By JOHNNY CARCIOPPOLO / Community Columnist

Did you know that communicating the same way to every person could be costing you as much as 75 percent of the opportunities you could have had?

The bottom line is that we can’t communicate to everyone the same way, especially in business. No matter how experienced you are, you will probably forget that people do things for their reasons, not yours, and that their agenda is often quite different from yours.

Let’s examine two different models of communication.

Model A: Habit

-We watch or observe other people. We watch their body language (sometimes) and listen to their verbal responses to our presentation and approach.

-We then draw conclusions about that person based upon our previous experiences, what we’ve conditioned ourselves to expect, using our past history to see how we have been dealing with similar situations.

-We then react to the behavior out of habit.

In this model we are interacting with all of our contacts in the very same way, however, each of these people has different personalities, egos, jobs and responsibilities.

Model B: Versatility

-We observe others’ behavior based on their personality profile or style.

-We then draw conclusions about needs and expectations based on what is known about these social styles.

-We consider needs; what they expect; how they want to be dealt with and then know how to adapt to them, no matter how different the expectations are from their own.

Using this model, we find the key to versatility. To accommodate different styles, people need to consider how others prefer to work and then approach them in the most appropriate ways.

Don’t let 75 percent of your opportunities pass you by.

Remember “Communication is everything.”

Next week’s article will be Part 2.