Continued from last Monday
Essential soft skills that will help you succeed in your business
Willingness to learn
Some people think that learning stops when you graduate college or earn a special certification, but this is not the case. Education is a life-long process. You must stay updated with changes in technology, the evolution of your industry, sales processes and more. Always seek new knowledge. More than that, look for the most successful people in your industry and do not be afraid to ask for their opinions or advice.
Ability to listen
You simply cannot manage a great team or provide great customer service if you are not an effective communicator. Communication is a two-way street. In order to communicate outwardly in an effective manner, you must pay attention to others’ motivations, hot buttons, interests and more. You also must be aware of non-verbal cues, such as body language. Avoid coming off as being self-promotional or vain, and strive to show that you are helpful and interested in others. This can foster collaboration, and get others excited about your goals more, rather than turn them off because you seem overly interested in your own self-interests.
Creativity
If you always do the same thing, you very likely will not enjoy new and better results. You must try new things to find what works best. You also need to enrich your life with new experiences regularly. This may be something as simple as talking to new people or taking a personal interest class. Each experience that you have can lead to new opportunities that you previously did not have available to you.
Assertiveness and confidence
While listening is important for effective communication, you also must know when you need to take control of the conversation and assert your opinions and beliefs. You should listen to others who are making reasonable claims and requests, but you also need to know when to say no. Be consistent yet open-minded to earn respect and trust from those around you. You need to know what you stand for, and you need to stand up for those beliefs.
Ability to plan
Strategic planning is a very important business activity. Strategic planning is a process of defining your company’s strategy or direction and making decisions on allocations of resources of capital and people. The key is to know how to project your company’s future performance, within a three-to-five-year framework or more, supported by your well-defined business plan.
To be continued
