The Importance of Business Communication

Communication plays a crucially important role in all aspects of a business. Business communications may be in-house or external. With internal communication, you are dealing with staff in meetings or via such written messages as emails and text messages. With external communicating, you are dealing with suppliers, clients or other businesses. Effective business communication helps build a good relationship between the employer and the staff, which can help increase productivity and the company's bottom line. Poor communication in business can result in a number of unforeseen problems, including disgruntled customers, delayed projects, and diminishing productivity and more. Therefore, here are the importance of business communication.

1.      Increased Productivity

The success of any project is dependent upon the ability of staff members to collaborate, and effective business communication is the key to successful teamwork. This promotes understanding and builds trust between the employers and the staffs. That's one importance of business communication. Effective communication within an organization involves listening to your staff members and responding to their needs. This results to confidence in what they do and accomplishing the desired task fast and effectively. Staff are also unlikely to make mistakes when there is effective communication. And should they make mistakes, you are able to correct them without creating an unfriendly working environment.

2.      Help Grow Customer Base

One importance of communication in business is that a customer is without a doubt the lifeblood of any business. Businesses rely on clients for their survival. Effective external communication can help attract new customers and retain the existing ones. Your marketing plan, for instance, can persuade clients to shop your goods or visit your store. A good public relations campaign may use the media to build your business' image in the local community. Knowing your clients' characteristics will help you determine when, where, and how to connect with them. Always take any opportunity that enables you to connect with your existing customers and potential customers.

3.      Improve Business Partnership

Another importance of effective communication in business is improved partnership. Communication is crucial when dealing with suppliers and other external business contacts. Sometimes suppliers need to be regularly updated on all the products so they can determine areas that they need to improve. Also, you may need to form an alliance with other businesses at some point. How effective you relate with these businesses will help determine whether or not you will succeed in these areas. If your company develops a reputation as an entity that's easy to form a partnership with, you can significantly increase your chances of forming business relationships with other entities.

4.      Facilitate Business Innovations

The final importance of effective business communication is that with it help facilitate business innovation. As the world is becoming globalized, you will need to take advantage of this fact and grow your audience and customer base. If both the employers and staff oversee communicate well, the advantages are twofold. Business innovation happens when staff feels comfortable to convey opinions and ideas. For instance, if you are considering launching a new product, effective communicating can play an integral role in how fast you introduce the new product to the market, how well your sales team performs and how it is received by your market.

Source :

https://www.eztalks.com/unified-communications/importance-of-business-communication.html

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Communication Skills for Business

While communication comes easily to people in many situations, in the workplace it's often a different story. Business settings require special considerations when it comes to communicating effectively, especially during times of conflict. If you feel like your communication skills aren't up to par, don't worry; with a little practice, positive communication skills can be learned.

1.      Listen

Listening may be the most important business communication skill. When employees feel that they’re being listened to, they feel respected and are more willing to share their feelings and opinions. When speaking with an co-worker, focus on what she is saying. Avoid thinking about what you’re going to say next, the meeting you have at noon or what’s going on in the break room. If a problem arises, ask the individual how she feels about it and give her time to speak. Respond without interrupting and demonstrate that you're listening by nodding, asking questions and showing concern. Simply saying "That sounds like a difficult situation" shows the individual that you've heard what she has said.

2.      Ask Questions

Asking questions is part of showing that you’re listening. During everyday conversations, asking questions shows that you’re interested in what your colleague is talking about. Asking co-workers questions about how a child’s soccer game was or how a project is going makes them feel that you care about them. In a tense situation, avoid starting questions with “Why” (such as “Why were you late?”) as it can make the individual feel that he is being punished. If a disciplinary situation arises, to avoid a defensive reaction, ask the employee what happened, how he feels about it and how you can work together to solve the problem.

3.      Repeat What Was Said

During a conversation, repeating and summarizing what the speaker has said can ensure that you’re both on the same page. Simply rephrasing what the individual has said in your own words and asking if you’ve understood correctly can ensure that misunderstandings don’t occur and prevent tension from escalating.

4.      Communicate Your Feelings

Express your opinions in everyday interactions; if an employee has done a great job on a project, say so. Likewise, if a project needs improvement, be proactive in expressing how the project can be improved. In more complicated situations, avoid blaming an individual for her actions. Instead, communicate how these actions make you feel and request a change in behavior. If an employee consistently comes in late to Monday morning meetings, rather than just telling her to be on time, tell her that when she comes in late, it’s frustrating to you and the rest of the team because her input on the project is valuable to the meeting. Follow up by asking how she feels about the issue and work together to resolve the problem.

5.      Avoid Strong Reactions

If an individual is upset, such as an employee or client, avoid reacting immediately, such as criticizing the person or lashing out. Let the individual vent, then tell him that you understand his frustration; if you don’t understand, ask him to tell you more about what has frustrated him about the situation. Keep the dialogue moving without reacting personally to what is said. If the situation escalates or becomes tense, take a break from the conversation and make plans to discuss the issue the next day once you've both calmed down.

Source :

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/communication-skills-business-2866.html