COMMUNICATION

Communication. The one thing that is the key to every successful marriage among other things of course. Communication is basically the key to everything, everywhere; but only if you do it the right way.
What is the right way? You ask. It is the ability to successfully convey a message. The ability to be understood. In order to do that, there are a few things you need to consider.

what is the message?

Understanding the message itself will help you gauge whether the message was successfully conveyed or not. It also helps you in the subsequent stages of communication.

To whom is the message meant for?

It can be a group or individual message. Establishing who is your audience helps in choosing the language you need to use. Here, you also establish the relationship between you two. For example, if you are talking to a boss or a colleague you can use the professional language you are used to. However, when you are talking to the client, you might want to drop the jargon.

Which is the most effective channel to deliver the message?

Highlight “most effective”. You want the message to reach the needed audience with clarity, right? Good. Your choice will be affected by so many things at this stage including the size of your audience. Thanks to social media platforms. However, you may need to realize that in as much as WhatsApp is a messaging app, it is not that official. If you are communicating official stuff, e-mail still remains the most official. At least, in my sense.

How to deliver the message

Have you ever bought something you weren’t exactly in need of it just because of how smart the seller was good at communicating to you? I have.

Salutation: Always start with salutations. Pay attention to titles. I’m not a big fan of titles but some people have spent their entire lives working for that title they finally got at seventy-eight, ignore the goddamn title at your own peril.

Introduction: This is where you talk about you, whoever you’re representing and subject of the message. Most common mistake you’ve probably made is to go directly to the actual message after salutations. Nobody wants to listen to you if they don’t know who you are. Especially if you’re on phone.

Body: This is basically the details of the subject matter. Take your time to explain it in details.

Feedback: Ask the person you’re talking to if they have understood you. Allow them to ask questions or place requests by providing a means to do so. This is where you exchange contacts, if you hadn’t. For formality, this is also where you sign off with your primary contact information.

Conclusion: Whether you’re the one who called or is being called back, be sure to be the one to conclude the conversation. If it’s a text message or mail, it’s quite obvious you’ll be concluding. One-on-one conversations and phone calls tend to be awkward towards the end for this reason. Concluding the conversation is not synonymous to hanging up or walking away. Once you have concluded the conversation, allow the person on the other end to hang up or walk away if it’s one-on-one.

This is something you will learn gradually and therefore, there’s no need to panic the next time you do it wrong.