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How to develop effective business communication practices.

Unless you have a product or service that is in demand and is not offered by anyone else, your communication practices are essential to the success of your business. Here's how to develop effective business communication practices:

Verbal communication practices for your business.

Determine what type of impression you want to make in the business world and make a list of how you can make that impression in your verbal exchanges with your customers and your colleagues. Whether you want your exchanges to be formal or informal, there are tenets that will apply to your verbal communications. Some of them might be:

1. Always answer the phone in a timely manner and don't put your customers on hold for any length of time. If you do choose to use voice mail, ensure that you return each phone call within 24 hours.

2. Make rules for your employees and use them yourself regarding phone etiquette. This would include how to answer the phone and the manner in which employees are to take messages.

3. Face-to-face communication. The first rule of effective business communication when face-to-face is to act as if you care. So many times in our busy workdays, we become so absorbed in our own agenda that we don't remember that our interactions with customers are important to whether they want to return to us later. You don't have to become friends with your customers, but treating them with friendliness will make it more likely that you'll receive return business from them.

4. The customer is always right. Be sure in all your communications to employ the policy that you are in the business of serving the customer, that their happiness is your desire, and that you have a product or service that you are proud of and will stand behind.

Effective written communication.

Written communication can be tricky. Because you aren't there to see the person's facial expression and you don't hear the tone of their voice as in verbal communication, you may not know if they take offense at something that you say. Here are some ways to develop effective written business communication practices:

1. Avoid humor and off-color comments completely. It rarely translates to paper in the manner that you think it does.

2. Have someone proofread what you are about to send. If no one is available to proofread and edit for you, do it yourself; but be very careful. We rarely catch all of our own mistakes.

3. When sending an Internet reply to someone, be sure that it is brief and professional. Just because you are sending an email doesn't mean that you should not follow your own standards. If your standards keep you out of trouble on paper, they will certainly keep you out of trouble through email.

4. Never commit anything to writing that makes you feel uneasy. If you feel uneasy, there's probably a good enough reason you shouldn't send it.

5. If you are a poor writer, don't write; or if you do write, use a professional editor to ensure that you have communicated clearly. This applies to your employees, too. Do not let them send anything out when they are new employees without your approval. If they don't measure up in the written communication department, ban them from written communications until their skills improve.

By following these basic guidelines, you should be able to develop effective business communication practices to meet the needs of your business.

Learn more about this author, Lou Belcher.
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