Workplace Communication = Money! by Peter Lett

Train your staff and survive the hard times

Thousands of businesses are failing each year, and millions of people are losing their jobs. Therefore, a serious look at your company and its ability to survive is called for. Every business needs that extra edge to rise head and shoulders above the competition. If your company does not develop that extra edge, there is a very good chance it will fail and you’ll be another casualty of this fragile economy. This is a demanding market and prospective clients require excellent service – and they want it with a smile. They expect courteous treatment and, if they don’t receive it, they will look elsewhere. To avoid this situation, every person in your company should put forth extra effort to make the company look top notch, and worth doing business with. Your must train each member of the company in effective workplace communication by training them in communication and negotiation skills, corporate communication, and employee communication.
For example, ask yourself these questions: Who answers the phone for your company? Who greets clients when they come into your place of business? If you don’t, do you know who does and how qualified that employee is? How do staff members communicate with each other? Has your company had a continual turnover of employees or a problem with workplace productivity? Does your company promote productive employee communication? These are extremely important questions to ask and answer. The future of your company could be at stake.
Pretend for a minute that I am a prospective client (a medical doctor) who wants to spend $150,000 on either a product or a service at your company. I call your business to make an appointment and am faced with a surly receptionist, smacking her gum and talking to her co-worker while answering the phone. What are the chances that I will make an appointment? And even if I do, who greets me at the door when I arrive at your place of business? Is it someone with an “attitude”, or someone who is too busy talking to a colleague to bother with me? Or, is it someone who has difficulty with the English language? Or, someone who looks and dresses like a street walker? Now what are the chances your business will get my business? However, let’s say I ignore all this and make arrangements to use email because going into your place of business dismays me. Now, I receive email from one of your employees who failed to use spell-check before sending the email to me, plus the subject line is empty. Also, I am addressed by my first name instead of by my title and last name. Do you honestly believe that I will still want to do business with you?
In view of the above scenario it is apparent that appropriate and effective communication between client and staff is incredibly important, as is effective communication between staff members. Remember, the client in today’s marketplace is looking for prompt and outstanding service. If that client can get a bargain along with the right degree of respect and effective communication from staff members, the chances are you will get a client who will do business.
Cast your mind back, to either going to a business office, or to a local burger joint; were you greeted with a smile? Did the greeting employee even look at you when taking your order? Did you get the feeling that you were important? More than likely not! However, if these employees had been trained in effective communication, your experience would have been quite different. Let your company benefit from a communication coach. It would greatly enhance your employee/ client communication, your interoffice communication which all points to the bottom line; your business’s profit margin. Interactive communication workshops will benefit your staff and give your company a leg-up in the business community. Thus, failing to train staff to be effective communicators and thereby losing a prospective $150,000 client is just bad business.
Peter Lett Communications – Peter Lett is a published author and expert on Communications & Negotiations and specializes in communication workshops, seminars and business coaching
www.peterlett.com


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