Let’s face it. Your customers get you your bread and butter. You might have an awesome product, you may have industry leaders from the top B-schools of the town, and you might have great employees too – but all of that simmers into nothingness if you haven’t learned the art of effective communication yet. If you wish to ensure the best for customer success, you must hone up your communication skills. Statistics claim that the cost of poor customer communication for businesses in the U.S. alone is close to $4 billion annually. Well, if that is what you have been wondering off late, this blog is going to walk you through some of the effective communication strategies and tips to get your business bustling in no time. Let’s get to it.

Tips for Effective Communication

Honesty is the best policy, indeed

If you do not have a downright answer in front of you, do not hesitate to say that. It is perfectly okay to not have an answer at times. It is better than lying at the very least. According to a recent survey, 89% of the customers said that they are more likely to support brands that are honest and have transparent guidelines. Keep things clear instead of keeping them hazy and half-hazard. If you are unable to deliver a product in the given time frame, be upfront about it and say it truthfully to your customers. They will appreciate your honesty and might give a backseat to your faults in the first place.

Practice active listening with your customers

Your customers want to be heard. The second you start to actively hear out your customers, you make sure that you do not miss out on anything that they are trying to say. Start off with steering away from any bits of distractions that might come in the way of hearing them out. Keep them some time off to vent off their feelings. Make sure to read the customer’s message carefully and ensure that you fully understand everything. If you need some time to investigate something, be straightforward, and communicate that to them. Sometimes, simply venting out your feelings helps in pacifying situations, and this works in our personal lives too.

Be friendly and ask more questions

Give your customers a chance to answer how they are feeling and what they would like to see changed. If they start to offer you any insights, make it a point that you have full context around it and do not take a backseat from asking for more. When you ask for more, you end up getting more feedback which again when paid attention can work in your favor. In fact, the more you ask about their feelings, there is a fair chance that you can find out more about their issues and serve them better.

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Deploy positivity in your tone and use language that reflects it

When you start to use positive language, you make tougher news sound easier and mellow to your customers. Let’s say the customer wants to have a flat 20% off on their next order because they faced some inconvenience before, using positive tonality will help pacify the situation. Even if you’re saying something that would usually be bad news, it’s much clearer to frame it positively or keep it open-ended. Ensure that your answers and responses do not keep too blunt to your customers. At this point of time, they need your assistance, and keeping a negative tone would bring in no good.

Use Simple Language and no Jargons

Keep it simple and straightforward. You might address a customer’s issues who is new to your brand and has not used any of your products before. Keep your language as simple and easy as possible. And make it a point to follow up with your customers to know whether or not they are getting what exactly you are trying to say. This will ensure that both of you are on the same page.

Benefits of Effective Communication

1. Revamped Relationships: In every healthy organization, listening to the other person, rendering positive feedback and providing suggestions demonstrate mutual respect and evolves into effective communication. No communication leads to misunderstandings and conflicts and you do not want to be there.
2. Enhanced Productivity and Engagement: When you provide your employees a chance to vent their feelings and the right tools of communication, they will be more likely to engage with their work and workplace as a whole. This will in a way lead to more engagement and productivity at a workplace.
3. Increased Job Satisfaction: Your employees feel trusted to work with others who practice effective communication. Further, they are more likely to experience increased job satisfaction. The environment you create for your team members will have an impact on how engaged employees are in their roles.

Parting Thoughts

Effective communication is the key to a perfect and healthy workplace. It is not really a good idea to bottle up your feelings for long. The more your practice healthy communication, the more it will draw in positivity. Always note that effective communication is an art, there’s always room to keep learning, growing, and developing our talents. This is why we always need to be continuously developing this skill. Follow these aforementioned practices and you are halfway through to a healthy working space already.

WRITTEN BYJoseph Henson

Highly accomplished, motivated, and adaptable sales and operations professional with a track record of successful leadership. Known for an empathetic and consultative approach that consistently exceeds growth and revenue goals.

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