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SCMP Reporter

Author shows business community how to communicate effectively  and achieve outstanding results
Book The Jelly Effect
Author Andy Bounds
Publisher Capstone Publishing
No matter how interesting or relevant your material is, if you can't get your point across during a presentation without boring people to death, it doesn't count.
This is the opinion of Andy Bounds, the ebullient author of The Jelly Effect: How to Make Your Communication Stick.  According to  Bounds, verbal communication in a business environment did not require endless bells and whistles,  it just had to work.
'It doesn't have to entertain, impress or astonish  to achieve what you want it to,' he  said.
'A good sales pitch gets the sale. A great motivational speaker motivates. A successful training workshop improves the performance of delegates.'
Poor communicators, on the other hand,  make the mistake of including  vast quantities of irrelevant material which they then force on all the wrong people.
'When you speak like this, it's very much like filling a bucket with jelly, and flinging it at the other person, hoping some of it will stick,'  Bounds said. 'Some will, sure. But most won't. And it's doubly inefficient. It wastes your effort, money, resources and that priceless commodity - time. And that of the people you talk to.'
This insight  has been the driving force behind his work,  which involves showing thousands of businesses how to communicate more effectively.
So how does this miraculous transformation come about?
According to  Bounds, the ultimate solution lies within. In other words, the number one skill that people need in order to communicate effectively is the ability to persuade other people how good they are.
He said this was partly achieved by focusing on the after-effect of what one was saying, rather than  the immediate result.
The rules of communication for  Bounds  include putting context first, working out if what you are providing is relevant to the other party and making thoroughness the key to your delivery.
Asking people if they need extra information is also vital, as is only providing the information that is  required - without additional frills.
Communication situations that come under the author's microscope range from networking to how to sell more, getting referrals and making presentations.
Executives will find the chapter on how to effectively network at social events particularly useful.
Besides offering advice on what constitutes good manners at networking events, he analyses  ways for people to enter  conversations, giving consideration  to the size and  type of the group of conversing individuals, what to say, and exit strategies.
The book also provides tips on small but no less critical issues such as the need to stand up straight, how long to speak for with certain  people,  how much to drink at such events,  what to wear, and what time  to arrive and to leave.
In addition to writing self-help books,  Bounds helps firms, business leaders and salespeople all over the world to make presentations that achieve outstanding results.
His work has  shown him that few people really know how to communicate from an audience's point of view. This finding has been backed up by research   which shows that 97 per cent of managers find it difficult to stay awake during presentations.
Bounds believes that most people, both inside and outside their work environment, are unable to communicate to their best advantage.
His book is dedicated to solving this problem by helping people to achieve more from their verbal communication.
He aims to show people how to impress anyone  they first meet by saying the right things in the right way.
'You'll also discover the easiest, quickest way to sell anything to anyone and learn how to ask people who know, like and trust you to recommend you to others,' he said.
Finally, the author aims to help readers to adopt simple techniques to achieve sales, and to get what they want from their  presentations.
'To achieve these things, all you need is a change in the emphasis of what you say, a tweaking of the order in which you say it, minor adjustments to standard phrases that you use, and your results will rocket,' he promised.
All this advice and more is delivered in a conversational, slightly bossy and witty manner that skips off the page.
Another plus is that The Jelly Effect is dedicated to people who do not have much  free time.
Thanks to its fresh, snappy and succinct style and the fact that it is packed with tips, hints and techniques that are simple, relevant and effective, it is likely to be of great appeal to people who are  pushed for time.
Five Insights
1 What are the two biggest problems with networking? asks Andy Bounds, the author of The Jelly Effect. In his opinion, networkers must always ensure that there are useful people at the event they are attending and secondly, once there, must do the right things. 'Speak to the right people, in the right way, for the right length of time ... to get the right result.'
2 When networking, you should imagine being in the middle of a net, where you are surrounded by big fish (people who are very useful to you), tiddlers (quite useful people) and boots (people who are no use at all). But, according to  Bounds, 'the ultimate aim of networking is not to work your way round the net. Instead, it's to arrange to have a cup of coffee with a big fish, on a subsequent date'.
3 How can you sell more? 'Business people say far too much irrelevant stuff,'  Bounds says. Instead, audiences need to be captivated. Thus, the most relevant and interesting things should be said first. 'The most interesting, most important, most critical fact to tell a customer ... is what they will be left with after you've done your work.'
4 What is the simplest way to win business? 'Finding new business is very similar to finding love at school,' the author says. In other words, business is more likely to come your way through personal recommendations - or referrals. Indeed, 'the huge problem with referrals is ... you never get enough of them'.
5 When giving a presentation, it doesn't matter how good your body language is, content or slides are  if you don't engage your audience. Making presentations audience-focused is a major no-no according to  Bounds. Ask yourself what do you want to achieve, what the audience is like - and then, and only then, should you prepare your presentation.



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