How to Boost your Communication using the Rule of Three

(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hi, welcome to the 3 English Experts. I'm Dave, I'm Rebecca, and I'm Birgit. And welcome to this episode. 3 English Experts is your English podcast to help you speak better English and create a positive and happy mindset for your English learning journey. Hi, everyone. Welcome back to this episode. Today, we are talking about a specific communication technique. So of course, when you're learning a language, you're learning grammar, you're learning vocabulary, but you can also use, it doesn't have to be complicated, but you can also use communication strategies, let's say. This can help because even if you know the language, if you don't communicate clearly, you don't always get your message across. Dave today is going to introduce a communication technique that should help to make things persuasive and structured. Yeah, so me and Birgit are ready to learn something. So we're going to hand over to Dave. Hello there. Yes. And in fact, sometimes the simple ones, the easy ones are the best. So I'm trying to keep it easy today. But first of all, I thought I'd present a little quiz. So they're looking at my screen right now, and they're seeing some pictures. I'm going to ask them what the pictures are that they see. And then at the end, I want them to tell me what all those pictures have in common. So let's kick off with Birgit looking at the pictures. So which picture would you like to describe first? What do you see? Oh, hello, everybody. Yes, I want to pick the picture of traffic lights. There's a traffic light on the far left in the far left corner showing green. So go traffic lights green. And then I see a picture of three musketeers. Interesting. Rebecca, give us some more. Okay, I can see a picture of Barack Obama with the words Yes, we can underneath him, his famous slogan. I'm seeing some sorts of religious picture. I'm not good on religion, but I think it is the birth of Christ. I'm guessing go with that. Don't get technical. Well, I presume Mary and Josie for the three wise men. And the three wise men. A couple of others hanging around. And I can see some Formula One. Yeah, pictures of Formula One race. Yeah. Any more Birgit that you can talk about? Yes, the nice slogan of Nike. Just do it. And Rene Vidi Vici. Okay. Yes. Yes. Okay. Okay. A bit of Latin there. Okay. And last one, Rebecca, what do you see? So they got a sort of a medal ceremony and somebody's about to step on their gold podium to take his gold medal. Beijing. Okay, so now comes the question, what do all of these have in common? And you've said the word a few times already. As a clue. Have we? Yes. Three. Oh, Birgit. Round of applause for Birgit. That was very fast. I'm confused with the Formula One. Where's my three in Formula One? First, second, third. There's like 20 cars. I can't take a photograph of the first three. Maybe I could. But the others I think are quite clear. So why is it the three? Why have I introduced this to you? I'm just going to go to talk about the rule of three. This is, as I said, a very simple technique, which is used a in a lot of situations. But why is it also important for your communications? Okay, so first of all, humans process information using patterns. And the smallest number that you can have a pattern, guess what? It is three. And of course, so therefore, when things come in threes, they're firstly more memorable, but also persuasive. So if you think of the phrases in English, blood, sweat and tears, or Rebecca, what's the next one? Full time and collected. Very good. As we are. And finally, Birgit, the other phrase that we've got listed here. Stop, look and listen. Yes. So really rememberable things that we often hear and say in the English language. And also, of course, they're often used in the marketing sector. And so here we've also got a list of some of the typical brands that you will see all over the world, international brands that use the three in their slogans. On our list, we have 14. I don't know which ones stick out to you, Birgit, when you look at some of those lists of slogans for the different companies. For example, I mentioned before, Nike, just do it. I really like that one because it's so simple and it says so much. Impossible is nothing. Adidas, I've never heard, obviously the English version. And Grace Space Pace, Jaguar. Oh, I like that. Typical Birgit, she's a German. She's picking the car one. I'm going to pick the food ones. The first one, I'm loving it. Yes, McDonald's. Love that one. Despite the grammar mistake. Rice Krispies. I wondered if that was coming. It does annoy me. Rice Krispies, which is a cereal. Actually, they don't sell it in Germany, but Rice Krispies is a Kellogg's cereal. It's that crackle and pop, which is the noise it makes when you pour your milk on. And the last one, of course, one of my favorite foods that I could not live without. Beans by Heinz. Beans means Heinz. I think every child in our generation, Dave, would know that. Absolutely. I was just thinking the same. That's easy to remember. Yeah, so good. That is an amazing, the guy, the marketing guys that came up with that. Wow. Well done. I'm now motivated to look out for German slogans after our meeting. They've got three. Yeah, they've got three. Ich freue mich drauf, darauf. There you go. Oh no, that's four. That's four. Sorry. Ich freue mich drauf, ist vor. I'm trying to think of any German one, though. Yeah, I wonder. I'm wondering whether that's really... Was es Vorsprung durch Technik? Yeah, there you go. Well done. Yeah, that's true. That's true. Yeah, well done. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very good, yeah. Very good. Interesting. Can't think now, but yeah. Answers on a postcard. Here we go. Hmm. So you see, the rule of three is very cool for your comms, as I wrote here. And I'd like to now mix that up with our next little communication tool called the Convincing Sandwich. There's food again there, Rebecca, huh? Yeah. Convincing Sandwich. Anyway, what is that all about? On our screen, which I'm sharing with the ladies, we have a wonderful picture of a man and a woman who are discussing their next holiday. And so the guy here in this picture would like to go to Poland. And of course, the wife doesn't want to go to Poland. And he wants to know why she doesn't want to go to Poland. And of course, he would like to convince her, okay? So using the rule of three, we're going to do that together to convince the young lady why she should go to Poland, okay? So what do we do first of all, when we have a look at our screen, ladies? Rebecca, what do you see here on this screen? What's our first major step? We've collected key reasons, key points for why we should go to Poland. So for example, it's relatively cheap or we can go by car. It's not too far away. We can take our own car, for example. Any more ideas from the list, the brainstorming list, Birgit? Yes, we can practice the language, although we might not speak any Polish yet. We are flexible and we have the Baltic Sea nearby, yeah. Okay, so we have collected our arguments, why we think Poland is the ideal holiday destination that could, of course, be for her. You always have to think about the other person and what could be convincing for them, what reasons would win them over, okay? So that's very important when you're at the brainstorming stage. So we have a bunch of ideas. Now it's time to prioritize them and have a guess how many reasons we need or argumentations. How many do we need? Have a guess. Maybe three. Well done. Three it is, exactly. And what are the three, Birgit? Let's have a decision. What are the three? Yes, so it's something there for everyone. It's not too far. And the pricing, relatively cheap. I'm missing a food option. See, if I was going to Poland, sorry, if I'm going to Poland, the top of my list is pierogi. I want pierogi in Poland. Okay, we can add that for Rebecca. That's okay. Relatively cheap pierogi. Okay, and it went in that order, didn't it, Birgit? This is important. Point number one, something there for everyone. Point number two? Not too far. And point number three, relatively cheap. Okay, that's very important that we know the difference. Which order they come in from one to three. Okay, so let's start making our sandwich. I believe that Rebecca's hungry today. Let's start making our sandwich. What do you see here, Rebecca, on this picture? Actually, yeah, it says the convincing sandwich. I'm not completely convinced, I have to say. Does it not look yummy, though? It's a yummy sandwich. Yeah, I see two slices of bread, and between the bread I see some turkey, I think, and some salad, and the tomato, and if it's Germany, then there's probably egg on it as well, because the Germans are obsessed with putting egg. Definitely, and mayonnaise. Full sandwiches ever. And mayonnaise, yeah. Mayonnaise, definitely. Sandwich cream, if it's a German sandwich. Good, good. And of course, the bottom slice as well. So are you feeling hungry? Here we go. And then how do we build our argument or our convincing sandwich? We have an opening sentence at the top, which is the first slice of bread, and then check this out. This is where it becomes interesting. We use our second argument first, and our third argument second, and of course, the biggest argument we leave till the end, and also include a final sentence, okay? So that is the sandwich to persuade anybody of anything. Here we go. It could look like this. So we're going to read through the sandwich together. I'll do the first sentence, and then Rebecca, and then Birgit. So here we go. This is the first slice of bread at the top. Darling, I want to go to Poland this year because... Beware, because is also a very important word, because as soon as you use that word, it automatically increases compliance. I didn't know that, but you do now. What comes next, Birgit? Please read out our first sentence. Okay, first of all, it's not so far away. We can take our car, and it doesn't take so long to get there. Perfect. Number two, Rebecca. Secondly, Poland is still relatively cheap. So we get a lot for 100 euro, a lot of pierogi, and we could afford a really nice holiday, or we still have money left for other things. Okay, that's good. And finally, the number one, argument number one, Poland offers everything we need. Mountains, lakes, Baltic, sea, shopping, and history. There's something there for everyone. And then our very final sentence at the bottom, and that is why I would like to go to Poland this year, darling. Is that darling the special bread? Yes, of course. That's the special bread. Are you persuaded? Are we going to Poland, darling, this year? Are you persuaded? Sounds good to me. I love Poland. I would always go to Poland. You don't need to persuade me, but yeah. Okay. I really like the mountain, Baltic sea. Yeah, that was very convincing in the end. I must say, yes. Thank you very much. So a little task for you, ladies. Now, would you like to create an argument sandwich? I've done my homework. All very good. I've prepared my argument sandwich. Very good. My convincing sandwich. What would you like to convince us, Rebecca? So I was thinking, what do people ask me? When do I have to convince people? And it's often my clients. I do have clients who want to meet in person. They want me to come to their company, which I do like doing that. But meanwhile, most of my business is online and it's just not efficient. I can do it from time to time. But for regular appointments, I do really prefer to work online now. So I do have to convince some of them because they're not always convinced. So that would be my top bit of bread. I would like you to work with me online. Because? Because? Now, I'm just thinking if I've got my ingredients in the right order. Which one do I go with first? The second most? The second. OK, it's flexible. We can work from anywhere. You could be at home. You could be in your office. You could be traveling. We don't have to have a central meeting point. It's easy. It's easy to meet. So in my experience, people cancel less when we're working online. Yeah. And then the number three. Then the number three is resources. So when we're working online, we can share screens. You can show me documents. We can use the internet. We can use AI. We've got everything we need right in front of us. We don't have to bring in a laptop or set up equipment. It's all ready to go. And it's easy. OK, fine. And then the number one, the biggie. The biggie is, of course, it saves time and it saves money. We all spend less time. I don't have to travel. You don't have to travel. We don't have to book rooms. We don't have to wait for people to leave a room so we can go in the room that often used to. I used to lose time in companies waiting for things like that. Ultimately, I can charge less. My fee is lower. My time, my resources are less. So that's the big one. Save money and save time. So that's why you should work with me online. Wow, I'm convinced. Very good sandwich. Very good. Convincing. Very good sandwich. Excellent. Just need a bit more mayonnaise on the top. I was just going to say, for me, it's all about the bread. If you're giving me bad bread, I don't care. All right, all right. I thought you might like it. Cool. There we go. The rule of three and the convincing sandwich. Hope you enjoyed it. It was yummy for you. Just wanted to add that I am prepared for my convincing argument, but I'm going to, I think I'm going to try that on my husband. I've never thought about that this way. But now that's something food for thought for me. Thank you. I'm going to try that. Maybe that's working. It works. But I want to tell our listeners on an English learning journey where people usually look out for words, for wordings and for better communication skills. I think this is a kind of next step that you use the strategy even in your business meetings. It's wonderful to have this at hand, to be prepared and have that in English. That's something you can prepare on your own before you go into a meeting, but you have a strategy and you should feel good and very well prepared. And that can leave you or you come out with it feeling strong, feeling, yeah, you manage something on a higher level. So that's the next step. I think this is what I wanted to share. Yeah, I think so. I think it's just because you have the right words or the right phrases doesn't necessarily mean you can convince someone or that you can present your information very well. You often hear people not being able to structure their arguments. And this is such an easy kind of simple way of just structuring any kind of argument. So like Birgit said, you could be in a meeting, could be in an email. You've got to convince someone in an email of something. I was just thinking like job application. When my clients come and they're trying to prepare for an interview, they often say, what are your three strengths or what three words would people use to describe you? They never say what four words or what two words. They always go with the three. So it does fit. And this also, this because comes in there as well. My strengths are blah, blah, blah, because always justify what you're saying. Give some good reason for that. Yeah. So it's a tool and like Birgit said, you could prepare in advance. It's quite a powerful communication skill combined with your English. And your English doesn't have to be really complex because it's a simple structure. And it's a takeaway for maybe your German meetings as well. So you learn something for convincing why you can use that in German as well. Takes a bit of time to get used to. Of course, it needs preparation maybe at the beginning. But once you've done it a number of times, then you can start to do it more flexible, easygoing and to just come up with it like this. Once you practice it a little bit. Thinking about this, Dave, have you ever used that on us? Trying to convince us. Without us knowing. Without. What expression is Dave giving you right now, ladies? Yeah, I think he has done. But in a nice way, of course. Yes, of course. And surprisingly enough, our name, Three English Experts, is also rule of three. I just wanted to say we were not on the picture. Why were we not on the picture? The Musketeers. We had a working title before. So I think there were no ladies. Yes, the Three English Experts, the rule of three. OK, so the golden nugget today, sticking with the topic of communication is a little small talk trick. A lot of people struggle with small talk. I've taken this from someone else. I think a few people I've heard use this trick, and it's nice. If you're a person who struggles, often people struggle to create questions in English. I think the question forms are always quite tricky. And then it's like, oh, what do I talk about? And what should I ask? And this trick is basically you listen to someone else talking. Hopefully you've got a talker, someone who likes to talk about themselves. And then you choose one to three words out of what they've said. And then you just simply repeat it at the end with a kind of question mark. So they say, oh, I've just been on holiday to Morocco or Morocco. And that's all you do. You just take a word and you kind of say it with, yeah, my kid started school last week. Oh, started school. Two words. It's not even a sentence, not even a sentence. It's just with a question mark. Well, I've never been to England. Never been. Very good. Yeah. It depends on the person. Sometimes they might just go, no. And then you're stuck. But generally, it's a nice little trick to encourage. It's this kind of encouraging people to keep talking about what they're talking about without the need to form a full question. And I think it's easy. It's kind of fun. You have to pay attention. Of course, you have to listen to what they're saying. Not everybody pays attention. And then the other thing I always teach people is this active listening. A lot of people do not actively listen. So they listen and then they're silent, especially if it's not their language. They're trying to listen and they're trying to understand. And then there's the silence. But this, oh, okay. Interesting. It's so important because otherwise the person thinks, does he understand me? Does he know what I'm talking about? Am I boring him? So even if you're struggling to understand this sort of just this acknowledgement, this. Yeah, definitely. And then choose a few keywords. Oh, it started school. It just keeps the conversation going without being a small talk champion, let's say. That's my tip for today. People don't like it. I like it. Very good. And it's a simple thing to easy to remember, isn't it? Absolutely. And you don't have the problem of the questions, as you quite rightly said. No grammar trouble. I always tilt my head a little bit like. So like question. You don't have to do that, but that's just what I do. Yeah. I wish you could see the photos right now, guys. Yeah. So there we go. Okay. And next time our podcast will be about some grammar issue again. But people like some grammar issues. I heard if clauses rank highly on our listeners. So maybe future tenses also. What I always say, people forget about future tenses. So we have already an episode available on future tenses part one. And here we now have to complete. And this is going to happen next time. Future tenses part two. So that's even more interesting, maybe. So on the advanced level, we'll be doing. We'll have done and some more. So, yes, please listen to us again. Press play and find out all about the fantastic, fascinating, thrilling future tenses. Yeah. Can't wait. Can we have three there, please? Yes. Okay. See you then. Bye-bye. So are you ready to upgrade your English? Do you still feel maybe not confident, uncomfortable when you speak English? Or maybe you're stuck at a certain level and you're trying to upgrade, take it to the next level? Why not join us, the three English experts at a workshop, a two-day live workshop in Cologne in September. We are aiming to give you all the skills you're going to need to give yourself a kickstart, push, moving forward, positive step in the right direction. We are going to work on communication skills with Dave. You're going to work on your grammar and structure with Birgit. And finally, your positive mindset and motivation with me, Rebecca. So if you're interested, head over to our website, threeenglishexpertsworkshop.com. And if you book before the 30th of June, we have a really nice early bird offer with a special price and lots of extras. This is not just two days. After the two days, we are also offering some follow-up sessions, six one-hour free conversation lessons, a follow-up with one of the experts. And we will also give you a roadmap so that once you step out of those two days, you know exactly where you need to go and what you need to do next. It's going to be fun. It's going to be interactive. And we would love to see you there. So head over to that website, threeenglishexpertsworkshop.com and book your place now.