The Snowball Effect: Communication Techniques to Make You Unstoppable

The Snowball Effect: Communication Techniques to Make You Unstoppable

by Andy Bounds
Released March 2013
Publisher(s): Capstone
ISBN: 9780857083975

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Book description

The long-awaited follow-up to the international bestseller The Jelly Effect

Communication is supposed to cause something. That's the point of it. So, what do you want to achieve following your communication? Do you want someone to answer 'yes'? Do you want to improve your relationships? Do you want people to understand exactly what you're talking about, first time? Whatever you want to achieve, you'll need decent communication to get there, and expert and bestselling author Andy Bounds shows us exactly how to nail our communication. Using the same conversational style that made The Jelly Effect so popular, The Snowball Effect is packed with short, rapid fire sections complete with visuals and special features to help us get serious results from our communication.

The Snowball Effect explains how to:

  • Persuade people to say "yes" more quickly, more often

  • Enjoy your job more - because you'll be calling the shots for a change

  • Remove the communication frustrations you feel all too often

  • Get more done, more quickly - because you're getting people on your side faster (these techniques have saved people at least one month every year).

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Epilogue
  3. Title page
  4. Copyright page
  5. Dedication
  6. Introduction
  7. SECTION A Build your core The cornerstone of successful communication
    1. 1 How to prepare communication that works
      1. The Problem with How People Prepare Communication
      2. The 231 Approach: The Best Way to Communicate Effectively
      3. How to Know Your Communication Has Worked
      4. Focus on 231, Not 123
      5. Two Final Things To Help Embed the 231 Approach
      6. Next Steps – In Other Words, Your “DO”
  8. SECTION B Get more done more quickly How to save one month per year
    1. Why This Matters
    2. 2 When you want to ensure people do what you want immediately
      1. Step 1: Identify what the First Step Is
      2. Step 2: Be Clear When You’ll Do This First Step
      3. Step 3: Ensure You Remember, By Reminding Yourself
    3. 3 When you want to find the time to communicate brilliantly
      1. How to Find the Time You Need
    4. 4 When you want to impress senior audiences when you haven’t much time
      1. Why Walloping Is a Time-Saving Tip
    5. 5 When you want to ensure people remember your key messages
    6. 6 When you want to quickly create presentations that work
      1. The Five Steps of Creating a Great Presentation
    7. 7 When you want to have better, quicker meetings and conference calls
    8. 8 When you want to only attend the meetings you need to
    9. 9 When you want to prepare for meetings in the right way
    10. 10 When you want to ensure meetings generate actions, not just discussion topics
      1. Turning Discussions Into Actions
      2. Making Success Inevitable
    11. 11 When you want to run punchy, interesting and effective update meetings (or not have them)
    12. 12 When you want to get a quick response to an FYI email
      1. The Problem With Speed
      2. Getting Good Responses to FYIS
      3. Powerful Alternatives to FYI
    13. 13 When you want to empty your inbox
      1. How to Receive Fewer Emails
      2. How to Ensure You Never Look at Emails Twice
      3. How to Remove Emails Once You’ve Finished with Them
    14. 14 When you want to see how much extra time you’ve now got
  9. SECTION C Persuade more people to say “yes” How to convince others to do what you want
    1. Why this matters
    2. 15 When you want to understand what really motivates people
    3. 16 When you want to say things that excite people
      1. Be Benefits-Based, not Features-Focused
    4. 17 When you want to align your agenda to everyone else’s
      1. Identify “Why That’s Good”
      2. Say the “Best Bit” First
    5. 18 When you want to get an enthusiastic “yes” very quickly
      1. BO: A Better Way to Get a “Yes”
    6. 19 When you want to prove you’re someone’s best option
    7. 20 When you want to make a sale
      1. ABCDE: The Simplest Way to Sell More
    8. 21 When you want to write a winning proposal or sales presentation
      1. Creating Sales Communications from Scratch
      2. Editing First Drafts Quickly
    9. 22 When you want to stand out from the crowd
      1. Which of the Super Six is Best?
    10. 23 When you want to cause long-term change, not a short-term blip
      1. Simple Ways to Reinforce Key Messages
      2. Reinforce Messages the Right Number of Times
    11. 24 When you want to use the best communication channel to get a quick “yes”
    12. 25 When you want to create titles that instantly grab people
      1. How to Create Engaging Titles
    13. 26 When you want to write eye-catching introductions
      1. Use the 4Ws to Create Powerful Introductions
      2. Combining Great Titles with Powerful Introductions
      3. The 4Ws Even Works at Home
    14. 27 When you want to use analogies to make your point
      1. How to Create Powerful Analogies
    15. 28 When you want to structure your communications so they’re more persuasive
      1. If Star Wars Can Do It, So Can You
      2. Three Quick Steps, to Embed the “Star Wars Way”
    16. 29 When you want to pass an exam
      1. Focus on the Marker
      2. Read the Requirement First
      3. Get Easy Marks First
      4. Break the Requirement Down into Bits
      5. Maximize Your Marks by Seeing Things from Different Viewpoints
      6. Stop on Time
      7. Preparing in the Right Way
    17. 30 When you want to get a job interview
      1. Start with the Employer’s Needs, not Your Background
      2. Focus on the Results You’ve Caused, not the Work You’ve Done
      3. Tell Your Unique Story in a Clear, Compelling Way
      4. Link Your Experiences to Their Needs
      5. And the Best Advice about Your résumé?
  10. SECTION D Enjoy your job more How to make work more fun
    1. Why this matters
    2. 31 When you want to ensure everyone – including you – thinks you’re great
      1. How to ensure you think you’re great
      2. How to ensure everyone thinks you’re great
      3. How your AFTERs-focus improves your communication
      4. And finally . . . 
    3. 32 When you want to build powerful relationships quickly
      1. 1. Know the right people
      2. 2. See your contacts the right number of times
      3. 3. Have the right conversations
    4. 33 When you want to get things right first time
      1. To find lots of gold, dig deep
    5. 34 When you want to deliver interesting presentations that impress everyone
    6. 35 When you want to use “word pictures” to help people remember things
    7. 36 When you want to use initials to help people remember things
    8. 37 When you want to use games and activities to make your point
    9. 38 When you want to enjoy using PowerPoint
      1. 1. Go to PowerPoint last, not first
      2. 2. Use the visual thing for visual things
      3. 3. Make yourself smile
      4. 4. Press “B” or “W”
      5. 5. Use PowerPoint shortcuts
      6. 6. Chat, don’t rant
      7. 7. Unclutter your slides
      8. 8. And, the best one of all?
      9. A point to ponder
    10. 39 When you want to create great visuals to enhance your message
      1. Step 1: Improve your title
      2. Step 2: Prioritize your points
      3. Step 3: Remove as many low-priority points as possible
      4. Step 4: Remove the unimportant words
      5. Step 5: Insert slide-builds
      6. Step 6: Make the slides look nice
      7. Useful Tip 1: Prepare two slide-sets, not one
      8. Useful Tip 2: Preparing “Compare and Contrast” slides
    11. 40 When you want to start a presentation brilliantly (when your audience is large and/or doesn’t know you)
      1. Start with a bang
    12. 41 When you want to appear polished, even if you haven’t practised much
      1. Polished presenting (when you’re in a team)
      2. Polished presenting (when you’re on your own)
    13. 42 When you want to prepare for – and deliver – an excellent Q&A session
    14. 43 When you want to ensure your important initiatives succeed
      1. Step 1: Communicating upfront
      2. Step 2: Communicating throughout
    15. 44 When you want to have good two-way conversations
    16. 45 When you want to enjoy attending networking events
      1. The four steps of a pleasant, productive networking conversation
      2. The most important thing about networking
    17. 46 When you want to help people read your documents quickly
    18. 47 When you want to improve people’s performance through observation and coaching
    19. 48 When you want to improve people’s performance after annual reviews
      1. Hold Previews, not Reviews
      2. Focus on the “What and how”, not just the “What”
      3. Get the foundations right
    20. 49 When you want to improve people’s performance when you delegate to them
  11. SECTION E Eliminate the negatives How to remove your communication frustrations
    1. Why This Matters
    2. 50 When you want to stop saying “no” too quickly
    3. 51 When you want to say “no” in a way that doesn’t cause you problems
    4. 52 When you want to come up with good ideas, but can’t think of any
    5. 53 When you want to remove someone’s concerns about what you’re planning to do
      1. A Step-By-Step Guide, To Make This Easy To Do
      2. A Final Thought
    6. 54 When you want to remove someone’s final reason for saying “no”
    7. 55 When you want to get good outcomes from challenging conversations
      1. A Four-Step Approach To Resolving Challenging Situations
      2. How To Prepare for Challenging Conversations
      3. With Challenging Conversations, Does Follow-Up Matter?
    8. 56 When you want to stop procrastinating about initiating challenging conversations
      1. Serve and Volley: How to Start Awkward Conversations
    9. 57 When you want to stop your messages becoming diluted
    10. 58 When you want to stop diluting other people’s messages
      1. When Cascading, Be a Colour Car Wash
      2. How to Be a Colour Car Wash
      3. How to Cascade, When You Can’t Add Colour
    11. 59 When you want to stop hating presentations
      1. 1. Ensure Your Content Is Interesting
      2. 2. Ensure Your Delivery Is Interesting
      3. 3. Remember Your Credentials
      4. 4. Keep It Short
      5. 5. Expect Good Things to Happen, and They Will
      6. 6. Practice. a Lot
      7. 7. Work Your Body
      8. 8. But Don’t Be “Too Confident”
    12. 60 When you want to avoid people instantly doubting your credibility
    13. 61 When you want to stop wasting your time with people who can’t make decisions
      1. Step 1 – Finding the Decision Maker
      2. Step 2 – Getting in Front of Them
      3. Step 3 – Saying the Right Thing to Decision Makers
    14. 62 When you want to prevent avoidable disasters
    15. 63 When you want to stop saying irrelevant stuff
      1. Your Best Option: Ask
      2. Another Great Option: Jolt
    16. 64 When you want to break the pattern of hearing useful ideas, but doing nothing with them
      1. A Final Thought
  12. Conclusion: Build your momentum
  13. Appendix: Useful communication templates
    1. Template To Help You Prepare All Communications
    2. Template To Help You Prepare Better Presentations
    3. Template To Help You Prepare Better Emails
    4. Template To Help You Prepare Better Conference Calls And Meetings
    5. Template To Help You Prepare Better for Your Conversations
    6. Template To Help You Prepare Better Documents
  14. And for more help . . .
  15. Acknowledgments
  16. About Andy Bounds
  17. Index

Product information

  • Title: The Snowball Effect: Communication Techniques to Make You Unstoppable
  • Author(s): Andy Bounds
  • Release date: March 2013
  • Publisher(s): Capstone
  • ISBN: 9780857083975