Be Curious – And Be A Successful Communicator

If you want to be a successful communicator, you need to show curiosity. This article reveals how to display a genuine interest in others and build rapport with them. It also covers the importance of being curious as well as how people buy from those who are inquisitive rather than those who are self-absorbed.

In the classic comedy film "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," Toula Portokalos (Nia Vardalos) is a 25-year-old woman who lives with her mother and father in Chicago. Toula's family members do not talk to each other much, and when they do, they seem to be arguing with each other.

The script describes one such argument between Toula's father and her grandmother:

"Ohhh, this coffee tastes like dishwater!" [Grandma] says.

"Well it is dishwater!" [Pappous] snaps back.

You can imagine how Toula learns about this conversation. She calls her father to say: "Did the coffee actually taste like dishwater?" [Get to the point, Toula!]

"Yeah," he says.

If you want to be a successful communicator, you need to show curiosity. This article reveals how to display a genuine interest in others and build rapport with them. It also covers the importance of being curious as well as how people buy from those who are inquisitive rather than those who are self-absorbed.

In one of my first assignments as a newspaper reporter, I interviewed my senator about an issue of particular interest to me. The senator was intelligent and had developed strong opinions on the topic. He answered my questions clearly and concisely, following the rules of good writing. But I could sense a bit of impatience on his part. Perhaps he was getting impatient with my lack of knowledge on the issue. Or perhaps he thought it was inefficient to bother with teaching me something as minor as that issue.

If you want to be a successful communicator, you need to show curiosity. This article reveals how to display a genuine interest in others and build rapport with them. It also covers the importance of being curious as well as how people buy from those who are inquisitive rather than those who are self-absorbed.

In a study of salespeople, it was found that 73% of them displayed curiosity to some degree. Conversely, only 16% of them felt that curious individuals make for better sellers. Interesting...

If you want to be a successful communicator, you need to show curiosity. This article reveals how to display a genuine interest in others and build rapport with them. It also covers the importance of being curious as well as how people buy from those who are inquisitive rather than those who are self-absorbed.

The study also showed that the curious salespeople were able to build more rapport with the customers. This shows that curiosity is a good indicator of rapport-building ability.

Being able to show curiosity in your conversations will not just help you establish strong rapport with others but also help you have more productive conversations.

So how do you develop your curiosity skills?

Well, the first thing is to actually become curious about other people so that you can act like one. The two main factors in being a curious person are asking questions and listening attentively when others answer your questions.

The more you ask questions, the better your ability to listen. The more you listen, the better the information you will get.

In order to develop your curiosity skills, ask people questions that will give them information so that they can share it with you. For example, when someone asks to borrow a book from you, say "What kind of book did you want?” So now he or she can tell you in a few words what it is about so that he or she can discuss it with you and give you more detailed information.

Another good way to develop your curiosity skills is to practice active listening. Listen actively by repeating what the other person is saying to you and asking questions that require more than a yes/no answer.

If you want to be a successful communicator, you need to show curiosity. This article reveals how to display a genuine interest in others and build rapport with them. It also covers the importance of being curious as well as how people buy from those who are inquisitive rather than those who are self-absorbed.

The more you ask questions, the better your ability to listen. The more you listen, the better the information you will get.

So if you want to be a successful communicator, you need to show curiosity. This article reveals how to display a genuine interest in others and build rapport with them. It also covers the importance of being curious as well as how people buy from those who are inquisitive rather than those who are self-absorbed.

About The Author:

Randal Voss is a professional public speaker, trainer, and coach in Madison, Wisconsin. He speaks at conferences across the country and offers coaching by phone to help people improve their professional communication skills. You can contact him at www.BeCuriousPublicSpeakingCoach.com . Blog: http://www.BeCuriousPublicSpeakingCoach.com/blog/ Twitter: http://www.Twitter.com/RandalVoss LinkedIn: Randal Voss Facebook: RandalVossCuriousPublicSpeaking You Tube Channel : You can also listen to a free audio recording on “Be Curious” on http://www.ConversationTrainingTips.com . This article may be freely used in its entirety, provided the following attribution is included with the text of the article. "This article is by Randal Voss and was written for http://conversationstrainingtips.com . © Randal Voss, 2014." Email: Randal@RandalVoss.com Phone: 608-512-6517 Web: RandalVoss.com LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/randalvoss Twitter: @RandalVoss Read more articles like this at http://conversationstrainingtips.com . © Randal Voss, 2014.

In one of my first assignments as a newspaper reporter, I interviewed my senator about an issue of particular interest to me. The senator was intelligent and had developed strong opinions on the topic. He answered my questions clearly and concisely, following the rules of good writing.

Conclusion

If you want to be a successful communicator, you need to show curiosity. This article reveals how to display a genuine interest in others and build rapport with them. It also covers the importance of being curious as well as how people buy from those who are inquisitive rather than those who are self-absorbed.

The more you ask questions, the better your ability to listen. The more you listen, the better the information you will get.

So if you want to be a successful communicator, you need to show curiosity. This article reveals how to display a genuine interest in others and build rapport with them.