Business communication skills and strategies

Consider a variety of business communication strategies and skills when starting your new company.

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If you see the value in making money and fostering a productive work environment, then you'll see the value in business communication. Even the smallest organization can experience serious challenges if it doesn't have a clear line of communication between the owner, customers, any employees and other stakeholders.

Significance

As the owner of a small company, it's extremely important to establish a business communication strategy for a number of reasons. For one, a failure to communicate effectively and professionally with customers could cause a company to lose that business over the short- or long-term. Also, poor communication is a major cause of project failure when you or your employees work on teams to achieve business goals, according to a poll conducted by the Computing Technology Industry Association.

Characteristics

A solid business communication strategy has a number of key attributes. According to the book "Effective Business Communications, " effective communication is complete, concise, concrete, considerate, clear, courteous and correct.

Related Reading: Unique Business Communication Skills

Strategies

You can approach the task of setting a business communication strategy for your company from a number of viewpoints, but it's useful to look at the situation from two general perspectives—online or offline methods. The traditional methods of communicating with employees and clients offline include phone calls and business meetings, but now you can use a variety of online strategies to accomplish the same communication goals and in some cases it's more cost-effective and efficient. For instance, online services, including Basecamp, allow you to set up web-based meetings and projects so that you not only can communicate with employees or clients, but also have a record of these communications.

Skills

Communicating effectively in business requires a set of skills that you may need training to develop as a small business owner. One important skill you need is the capacity to listen and interpret incoming communications. Another is the ability to ask specific questions that allow you and the other party to gain a clear understanding of the matter. Providing valuable feedback and making a personal connection with the other party are also important to business communication. It's also helpful to learn about body language (non-verbal communication) if you want to communicate successfully with others at your company.