In the fast-paced world of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), growth is about how you connect, and that connection is based on communication. Effective communication is the bedrock for all vital relationships. This includes relationships with your team, your customers, and yourself.
Communication helps turn your business into a memorable name. Ultimately, your success is built on the strength of your communication. Let’s learn about important communication skills. Let’s also learn how these skills can contribute to your business growth.
What you’ll learn:
The importance of communication skills for businesses
Let the numbers tell you: U.S. businesses incur a $1.2 trillion cost due to workplace miscommunication. With a rise in remote and hybrid work, appropriate and clear communication is necessary. Communication not only facilitates learning and relationships, but also serves as the lifeblood of business. It influences team dynamics, customer experiences, shareholder engagement, and most aspects of your business operations.
Effective communication fosters strong internal and external relationships, which are important to business success. In short, good communication means happier customers (and more money!).
Ten must-have communication skills for business success
What exactly makes communication “effective” in the workplace? Our breakdown of these skills will help you turn everyday conversations into opportunities for genuine understanding and collaboration.
1. Be an active listener
Active listening means focusing on understanding what someone’s saying before responding. As an active listener, you make others feel valued while gathering critical information that otherwise might be missed. It involves paying full attention to understand the speaker’s perspective and responding thoughtfully. It’s important for building rapport and avoiding misunderstandings. Face the person you’re speaking to and provide genuine eye contact to show them you’re present and paying attention.
Ask thoughtful questions for more clarity and offer your perspective only when invited. We recommend creating a distraction-free zone by putting your phone on silent. This single action improves your listening quality dramatically.
2. Learn some problem-solving strategies
Problem-solving skills aren’t just nice-to-have skills — they’re the building blocks for communication. When teams communicate through a structured problem-solving lens, they move beyond personal perspectives to focus on solutions that support business goals. This helps create a culture where everyone thinks from a problem-solving lens.
Your approach should involve identifying the root cause of your problem and building solutions. Then, establish a consistent system to measure your solution and address new challenges. Also, document this process to ensure your team has access to a roadmap for problem resolution.
3. Embrace a flexible communication style
Flexibility in communication involves tailoring your approach to reflect your core values and effectively engage with diverse audiences. Adapting your communication based on your audience, situation, and individual preferences ensures your message resonates. This adaptable approach helps you connect better with people. It also demonstrates your commitment to your core values, fostering deeper and more meaningful relationships.
Use a variety of communication channels, from face-to-face conversations and phone calls to emails, instant messaging, video conferences, and social media. You choose the most appropriate channel for the message and the audience. You should be receptive to feedback and willing to adjust your communication style based on that feedback. You’re constantly learning and improving your communication skills. In simple terms, it helps you handle the challenges of today’s business world more effectively.
4. Practice emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize, understand, and manage your emotions while relating to others’ feelings. Emotional intelligence is usually measured through an emotional quotient (EQ) score. That’s why emotional intelligence creates the foundation for meaningful communication. It can help businesses understand their customers’ needs.
When you approach interactions with genuine empathy, it builds trust and psychological safety. Small business owners and team managers can implement emotional intelligence by listening to feedback and personalizing interactions to build stronger relationships. This involves training your team to recognize and respond to customer emotions, fostering a customer-centric culture that prioritizes understanding and connection.
You can use multiple tools to implement emotional intelligence in your day-to-day business operations. For example, artificial intelligence (AI) can help you conduct sentiment analysis and social listening. Such insights and real-time feedback can help you improve your offerings. Survey platforms offer a direct channel to understand customer needs and feelings. This allows you to make emotionally intelligent and well-informed decisions about your business.
5. Pay attention to nonverbal communication
Nonverbal communication skills give you a competitive advantage in modern business. Your subtle gestures, expressions, and positioning often communicate more than words alone. When you pay attention to nonverbal signals, you build trust and pick up on things people might not say out loud. This helps you and your team adjust in the moment, making things run smoother.
Our body language speaks volumes. Facial expressions, posture, eye contact, and tone of voice offer insights into our emotional states. Mastering these nonverbal skills can help you become more attuned to the emotional needs of others and yourself. It leads to more meaningful connections and a healthier emotional environment. This awareness can also help you identify and manage stress better, contributing to overall mental well-being.
6. Focus on written (digital) communication
Strong and error-free written communication enhances professionalism and shows your attention to detail and respect for the reader. This is especially crucial in digital marketing, where compelling content builds trust and serves as a vital first impression.
As remote work culture grows, written communication can bridge geographical and time-zone barriers. Beyond this, written documentation is essential for legal and compliance purposes, safeguarding agreements and procedures. The best part? Writing skills can help create engaging content for your small business marketing across website, blog, and social media channels. This can contribute to brand awareness and attract customers.
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7. Practice presentation skills
As an SMB owner, your days involve speaking to various partners, pitching your business, and reaching more audiences. The ability to present information clearly and engagingly is clutch for growing fast. Strong presentation skills can help you win clients, secure funding, and motivate your team. Plus, when your presentations are more confident and articulate, people see you as the subject-matter expert.
Agentforce, autonomous agents designed to automate, optimize, and plan your business operations, can be a valuable tool. You can use it to practice your presentations and get actionable feedback to improve your communication. It provides personalized sales role-plays to help you pitch and sell better.
8. Lead with an open mind
Leading with an open mind helps businesses strengthen relationships with customers and partners. It creates an inclusive and safe space for innovative ideas and diverse perspectives to thrive. You can spot communication problems early and adjust your approach before misunderstandings hurt your business.
It also fosters a culture where feedback is appreciated and used to build and refine products and services. This can directly improve your product market fit (PMF) and customer satisfaction.
9. Ask open-ended questions
While asking questions seems straightforward, there’s more to it than simply gathering facts. In social settings, the aim is often to encourage conversations and build rapport, using questions to engage and practice listening. In business, however, the focus shifts to extracting valuable information through strategic questioning.
Crafting the right questions requires thought, but the payoff is significant. You not only learn important details but also show your expertise. Asking insightful questions is a powerful tool for networking and establishing yourself as a thought leader. For instance, if you’re attending a small business event, you can ask other entrepreneurs the following questions.
- What are some of the biggest changes you’ve seen in your industry lately?
- What’s been the most exciting project or challenge you’re currently working on?
- What kind of collaborations or partnerships are you looking for right now?
- How has your experience been at this event? What have been some of the most valuable connections you’ve made?
- If you could have one piece of advice for someone starting out in your industry, what would it be?
10. Know when to be assertive
Being assertive is crucial for influencing people and businesses around you. It allows you to clearly express your needs and boundaries, ensuring your ideas are heard and respected. It fosters decisive action and builds credibility, which are key to effective leadership.
When used thoughtfully, assertiveness shows commitment and gains respect, especially when balanced with empathy. Your team will respect your strength of purpose and drive. Remember: It’s about being clear and decisive, not aggressive. And delivery is everything.
A whopping 66% of employees and 72% of business leaders express a need for better communication tools within their organizations. Here are some tools that can improve your communications.
- Customer relationship management (CRM): A CRM brings customer data, interaction history, and communication logs together. This means your team can access every piece of customer information in one place and communicate better with just about everybody involved.
- Team productivity: Searchable Log of All Conversation and Knowledge (Slack) allows teams to communicate in real-time through instant messaging, voice calls, and video calls. It organizes conversations into “channels” based on projects, teams, or topics. It also integrates with many other tools and applications.
- Video: Slack, Google, or Zoom facilitate meaningful connections through video conferencing. It enables face-to-face communication for virtual meetings, presentations, and collaborative sessions.
- Email: Even with the rise of instant messaging, Gmail is still a vital communication tool. It’s great for formal communication and sharing of large files.
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Communicate like a pro with Salesforce
You get it — communication is the cornerstone of a successful business. With these skills in hand, you’re more informed about your business and can better understand your team.
Start with a CRM like Starter Suite. It helps bring teams together and deliver just what your business needs: room to communicate and growth. Discover how it works. Looking for more customization? Explore Pro Suite. Already a Salesforce customer? Activate Foundations today to try out Agentforce.
AI supported the writers and editors who created this article.
