How to Win Friends and Influence People

How to Win Friends and Influence People

By Grant McNamara

Read any book about business and a core element of business success will be communication. Communication is always vital in any aspect of commerce in a similar way that communication is vital to a healthy personal relationship. We buy from people with whom we feel comfortable. The ability to communicate is fundamental to feeling comfortable.

‘How To Win Friends And Influence People’ by Dale Carnegie is arguably one of the widest read business books ever published. It is a simple book divided into four parts. Each part has ‘people’ in its title:

Part 1. Fundamental Techniques in Handling People
Part 2. Six Ways to Make People Like You
Part 3. How to Win People to Your Way of Thinking
Part 4. Be a Leader. How to Change People …

In the introduction of the book, Mr Carnegie explains why he wrote the book; ‘people needed the fine art of getting along with people in their everyday business and social contacts.’ He goes on to say ‘Dealing with people is probably the biggest problem you face, especially if you are in business.’ Thus he wrote the book to help ‘people to get along with each other’.

Has the world changed since Dale Carnegie penned his famous work in 1936? Certainly we live in a more sophisticated and technical society. The pace of life and the pace of business are faster, demands on people higher. The need to get on with others hasn’t changed. Dale Carnegie’s simple messages are still as fresh and vital as it was when he wrote it. No wonder its enduring success and readership. But there have been changes.

One aspect that has changed is that the world has moved to the global economy. The ability to buy and sell goods and services from people in other countries has never been easier. I can buy from just about anywhere in the world using the Internet. And everyday millions of people around the world undertake commerce across the Internet.

The biggest single impediment to international trade is language. All over the World there are literally thousands of different languages being spoken and written. If you want to sell to a wide range of people then ensuring that people can read your web site is vital. To do this your web site needs to present information in a variety of languages.

Because the internet developed in the United States it started in English. And many people assume that English is a global language. The reality is quite the opposite. English is a national language of only a small number of countries, including; US, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Eire. And of course the number of internet users in these countries are huge. But did you know that there are now reputed to be more internet users in China than the US?

Thus how can you widen the market of your web site to include non-English readers? It’s simple! Present your web site in multiple languages. And for most web sites it isn’t expensive. Most web sites cost a few hundred dollars for each language presented. Equivalent to the cost of a small number of sales. the investment in language transaltion pays for itself many times over.

To make people feel comfortable enough to buy from you, speak in their language. For more information about making web sites available to the non-English speaking world, click to www.translateme.co.nz. In our knowledge base you will find a wide resource of information about language translation specific to web sites and software.

Copyright © 2002 Grant McNamara, All Rights Reserved. This article may be freely distributed and published. If you wish to publish the article, out of courtesy, please email me and advise the url.