Business Communication Skills: To Attract The Right Opportunities

What does it take to run a successful business? People might believe it’s the skill of identifying and seizing an opportunity. But, there’s one element that is essential for any business, and that is effective communication. Business communication can be your biggest asset. It is an old saying, “He who knows how to talk can attract more business.”

Many people neglect the importance of communication when it comes to business. People think workplace skills and leadership skills are enough to lead a business. Well, they are essential, but not enough. Your business completely depends on the way you communicate with people around you.

From your employees and managers to clients and prospects, what makes you stand out is your way of communicating and attracting opportunities. Being an entrepreneur, I have learned in-depth how communication can bring laurels to your organization.

When I started the business, I had very little knowledge of the industry. However, what I had and knew will help me throughout was my confidence and communication skills. I never shied out of asking questions, doubts, and clearing queries. Not only did I learn the business from the best people, but I also attracted so many opportunities for my firm with healthy communication with prospects.

So, if you still think communication won’t affect your organization, you’re missing a lot of opportunities. Your way of communicating includes, talking, reacting, listening, and expressing yourself. It is not limited to the way you talk. Business communication is critical to your company’s success. It involves a constant flow of information inside and outside the organization.

You can also read our blog on Improve Communication to Improve Work and Life

It is seen that organizations with large numbers of people and many levels of hierarchy struggle to manage business communications efficiently. 

What are Business Communication Skills?

Business communication is the process by which you and your employees communicate with each other and outside the company. Effective business communication skills determine how employees and management interact with one another to reach organizational goals. It also allows employees to be more aligned with the core company values.

Any organization’s growth and success depend a lot on how effective communication is carried out in the organization. Business communications are not like everyday communications. Business communication skills are more goal-oriented. 

4 Different Types of Business Communication

• Internal Upward Communication: Internal upward communication is the communication that comes from a lower-level employee to the manager. In simple words, it is the interaction between a subordinate and a manager or any individual in the organization. The subordinate needs to send clear, precise, and accurate information to higher levels of the organization.

• Internal Downward Communication: As the name suggests, internal downward communication flows from a senior-level employee to a junior-level employee. The manager must be professional and clear while communicating with a junior. If you’re not clear in communicating a task, you might not get the desired results. 

• Internal Lateral Communication: Internal lateral communication is the type of communication that takes place among employees in the workplace. There are many different ways of communicating with coworkers. From chats, messages, emails, to phone calls. It is the most common type of communication and happens regularly. However, efficient skills are a must for this type of communication. You do not want to send a wrong meaning or intention to your fellow employee.

• External Communication: External communication is by far the most important form of business communication. It directly affects the types and number of opportunities your firm gets. This type of communication happens outside the company. It happens with external parties like the customers, prospects, vendors, or business partners.

 7 Must-Have Business Communication Skills

Now that you know what business communication skills are, let’s throw some light on the essential business communication skills for all employees. 

• Communicate with manners: One thing that is very important for communicating in a business is presenting your manners. Many times people from different backgrounds and cultures come together to work in one organization. Not everyone is like that, and despite the differences, you should employ good manners. Social graces are necessary not just in the face to face conversations, but also in emails. It directly impacts your customer relations and employee relations.

• Use Problem Solving Strategies: Problem-solving is an indispensable part of the business. As someone working in the corporate sector, you should know how to deal with problems at work. First, you need to identify the problem and understand its cause. Once you’ve understood the root, you should figure out a solution. Talk when you have a solution and not unnecessarily.

• Non-Verbal Communication: Communication is not only about the words that come out of our mouths. It covers a lot of other factors. The importance of nonverbal communication surpasses verbal communication. If you’re saying something good, but your body language does not complement, then it’s of no use. When it comes to business communication skills, nonverbal communication is even more important as you always need to understand the person sitting in front of you. From facial expressions, posture, eye contact, voice, and hand gestures all fall into this category. You need to check these factors while communicating:

• Facial expressions: Your expressions should match the gist of the conversation. Smile when something funny is being discussed.
• Body movement: As you talk, maintain eye contact and do not move your feet or shake your legs.
• Space Boundaries: Do not stand too close or too far from a person while talking to them.
• Voice Quality: Keep a check on your volume while you talk.

• Showcase Emotional Intelligence: Emotional intelligence plays a very crucial role in business communication. For instance, if you’re talking to someone who’s suffering, you need to show empathy. Emotional intelligence at the workplace guides social interactions and helps colleagues to work more effectively. It also forms a healthy and understanding bond between different people. Two skills that are mandatory for business today are tolerance and acceptance. Emotional intelligence allows people to work on these skills. 

• Listen Attentively: Business communications are critical. You would not want to miss even a single point of the deal being discussed. As I always say, communication is not only about talking but also listening. When you pretend to listen, the speaker can easily judge. When you listen actively, you will become more acknowledged. People love to be with someone who listens to them. However, a person who only listens to the main point and avoids everything else exhibits poor listening skills. What you can do to be an active listener:

• Face the speaker and make eye contact.
• Avoid being distracted by anything.
• Engage with the speaker and ask questions.
• Keep your mind open and understand what the speaker is trying to say.

• Ask Questions: A person who listens actively and is involved in a conversation will have doubts and queries. So, if you’re someone who has no questions or you’re too shy to ask one, then you need to work on your communication skills. When you ask people questions as a counter-intuitive act, you show your involvement. It relaxes the speaker and makes him or her feel heard. However, in business, you must ask the right and relevant questions that match the gist of the conversation. Asking smart questions shows your competency and expertise and helps you in business networking.

• Know When To raise Voice: Just because you want to sound polite or friendly does not mean you neglect the wrongdoing in your organization. You cannot always stay positive and motivating. In business, when things go wrong you need efficient communication to deal with it. How to deal with stressful and negative situations at work is also an essential business communication skill. You should have the confidence to question and clear things when something goes wrong.

• Public Speaking: One irreplaceable business communication skill is public speaking. When you’re speaking in front of employees or clients, or in conferences, you must know how to present your point. Standing in a crowded hall before a big project requires apt communication skills. Being in the corporate sector, you must have the confidence to address a group of people and attract them with your words. 

Why Effective Business Communication is Crucial?

• Employee Engagement: Efficient business communication skills improve employee engagement. If your employees love listening and interacting with you, then you’re on the right track. Internal communication teams play a crucial role in engaging the employees. When your employees listen to you with an open mind, they understand your goals. 

• Grab Attention through Emails: Most of the work in organizations today happens through emails. However, not all emails are read by everyone. Your written communication skills have a major role to play in it. If your email has the right words, it will get immediate attention. Moreover, it will also fetch you quicker results.

• Improves Employee Productivity: When an interview is done for any job post, a person with good communication skills is always given preference over someone with the same academic grade. Most employees believe that business communication helps their job performance. Moreover, if the internal communication of an organization is good, then employees will work more productively. Many times organizations take days and weeks to get a message passed. It leads to a lot of wastage of time and effort.

• Cuts-off Communication Silos: Communication silos are the messages and information that often get lost. It happens when there is too much irrelevant content. Effective communication takes place in limited and meaningful content. However, when the content is too high in volume it leads to information silos. Proper business communication skills can help prevent such silos in your organization.

• Improve Interdepartmental Communication: Being an entrepreneur, I have seen many firms where employees of two different departments do not go well with each other. It generally happens when an organization does not have a proper interdepartmental communications strategy. When all your departments are on the same page, they communicate efficiently and bring better results.

• Helps In Long-Term Bonds: Long-term relations in business are as important as in personal lives. When you’re good at communicating and delivering your message, people respect you and your work. In business people often form long-term relations with employees and clients that treat them with respect and politeness. 

• Remote Workers Communication: One problem that remote working has is the communication barrier. It is quite obvious that the only way you can connect to a remote worker is through communication. When you haven’t seen someone in person, the way you talk to them decides the overall result. Today, most organizations are shifting to remote work. 

• Improves Company Culture: Business communication and the strategy for communication skills are crucial to build a better company culture. Business communication skills determine the work environment. If the communication is transparent, it creates a healthy work environment. Bad business communication skills can deteriorate the workplace culture and lower engagement. It will also lead to low customer and employee satisfaction.

Why Choose Our Business Communication Skills Coaching?

Our business communication coaching is designed to help budding and established entrepreneurs to improve their work culture. Communication is an essential part of any organization, or we can say the success of a company depends on the type of communications carried. 

Being an entrepreneur, I understand the practical and personal importance of efficient communication. I have vast experience in enhancing the communication skills of many clients and organizations.

You can also Boost Your Business Growth with Corporate Counselling

Our effective tools and techniques can help you transform your internal and external communications. You can:

• Improve employee engagement
• Enhance productivity
• Boost your marketing and sales 
• Remove information silos
• Create healthy corporate relations
• Attract more high-quality clients.

We live in a corporate sector where one must be ready to adopt new skills to stay in the race. As employee communications and engagement have become very important, we are here to help you.