What is body language? Why does it matter?

Stuart McDaniels,
Materials Manager

Body language can be easily defined as various forms of nonverbal communication where a person may reveal indications as to their intentions or emotions. These can include posture, facial expressions, eye movement, touch or even space.

Why is body language important? Body language complements verbal communication, and interestingly enough can either support that verbal communication, or contradict it. Noticing the signals that people send out is a very critical social skill and can be a great tool to utilize to enhance both our listening and speaking skills.

As a fun little experiment, try turning down the volume on your TV when watching some of your favorite shows or the news and just focus on body language cues. It’s a great way to become aware of just how much communication occurs with nothing but our body language.

All day long most of us communicate with other people. Maybe it’s your co-workers, your boss, your subordinates, customers, suppliers or even friends and family. It’s important in all these situations that the correct message is either sent or received, and body language is a critical component of that. By becoming more aware of body language and understanding how it might be interpreted, you can learn to read people more easily. In a business setting, particularly a negotiation, this information could be extremely helpful in instances such as securing new business, keeping current business, settling on price, terms and conditions or many other situations.

I encourage you to challenge yourself to better understand body language and how to interpret it. The knowledge can go a long way in helping you improve the outcome of your daily interactions.

This article originally appeared in Modern Memorialization, Trigard Memorials' weekly electronic newsletter featuring information for the funeral industry. Sign up for your free subscription at http://www.trigard.com/thursdays.

Top 3 most requested resources

We often receive requests from our dealers for different resources, so we decided to compile a list of the "Top 3 most requested resources."

Order forms are a big part of the communication process between you and our graphic designers. Every year, we update our order forms to enhance your ordering experience. You can find the most recent version of our order forms in the dealer resources section of our website.

How do you explain the options and styles of memorials you offer the families you serve? Our product literature clearly spells out options, styles, fonts and so much more. Call to request copies of our product literature. Or if you can't wait, you can download a PDF preview straight from our website.

Are you designing a new website? Call Customer Service at 800.798.4900 to order a printed CD of images to help enhance the look of your website.


This article originally appeared in Modern Memorialization, Trigard Memorials' weekly electronic newsletter featuring information for the funeral industry. Sign up for your free subscription at http://www.trigard.com/thursdays.

Be a successful communicator

Sheryl Baumeister,
Human Resources Manager

As your business grows, communication within your organization becomes a crucial component to your success. No matter the size of your company, you need everyone to be motivated and well informed about your business and your products.

There are many different ways to keep in touch with employees, but one way we do it at Trigard Memorials is by sending out a weekly employee newsletter. It has become an effective tool to highlight employee accomplishments, new products, human resource announcements and even to celebrate employee birthdays.

I encourage you to explore different communication strategies to help your employees stay informed. Keeping them connected generates pride for your business and unites your staff.


This article originally appeared in Modern Memorialization, Trigard Memorials' weekly electronic newsletter featuring information for the funeral industry. Sign up for your free subscription at http://www.trigard.com/thursdays.

Are you "listening" to nonverbal cues?

Stuart McDaniels,
Purchasing Manager

When we listen to someone speak we often focus solely on the spoken words.

We must remember nonverbal messages are also being sent through tone of voice, posture and facial expressions.

Understanding these nonverbal messages can be just as important, if not more, as listening to the words.

In the world of purchasing, not paying attention to nonverbal communication cues can lead to product specifications problems and missed delivery dates. 

If we do not clearly understand each other in business settings, meetings and negotiations can quickly go wrong.

Are you actively listening to your suppliers and customers to better understand their needs? Are you paying attention to what they are saying, as well as what they are not saying?

 Product spotlight: Reflection® urn

 

The Reflection® is a lined, sealed concrete urn vault with a thermoformed polymer liner and high quality exterior finish.

It has an additional protective layer of hand-crafted interior sheeting and is available in stainless steel, copper and bronze.

You can choose from a wide variety of color combinations and can even add a custom Appliqué®.

This article originally appeared in Modern Memorialization, Trigard Memorials' weekly electronic newsletter featuring information for the funeral industry. Sign up for your free subscription at http://www.trigard.com/thursdays.