Mary M. Witherspoon, "Coping with Change," Women in Business 52, 3 (May/June 2000): 22-25.

2. Susan Taylor, "Embracing Change," Essence (Feb. 2002): 5.

3. Alan J. Rowe and Richard O. Mason, Managing with Style: A Guide to Understanding, Assessing and Improving Decision-Making (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Management Series, 1987) cited in Witherspoon, "Coping with Change."

4. Emily Friedman, "Creature Comforts," Health Forum Journal 42, 3 (May/June 1999): 8-11. Futurist John Naisbitt has addressed this tendency in his book, High tech/high touch: Technology and our search for meaning (New York: Random House, 1999). Naisbitt co-wrote this book with his daughter Nana Naisbitt and Douglas Philips.

Coping with Change: Develop Your Personal Strategy
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* * *

Copyright ©2006 Steve Singleton

Steve Singleton has written and edited several books and numerous articles. He has been an editor, reporter, and public relations consultant. He has taught college-level Greek, Bible, and religious studies courses and has taught seminars in 11 states and the Caribbean.

Go to his DeeperStudy.com for Bible study resources, no matter what your level of expertise. Explore "The Shallows," plumb "The Depths," or use the well-organized "Study Links" for original sources in English translation. Check out the DeeperStudy Bookstore for great e-books, free books, and great discounts. Subscribe to his free "DeeperStudy Newsletter" or "DeeperStudy Blog."

Impact Of Non-Verbal Communication

No matter how much one can try one can not not-communicate. Communication can be classified as Verbal and Non-Verbal. Verbal Communication is through words and speech; whereas; Non-Verbal communication does not involve speech or words, this is a wordless message received through the medium of gestures, signs, body movements, facial expressions, tone of voice, colour, time, space, style of writing, choice of words, clothing and hairstyle.

Researches in communication suggest that many more feelings and intentions are sent and received non-verbally than verbally. Mehrabian and Wienerfollowing suggested that only 7% of message is sent through words while remaining 93% is sent through non-verbal expressions (55% through facial expression, body language, gestures and 38% through tone of voice, inflection). Thus, the research suggest that non-verbal communication is more instinctive, powerful, requires deep thinking, conscious efforts and is more genuine. Education Psychologist Marilyn Maple says, "When you can consciously "read", what others are saying unconsciously, you can deal with issues at work and at home before they turn into full blown problems."

Non-Verbal Communication can be classified as KINESICS LANGUAGE (Use of Body Language which includes facial expression, eye contact, gestures, appearances); PROXEMICS LANGUAGE (Use of Space Language, Surrounding and Environment); TIME LANGUAGE (Effective Time Management); SIGN LANGUAGE (Use of Visuals, Audio/ Sound) and HAPTICS LANGUAGE (Use of "Touch" Language)

Impact Of Non-Verbal Communication

According to Dr. Pradeep Moonot, "Many times we tend to convey our feelings by smiling, patting, shouting, frowning or even by using different tones, gestures and facial expression to give a deeper meaning to our sentences. People communicate by the way they walk, stand and sit. Positive Postures and Movements are frequent indicators of self-confidence, energy, status, attitude, affective mood, approval and warmth". Whereas; Dressing identifies sex, age, socio-economic class, religion, status, role, group membership, occasion, personality, mood and physical environment.

Accent, Intonation, Pitch, Speed of Delivery and Clarity are factors attributing to non-verbal communication. As the Proverb says, "It is not what we say that counts, but how we say it", reflects the significance of vocal intonation. Some words or phrases can have different meanings depending on how they are said. Difference in loudness, pitch, temper, rate, inflection, rhythm and enunciation all relate to the expression of various emotions.

The saying, "A Picture is worth a thousand words", well describes the meaning of facial expressions which may be intentional or unintentional. However, the most dominant and reliable features of the face are the Eyes and Smile - The Eyes provides a constant channel of communication. They can be shifty and evasive, convey hate, fear and guilt, or express confidence, love and support; whereas; Smiling is a Positive, Powerful cue that transmits happiness, friendliness, warmth, liking, affiliation and affection.

Finally, the importance of Non-Verbal Communication is rightly explained by Nancy Austin, a management consultant, "When people don't know whether to believe what they are hearing or what they are seeing, they try to follow the non-verbal language which often tells the truth. You can play fast and get loose with words, but it's much more difficult to lose with gestures."

Here are few TIPS for effective Non-Verbal Communication:-

1. Make yourself comfortable, relaxed and attentive.

2. Maintain frequent eye contact; avoid staring, glaring or looking away.

3. Control the Tone of your Voice.

4. Gestures should not reveal emotional frustrations.

5. Maintain a clear Audible voice.

6. Maintain a pleasant and genuine Smile.

Impact Of Non-Verbal Communication
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Rupal Jain, Lecturer, Atharva Institute of Management Studies (Mumbai), and I can be reached at jainrupal@sify.com