Communication in business is one of the keys to success.
When you communicate with your customers, do you do so in a confident straightforward manner?
Or do you kinda hide behind your words and hope no one gets too offended or irritated by you reaching out to them?
First things first
By now, you probably know the most important thing for a business to do in terms of marketing is to communicate well and to do so frequently.
A high quantity of constant communication is almost guaranteed to increase your business income, and it doesn’t take much training, skill, talent, etc. to do it.
Which is great, because this gives you something simple and very doable that you can immediately implement to start climbing out of any low-income situation you may find yourself in.
But as the amount of communication initiated by businesses increases, an interesting phenomenon starts to become noticeable…
Some businesses realize more immediate and more effective ramping up of their lead generation, sales and income than others.
Why is this? Well…
Quality counts too
While the quantity of communication is by far the highest priority and should be done regardless of how adept you are at communicating, the quality of communication does matter too.
There are several factors that impact how effective your communication is.
One of the most influential of these is the amount of intention you put into your communication.
Do you have specific people in mind that you intend to reach without any reservations?
Is there a clear and concise message you intend them to receive?
Do you fully intend your message to reach them directly — to impinge upon them so they pay attention and truly receive and give some thought to your message?
Intend to connect
If you are timid, or afraid of imposing on your customers, or worried that you’ll irritate them by trying to communicate, you are likely communicating with a low intention of getting through to them.
But, if you don’t get through to them, what’s the point of communicating in the first place?
People who communicate with low intention may try to find subtle, roundabout ways to communicate with customers.
Instead of expecting their message to be fully received and accepted, they hope it might get partially across to a few of them while not scaring off the rest.
This is a sure way to reduce the number of leads being captured and losing many sales.
It’s the path to financial ruin.
Communicate directly and confidently
The road to success involves communicating with intention, which means communicating in a direct, assertive, and confident manner.
Note this is not the same as being arrogant, disrespectful, and ignorant of the viewpoints and feelings of the people you are communicating with.
Rather, it is understanding your customer, having empathy, knowing what their needs and wants are, and then having the courage to confidently say what they need to hear to persuade them to obtain your products and services.
But what if it feels “icky”?
If you struggle with doing this because it feels “icky” or “sales-y” or “pushy” or any other negative feeling you may have about it, consider this…
Consumers prefer honest and direct communication from companies about their products and services.
Which means they don’t much like it when businesses:
- Beat around the bush instead of being upfront and straightforward
- Communicate weakly due to a fear of offending or feeling insecure
- Withhold information that may scare customers away
- Put up barriers or diversions to avoid direct communication
Don’t create the wrong impression
If your business communicates poorly in any of the above ways, it can feel to your customers that one or more of the following may be true:
- You lack confidence in your own products and services
- You are embarrassed about your business or your products/services
- You are hiding something
- You don’t care enough to straight up offer customers what they need/want
- You don’t respect or trust them enough to be open and forthcoming with them
- You won’t be there when they need support or have questions about your products/services
The irony is that while you may be trying to prevent your customers feeling offended, irritated, or turned off, in reality you may be bringing about those very feelings in them through your evasiveness and avoidance of forthright communication.
Make your customers happy
Consumers value and respect direct, honest communication from businesses.
They prefer to do business with companies that exhibit abundant and straightforward communication.
So don’t be shy.
Put yourself out there in front of your customers.
Be confident in your products and services (fake it if you haven’t yet acquired that confidence).
Make an impression on your ideal target customers by boldy making yourself seen and heard, asserting that you have what they need and want, and insisting they obtain it from you.
If your products and services are good and benefit the customers who purchase them, both you and your customers will be happy that you cared enough — and were brave enough — to get your message across to them.
Do this with empathy and a good understanding of your customers and it’ll result in a pleasant experience that ends up with a win-win for both you and them.
