what is meant by Assertive communication ?

Dorland's Medical Dictionary defines assertiveness as:

"A form of behavior characterized by a confident declaration or affirmation of a statement without need of proof; this affirms the person's rights or point of view without either aggressively threatening the rights of another (assuming a position of dominance) or submissively permitting another to ignore or deny one's rights or point of view."

Styles of communication:

1- Submissive: Allow others to get their needs met and rights respected at the expense of our product’s needs and rights.

2- Aggressive: we get our product’s needs met and rights respected while ignoring the other’s needs and rights.

3- Assertive: we gets our product’s needs met and rights respected while meeting other’s needs and rights.

Characteristics of Assertive people :

- They feel free to express their feelings, thoughts, and desires.

- They are able to initiate and maintain comfortable relationships with other people

- They have control over their anger. 

- They are willing to compromise with others, rather than always wanting their own way ... and tend to have good self-esteem.

Assertiveness can enhance the following:

- Improve interpersonal relationships

- Enhance self esteem

- Minimize stress

- Reduce feelings of helplessness/depression

- Reduce conflicts/anxiety

- Retrain self-respect

- Treat others respectfully

- Gives a sense of control

Assertive Style is powered by 3 skils:

1- Self confidence:  It is an attitude which allows individuals to have positive views of themselves and their situation (people trust their own abilities). It is the confidence in oneself and one’s power and ability.

Negative self confidence analysis is due to Over generalization (general events), Over personalization (simple events) or Over selectivity ( pick up negative aspects) and Fear leads to low self confidence

- Confrontation: (Professional Sales Person says “yes” when he should says “no”) It leads to minimize something the customer does not agree with.

- Lack of competence: It leads to over compensate. 

Example: Leads to warning the doctors of negative information about the product  e.g. (did you stop the product because of the muscle pain?)

- Loss of control: See the customer as someone who will direct the discussion. 

2- Professional appearance: 

- Greeting: 

• Shake hands after the customer offers his hand and remember to smile.
• Maintain direct eye contact throughout greeting.
• Address the customer with his title and name.
• Remain standing until customer offers you a seat.

- Personal Space:

• Sit in a place where customer can easily see the brochure (or any visual aid)
• Direct customer’s attention to relevant information by using a pen.
• Invade the customer space only to draw attention to important points. 

- Posture:

• Sit in a straight position with your head held high
• Lean slightly forward to show interest or to emphasize.
• Avoid crossed arms or legs (can be interpreted as not interested or argumentative)

- Eye Contact: 

• Maintain eye contact but change your gaze every (5-10) (can be seen as aggressive)
• Avoiding eye contact will give impression of dishonesty and self doubt.
• If the customer loses eye contact remain silent until he refocuses. 

- Body Movements:

• Use your hands to emphasize your speech
• Avoid quick or jerky movements (distraction)

- Facial Expression:

• Facial expression should match tone of voice (avoid mask like face)
• Smile at humorous comments during the discussion.
• Avoid smiling all the time 

3- Professional speech:
- Quality of voice:

• Take one slow, relaxed and deep breath before speaking (to lower stress and raise the confidence).
• Slow down speed of speech to draw interest and speed up to show enthusiasm.
• Raise your volume to show enthusiasm and lower it to draw attention. 

- Active listening: 

• Show empathy ,interest and understanding.
• Wait for customer to finish speaking before preparing a response.
• Pay attention to what the customer says ,not what you want to hear.
• Do not be distracted to other topics.

- SER rule: 

• Simplify : use short phrases with specific ,clear words
• Emphasize :use adjectives and adverbs to emphasize key words e.g(very impressive ,statistically significant, very exciting , landmark trial, extremely powerful, proven protection).
• Use focused introduction( what is the most important is, I draw your attention to)
• Use numbered words to emphasize on important words
• Repeat the key messages at least 3 times during the discussion.
• Repeat product name 8 times during the presentation. 

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