By Mary Walton
Effective communication is the key to your success in business. Whether you’re communicating internally with teammates or externally to customers and other businesses, clear communication can result in easy work processes and higher levels of productivity, and can help minimize the risk of error.
Today, Credibly is going to explore eight easy ways that you can enhance and improve your business communication.
Always Fact Check Your Content
Imagine you’ve quoted a customer $100 for a job. That’s great, but what happens if this is just a typo and you meant to write $1,000? This can cost your business and will effectively make you lose customers over time. Always fact check your writing before you hit the Send button.
Avoid the Spam Filter
Some important emails may not be getting through to your customers because they might be ending up in their spam box. This could cause a business disaster if a message isn’t read.
Make sure your primary and secondary email recipients have your address white-listed and actually receive your emails. For more valuable tips on avoiding spam filters, read this MailChimp guide.
Use Tools to Boost Your Small Business Communications
It’s safe to say that written communication will be one of your primary methods of sending messages and information, which is why it’s so important to get it right. Here is a selection of tools that can help you to maximize it.
- Via Writing: An online blog that can give you up to date information on how to perfect your grammar usage.
- EssayRoo: An online writing agency that can help you with all your editing and proofreading tasks.
- State of Writing: An online blog full of resources such as writing guides for professional content formatting and creation.
- Word Counter: A free tool for tracking and monitoring your word count in real time.
- Boomessays: A writing service full of writing guides you can follow when creating your written communications, recommended by Huffington Post.
- Cite It In: A tool for adding professionally formatted citations, references, and quotes to your written content.
- UKWritings: An online writing community that can help answer any questions regarding any form of written content.
Listen Properly
Whether you’re on the phone, in a video conversation or speaking to someone face to face, get into the habit of giving them your full attention and actually listening to what they’re saying. You never know what important information you might be overlooking.
Remember to Ask Questions
If someone is communicating with you and there’s something you don’t understand or need more information on, don’t be afraid to ask questions. This can help encourage a better understanding of each other and can help to generate new ideas and explore new business concepts.
Back Up Your Emails
This is one of the most overlooked points of most businesses. You never know when an email and the information inside of it is going to become relevant again so it’s always a good idea to keep a backup that you can easily access if you need to.
Remain Professional
When you’re writing emails, it’s important that you don’t fall into the habit of being too informal. A casual approach is fine when you’re emailing family and friends but when you’re emailing customers and other businesses, make sure to look the part.
“As a business, it’s important that you maintain your brand image in every form of communication you use,” advises Alissa Corbin, a content writer for Oxessays. “Always have this brand ‘personality’ in mind with everything you write and every verbal conversation that you’re a part of.”
Enhance Your Own Communication Skills
Consider what sort of activities you enjoy in your free time. What films and books do you enjoy? What television programs do you watch? All of these will have a direct impact on the way that you communicate with people in everyday life and the language you use. To really improve your business communication skills, start paying attention to this aspect of your life.
********
Mary Walton is an editor at Big Assignments Canberra, a website for Australian students that helps with academic writing. She also has a blog, Simple Grad, that offers useful guides for students. Mary has been a content writer for seven years, and now she helps people with content management at Australian Help, a tutoring service.