What Language is Spoken in Your Company?

No, this isn’t a rant about English-only or bilingual workplaces — it’s a rant about corporate jargon sparked when I read an article by Laura Vanderkam, “Why you should cool it with the corporate jargon.” I understand how internal jargon develops and why using acronyms can save time if everybody understands the code — but that’s a big if. When people don’t speak the...

Communicate with Your Customers on their Terms

How many ways can your customers communicate with you? Recently a friend of mine was evaluating two companies who were vying to provide a service to her church. One had a product with a pricing and service package that was clearly superior. But that salesperson would only communicate by phone — he didn’t use email or text messaging. I suspect he probably didn’t even know what video conferencing is. The...

Copyright Infringement is Theft, Period

The recent situation with the Yahoo! list that had used excerpts from at least one of my books without permission or attribution has sparked a number of discussions about when it is and isn't okay to republish someone else's work without specific authorization. One person told me that he thought as long as he wasn't selling the material, it was okay. Well, if that's true, then that means I can break...

My Article on Workplace Rumors Featured in Crisis Manager Newsletter

In my last newsletter, Business Tips from Jacquelyn Lynn, I talked about the damage workplace rumors can cause and how to stop them before they start. If you didn’t get that newsletter and you’d like to subscribe, please visit my website at www.jacquelynlynn.com.   Crisis management expert Jonathan Bernstein reprinted that piece in his Crisis Manager newsletter. In that same issue, he also provided more...

When You Have to Tell a Customer No

I was always taught that you never tell a customer no, and if the answer is no, you offer an alternative instead. So if the customer asks, "Does this come in red?" and it doesn't, your answer should be, "It comes in blue and green." But sometimes the answer is no and there's no getting around it. Here's a way to make that work for you. If you subscribe to the Flashpoints newsletter...