When Traditional Communication Strategies Aren’t Enough

To give your listeners background information, set up the topic before you begin speaking about it. For example, if you are talking with a customer or client or patient (if you are a physician) who is not in the same profession as you, and you use a technical word, provide background information. There is an instance of an engineering client using the term “pitch” which refers to the slope as related to ratio of rise and width. He was speaking to a customer who did not have an engineering background. Because the engineer and his client were talking on the phone, the engineer couldn’t notice that after he said this word “pitch,” that his client was confused. The client’s mind envisioned a “peach”; the fruit.