Business Communication: What Is the Outcome of a Successfully Received Message?

Approximately 90% of communication is nonverbal. People retain information through visual cues: body language, tone, cultural and social information, and more. 

When it comes to business communication, your job is high-stakes. Often, you’re trying to communicate new information in a persuasive manner. Maybe you’re trying to educate a new client in your industry, or you’re persuading them to spend money. 

In other words, effective business communication impacts employee production, company reputation, revenue, efficiency, staff communication, and so much more. When your communication is effective, you’ll experience successful outcomes with both staff and customers. 

That’s why we’ve assembled a guide to successful business communication. Let’s get started!

What Do You Want?

Say that you want to promote a new product. If you tell your staff that you want them to promote something, that’s an example of communication. 

But you don’t actually want your staff to promote that product. What you want is a communication plan, a revenue- or lead-generating goal, and a time-bound estimate of what steps will happen next. 

In other words, your request was not effectively communicated. Of course, if you’re working with long-term connections that understand you and the industry, you may not need to break it down into individual steps. 

But if you want business success, it’s crucial to be clear on what you’re asking for. Sometimes, leaders make requests based on their instincts, or because it’s “what we’ve always done.” 

This can lead to low employee production, tangled staff communication, and ineffective outcomes. It’s important to leverage effective communication as a method of assessing your goals. 

Is this particular goal driving the business forward in a real way? If not, why are you and your staff doing it in the first place?

Many leaders recommend putting the outcome first. In other words, when you’re drafting an instructional email, the end goal should feature in the first sentence. 

That way, recipients of your communications process the rest of the information with the goal in mind. Think of it like running a marathon. Information on the race route, times, and location are all processed with the end goal in mind: running a marathon. 

Clarification Is King 

Everyone approaches clear communication differently. Communication is informed by upbringing, cultural associations, social experiences, language nuances, sarcasm, humor, education, geographic location, and so much more. 

What’s ‘obvious’ to you is not obvious to someone else. It may be obvious if someone shared your exact personal, professional, and educational experiences, but that is impossible.

That’s why it’s important to embrace two hallmarks of effective communication: listening and mirroring. Hear what people are actually saying: when they present, when you take notes when you engage in a two-way conversation. 

Then, clarify by mirroring what they just said. If someone says “we need an email campaign for the month of this product launch”, reply with “so, you’re thinking that we should do a five-email over the course of a month that mirrors the five main product benefits?”

This gives the other person time to process what the impression is. Then, they can alter that impression until both people are on the same page. This leads to true business success.

Nailing Effective Business Communication

Clear business communication is a hallmark of success. As a strong leader, maximizing the effectiveness of your communication will boost revenue, staff connections, and business reputation. 

If you’re ready to scale new heights of success, contact us today—we can help!