You know that effective communication skills can help you exchange ideas and share your vision. But did you know effective communication can help you increase revenue? Harnessing the power of communication is what not only allows businesses to succeed but thrive.
Warren Buffet knows the importance of effective communication skills. He has stated publicly that learning how to effectively communicate will help you earn more over the course of your life. Listen, the guy knows a thing or two about making money!
The Cost of Poor Communication
According to the Grossman Group’s “The Cost of Poor Communications” survey of 400 companies with 100,000 employees, an average annual loss of $62.4 million was reported by each company due to inadequate communication to and between employees.
Another study, this one conducted by the Project Management Institute, found that ineffective communication was responsible for a project’s failure one third of the time. There goes the entire project budget!
How do these losses occur exactly?
Unnecessary Mistakes
Let’s say a sales department has a few team members who do not excel in communication.
What happens?
Well, they don’t get across the benefits of your product or service, and so they don’t make as many sales as they could. Maybe one team member has trouble really listening to others (one of the worst communication mistakes) and writes an order wrong. This costs your company a client who, dissatisfied with the entire sales process, takes their business elsewhere.
Workplace Tension
When there’s tension in the workplace due to poor communication and misunderstandings, production and employee retention definitely take a hit.
Missed Revenue Opportunities
Say goodbye to referrals and repeat business when communication slips and hello to missed deadlines and higher advertising costs.
The bottom line is, the cost of poor communication is high and can be devastating to an organization’s productivity, employee morale, and bottom line.
Improve Your Communication and Increase Your Revenue at the Same Time with these 7 Effective Communication Strategies
According to a Holmes Report, those companies with effective communication skills experience less employee turnover, more productivity, and 47% higher returns. If this sounds good to you, it’s time to clean up your communication skills.
Here are 7 ways to practice engaging communication:
1. Make Communication a Priority
Create a culture of communication within your organization. Establish new processes that focus on effective communication education and commit to maintaining awareness for the long-term.
2. Share Your Vision Clearly
Do your employees really understand your vision? You can’t reach your destination if everyone is rowing the boat in different directions. Your team needs to clearly understand your vision for the company, so publish your manifesto and best practices so everyone can start rowing to the same shore. Take this as an opportunity make sure that your communication is clear and concise….
3. Get Rid of Communication Jams
Some of the biggest communication jams come in the form of hierarchies. If this is true for your organization, go ahead and dismantle those hierarchies so you have less bottlenecked decision-making. Engaging communication flows freely and ultimately leads to adaptability, innovation, and advantages in the marketplace.
4. Encourage Team Members to Speak Up
Are you ruling with an iron fist? Is it “your way or the highway?” Do you want those around you to share their true opinions or be a group of “yes men?”
Everyone wants to feel seen and heard so create opportunities for your team to share their feedback and insights. You never know where your company’s next great marketing strategy or product idea is going to come from so begin to create a culture of open communication throughout your organization.
5. Develop Effective Feedback in your Organization
“Examine what is said and not who speaks.”
– African proverb
Giving effective feedback is an art that takes a lot of practice. Constructive feedback is what can help your organization grow, so make sure that your team members are able to give each other feedback in a productive way.
But be sure to start with yourself first. Develop a method and plan for giving effective feedback.
Here are some feedback tips to get you started:
- Be Specific – Stay away from general comments like, “Your work needs improvement.” This is incredibly unhelpful from your team member’s point of view. Whatever feedback you give should be crystal clear, task-focused and to the point.
- Give Feedback Often – Don’t wait for a yearly or even quarterly review. Nip any issues in the bud as soon as they arise. Also, don’t feel feedback should only be given with negative reviews, feel free to give encouragement and positive feedback as well.
- Give it Privately – Never criticize a team member in front of others. Always offer feedback, whether critical or positive, in a one-on-one meeting.
6. Make Team Building a Priority
Engaging communication relies on open channels of delivery. This will require you to create team building opportunities where staff can get to know, like and trust each other. The more comfortable people feel with each other, the better they will be able to openly communicate. Add these valuable team building opportunities to meetings and company events.
7. Lead by Example
“Be the change you want to see in the world.”
~ Gandhi
He might have just as well said, “Be the change you want to see in your organization.” Words can be empty. Many leaders ask (or tell) the people underneath them to do things that they themselves cannot (or will not) do.
It is important to lead by example. Exhibit the very behavior you want people to show. For example, if you want team members, partners and other stakeholders to be transparent with you, then be transparent with them. Like attracts like. You will instill better communication habits within your organization if you employ them first.
If you haven’t yet taken an honest look at your communication skills, now’s the time. Hopefully, the fact that good communication can positively impact your bottom line will motivate you and your team members to commit to the journey.
Contact us for a free assessment on how our proven corporate communication strategies can help improve your organization’s bottom line.
