How to Choose Your Method of Communication

There are 2 main areas to consider when choosing your method of communication:

1.     Which type of communication suits the subject matter best?

2.     Is this the type of communication that the recipient prefers?

With the ever increasing technologies being offered, there is a staggering variety of options available to us to communicate with each other. How do you know which one to use and when? More often than not we choose the method that WE enjoy and find most efficient, without even contemplating what our client, supplier, colleague, etc, might prefer. It always makes good business sense to find out the preferred method of communication when we enter into a relationship than to default to the one that we’re most comfortable with.There are also subjects don’t suit certain communication methods. For instance, an email is usually not the best method to deal with conflict. Words represent only 7% of communication and there is no instant interactiveness when communication by the written word. There’s a lot of meaning lost and a lot of meaning added when only words are being used.

If a client leaves a message on our voice mail, it usually means that they like that means of communication and you should reply to them via telephone... and likewise with e-mail, texting etc.

As a business owner, professional or sales person the onus is on us to adapt to others’ communication preferences. Establishing a connection with a client, supplier or colleague starts with how we communicate with them. So the next time you start to compose an email, ask yourself, “Is this the right subject for an email, and is this how the recipient wants to communicated with?”

Remember – and I can’t say this too often – it’s not about YOU!!!

Originally published in Work Better, Not Harder on August 30, 2011