5 Benefits of Improving Your Business Communication

Recent advances in technology mean that employees are using many methods to communicate. Emails, mobile devices and video-conferencing have transformed business communications.

Also, the top-down business communication model popular in the 1980’s has become much more multi-directional. Nowadays, messages pass up and down the management hierarchy, even sideways between departments. Team meetings, video-conferencing, intranets, and discussion boards have all facilitated this change. This has led to more input from employees and a redistribution of empowerment within organizations.

Here are five benefits of improving your business communications.

Improved Team Morale

The happier your team is, the more positive their attitude will be to their work and the success of the company. Your employees will unite as a team, and you’re likely to see lower staff turnover.

Always being willing to listen to your employees’ needs and ideas is a good start if you want to improve business communication. An open door policy is recommended.

In addition to creating clear work instructions, including the reasons behind those instructions helps build trust and respect between management and staff. Collaboration can be much more efficient and fruitful when all parties fully understand their current processes.

Stronger Partnerships

Every business has a network of contacts, dealers, suppliers, and outsource providers that help it grow. It’s important to keep in regular communication with these parties to avoid disruption. If occasional visits are not practical, then keeping in touch by phone or email can be just as effective.

Any service agreements should be gold-plated, with all needs and expectations clearly understood.

Stronger Customer Relationships

Business communications with your customer base should do more than alert them to new products and marketing deals. Customer relationships are strengthened by offering free business expertise. Newsletters, online blogs, and social media, are ideal channels to demonstrate your dominance in the industry. Suggest solutions to typical problems; offer tips, instructions, and other information. This will build up trust among your customers as you confirm that you are experts.

Add a means of enabling customers to give feedback on their experience with your business. Send out an email survey or provide a form on your website. The results will highlight any changes required to improve service delivery and customer experience.

Increased Productivity

There’s no doubt that clear, effective business communications increase productivity. When employees understand their assignments and deliverables, their quality of work improves. This way, employees can concentrate on their job duties with confidence. They work more efficiently, with less human error.

A communicative environment allows employees to discuss their work tasks. They can flag anything that is unclear or redundant, and suggest new ways to optimize delivery.

Cheaper Communications

With the introduction of VoIP telephony, phone calls have become much cheaper. The broadband connection you’re already paying for sends voice data over the internet just as easily as it sends documents. There’s usually no extra to pay, even for long distance and international calls. Calls can be made from an office PC, laptop, or cell phone. Automated voicemail, call forwarding, and other features further reduce costs by automating business processes.

Similarly, email has all but superseded traditional correspondence, reducing postage and stationery costs.

Improving your business communications can save you time. It can also make your business more efficient, which is good news for your bottom line. Talk to Affinity about what we can do for you.