Importance of Communication for Entrepreneurs

Effective communication strategies and execution facilitates faster and mature enterprise decision making. Good decisions boost business agility and offer a competitive edge to the company. "In this accelerating competitive market, an entrepreneur should master the art of prompt yet wise decision making to avoid unnecessary delays and hold-ups that may produce disastrous outcomes for business growth. Therefore, it is prudent to communicate all the decisions to employees, clients and stakeholders to maintain transparency and to seek valuable suggestions

In general business leaders and entrepreneurs must learn to communicate on various levels to make things happen. "To attract quality talent they must make an impressive presentation about their company. This same dynamic is true when it comes to persuading investors to buy shares of stock or convincing a marketing partner to collaborate on an advertising campaign. When the company faces bad press, the leader must know what to say to the media," says Ridhima Pal, who works with a business consulting firm in Noida.

She adds, "By demonstrating strong communication skills, an entrepreneur can convince other partners to join the team. Business to business relationships also rely on business-savvy communication. While speaking skills help dramatically, humans also communicate nonverbally with eye contact and body language, which entrepreneurs must master as well."

Every business leader or entrepreneur has their own communication style that they pick up from mentors, colleagues and industry standards. Usually, it's best to maintain a friendly, upbeat an open minded approach in terms of communication.

Delving deeper, Pal shares, "The head of a team has to have a deep sense of language and culture. Ultimately the product or service being sold relies heavily on appropriate communication from sales agents. The leader must set the sales team's parameters and then they've got to sell it based on the leader's company vision, goals and ethics." She elaborates, "Plenty of market research across various industries confirms that customer service and sales representatives are crucial for business success. To many consumers, the customer service agent is the company. That means the customer service staff must be trained to accurately and responsibly represent the firm."

Again, while it's essential to be a great speaker, the other communication forms are imperative to business success too such as reading, writing and listening. "It's undoubtedly important for company heads (founder entrepreneurs are company heads too) to know how to read their own contracts that they presumably help to write. Writing is a big deal for business leaders/entrepreneurs because they often need to generate reports to others, such as partners, investors or government entities," says Mriganka Kashyap who also works with a consulting firm.

Finally, listening is crucial to business communication because it's a way of finding out what others think. "Sometimes ideas from various sources can connect with the leader's vision and lead to new disruptive products or services. Listening is also a way of letting other employees feel involved as active participants of the team. Ultimately, getting an entire team on the same page is the reward for effective communication," shares Kashyap.

Entrepreneurial success cannot exist without maintaining a healthy and reliable relationship with clients and other stakeholders. "A business or enterprise that communicates with its clients regularly earns tangible and intangible advantages including optimized sales, improved customer retention and a valued brand reputation. The advent of technology with integrated communication tools have bridged the communication gap by introducing personalised emails, newsletters, press releases and much more. Entrepreneurs can effectively communicate with their customers using these advanced communication channels. It helps in enhancing customer experience and satisfaction," elaborates Pal.

Effective communication strategies and execution facilitates faster and mature enterprise decision making. Good decisions boost business agility and offer a competitive edge to the company. "In this accelerating competitive market, an entrepreneur should master the art of prompt yet wise decision making to avoid unnecessary delays and hold-ups that may produce disastrous outcomes for business growth. Therefore, it is prudent to communicate all the decisions to employees, clients and stakeholders to maintain transparency and to seek valuable suggestions," says Kashyap.

In the words of Pal, "Sharp communication inspires innovation and creativity within the business by inculcating new ideas and experiences. Healthy discussions and exchange of information inspire augmented cognitive skills by unveiling every spectrum of the imagination. Creativity produces phenomenal results in an employee's productivity and encourages him/her to manage the work with more efficacy. It is not an exaggeration to say that allowing staff members to discuss their ideas and opinions widens prospective work-outlines and goes on to achieve significant success. Moreover, it resolves existing problems and fixes them with an optimistic approach. All the business associations get extremely profited from improved and effective communication. It helps in establishing strong connections with investors, financial institutions like banks and creditors thereby ensuring a smooth and long-term association. Picking the correct vocabulary, the right flow of information and appropriate communication channels conveys an impactful message and helps in creating a strong brand reputation."

All in all there are infinite rewards of effective communication, irrespective of the size of the enterprise. Entrepreneurs should explore the areas where communication training is required and promptly work on it for the betterment of the enterprise.

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