If you want your business running like a finely oiled machine, then you need to be sure that everyone in your office has keen communication skills. Not only that, but you want to be sure that you have the cutting edge devices that you need. Here are five ways to improve your business communication skills.
- Don’t waste too much time on chit chat. When you are in a business setting, it can be easy to get sidetracked with chit chat. It can feel rude at times to ignore the niceties of asking people how they are or how their weekend went, but it really can’t go on for too long. Keep the personal talk to a minimum and just get straight to business. It’s better to have a reputation at work as someone who means business, as opposed to someone who wastes time.
- Be sure to always have a clear and concise subject for all of your emails. Whenever you send an email, you want to be sure that you include a subject that clearly explains the purpose of the email. Ideally it should include whatever words you assume a person would search for if they had to reference that email several weeks later. You also want to be sure to continue replying and forwarding from that same thread of emails if the subject of your correspondence hasn’t changed. You shouldn’t have to read through several different email threads to find the message you were looking for from a particular person. It should all be well organized.
- Be sure to CC all people who are even tangentially involved in business emails. If you are emailing Steve about the carpet that he is going to install in Abby’s office, you want to put Abby’s email address in the CC list so that she knows what’s going on and how to plan accordingly. The CC, or carbon copy, list is for keeping people attached to email threads that they need to be aware of, even if they don’t need to respond to them. This is just a nice way of keeping them abreast of developments that concern them.
- Be sure to always respond promptly to emails. As a rule of thumb, all business emails should be replied to within 24 hours. Ideally, before the end of the work day, and if possible, immediately. If you want to communicate efficiently, you have to be able to get back to people promptly with the information that they need. You shouldn’t ever have more than 10-20 unread messages, and spam emails should be deleted immediately so that you can keep your mind focused on the tasks that you really need to address.
- Be sure that all of your telecommunication devices are up to date. If you need to make conference calls, international calls, video calls, etc., then you’re going to need to have top of the line telecommunications equipment. You can find all kinds of devices with Thuraya for all of your business communications needs.