Friday 9 February 2007

Communication

DYNAMIC COMMUNICATION

In this world of multiple communication methods why do we still have trouble getting through. I have clients who boast about all the methods I might use to contact them and are then unavailable for days on end when I really need to speak to them.

They regale me with their emails addresses, their mobile phone numbers, fax number etc.
remember these are things for their advantage not mine.

I then need to contact them urgently and when they come back to me maybe days later it is all the excuse I was on holiday. my fax broke. my mobile has been stolen. my computer crashed. If they think it is that important they would keep in contact by any method they could.

A year or so ago I devised what I called DYNAMIC COMMUNICATION . I used to take a casual view towards chasing people. I took the view that I was far too busy doing the work to spend time chasing people up..
I revolutionised the way I did the work and then concentrated on dynamic communication. This involves contacting everyone in a transaction. If they are on e mail all the better. I tell anyone who is interested what is going on .

This has the effect of

1 Keeping everyone informed
2 Keeping them off the phone
3 Reminding what they should be doing.

It has been effective as I doubled profits last year and pushed turnover up by thirty per cent, this year I have pushed turnover up another thirty per cent.

I now try to study communication with a view to making it a lot better. At the very least improved communication is a money making venture. If you get it wrong it can cost you a lot of money. Most of us just think it is going to happen without any great effort on our part.

A simple thing like dealing with your day's post separates the men from the boys. Tome every letter, every piece of post is gold dust and should be treated like the crown jewels. I see firm and company's treat correspondence with excessive casualness.

It has to be gripped, and dealt with in a robust way. It is the lifeblood or your business and not to be treated casually. Poor or bad organisations tend to claim they have never received your letter or communication , reply at a leisurely pace or not at all. If you have a robust system this can b defeated by sending them reminders and copy letters when necessary.

You have to have a ruthless and relentless followup system thus Dynamic communication.Initially I used the system against others firms I was dealing with so as not to let them off the hook. I now apply it to all including the clients, in fact especially the clients. They forget things do not reply on time with vital information and need to be nursed along at all stages.

It works and the results prove it. Very few now fall through the net.

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