One of my old co-workers told me a story about a time early in his career when he was hired by a snack food manufacturer to be a delivery truck driver.

His job was to call on grocery and convenience stores in his territory, restock the shelves from the inventory on his truck, and whenever possible sell the store managers or owners on adding new lines to their assortment.

When he first began his glorious career as a chip truck driver he was assigned to do ride-alongs with an old veteran chip truck driver named Moe.

On one of those ride-alongs my friend got to witness Moe’s sales skills. In his gravelly Tom Waits-voice Moe told the store owner about this new dip:

“This is new. It’s dry. It’s dip. It’s dry dip. Do you want some?”

He didn’t make the sale. Back in the truck Moe grumbled “[expletive], that guy never buys nuthin’!”

Poor Moe didn’t get that presentation is everything.

How you frame your communication has a huge impact on the possible outcomes.

That’s why waiters who know what they’re doing don’t ask “Do you want any dessert?” after you’ve just had a big meal, they tell you “tonight our dessert special is a whipped dark chocolate cheesecake drizzled with a reduction of fresh raspberries and tawny port. How does that sound?”

Everybody in sales knows that you avoid asking closed-ended questions that end in yes or no. At least I hope that everyone does, but effective communication applies to more than just making the sale.

Poorly presented, it’s entirely possible to deliver good news in a way that annoys your counterpart, just is when properly presented it’s possible to deliver bad news in a way that, if it doesn’t actually make them happy, at least leaves them satisfied.

That’s an especially valuable skill when delivering bad news comes with the territory, like when you’re presenting inventory forecasts.

With good news or bad, being able to communicate effectively will build stronger relationships with your business partners.