For some businesses, communication is important, yet the business can do quite well with average communication services and links. However, for other businesses, communication is the key to success in many ways. No matter what type of business you have, it is vital that you ensure good communication between colleagues, customers and anybody else involved in the company. Here are some of the main things to consider if you’re trying to enhance communication links.
- Set up a good email program
It will work if you have all emails sent to and from personal email addresses, but it’s much better if you have a system which works just for the members of the business. By doing this, you can all communicate more effectively and quickly, and they will only receive emails relating to the business, rather than all their other emails too. This is not very efficient and can take a while for them to find the important emails which have been sent. When you get an email program, make sure that you have a good filter system so that junk emails can’t get through to your staff members.
- Make communication easier in the work place
Before you start thinking about making it easier and better for existing and potential customers to communicate with you, you should make it very easy and efficient for everybody in the work place to communicate. This will save a lot of time since staff members won’t be walking around to pass on messages to different people and it will be a lot quieter if your staff are working in open plan offices. You should also think about getting a telephone system for those who are working in separate offices, as this will make it much quicker for them to be contacted. As well as having a good email program, you should consider buying an instant messaging service for your business. This tends to be quicker than emails and is much better if two members of staff need to discuss something quickly.
- Have several ways for customers to communicate with you
You should never have only one method by which your customers can contact you. Consider that not all your customers will have access to a telephone, and not all of them will have access to a computer or emails. Remember that although technology is constantly advancing, this does not mean that everybody will be able to use the most modern ways of communication. You should ensure that there is a postal address for customers to use, a telephone number, email address and even a live chat. Live chat is great for customers who need answers quickly, and it can really enhance your business and get more customers if they are able to speak to somebody quickly. Phone calls aren’t quite the same, since not everybody feels comfortable speaking on the phone due to language barriers, self-consciousness or simply wanting to remain more anonymous. With the phone numbers, make sure that there are secure calls – this can be done by getting a system which keeps your information safe.
- Keep everybody updated
Bad communication in a business is when staff are unaware of any updates, any news and they keep finding things out by talking to other employees rather than from you or a main manager. It is important that you maintain a good relationship with every staff member. Pay visits to the different offices and desks regularly, and using the email system, send out emails each week with important news and information about what has been happening with the business. The more everybody knows about things, the better they'll be able to work and keep everything running smoothly in the work place. You should also make sure that important information is sent out via email or instant messenger to all the staff or those concerned straight away. Don’t tell certain members of staff a couple of days before you tell others, or people will start thinking that you have favourites. Similarly, make sure you tell managers before you tell the other members of staff, so that the hierarchy works properly in the business.
