{"id":626,"date":"2013-03-20T16:04:46","date_gmt":"2013-03-20T16:04:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/?p=626"},"modified":"2013-03-20T16:04:46","modified_gmt":"2013-03-20T16:04:46","slug":"five-tips-for-more-effective-communication-at-your-small-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/five-tips-for-more-effective-communication-at-your-small-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Five tips for more effective communication at your small business"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"smb-tech-trends\"<\/a>In yesterday\u2019s post<\/a>, I wrote about the range of technology available today to communicate \u2013 texting, tweeting, launching an audio conference over a smartphone from anywhere, not to mention traditional desk phones. But tools only provide the pipeline. How you communicate or how you exchange information to get everyone\u2019s point across and make them feel invested in your small business is much different.<\/p>\n

Here are five tips to fine tune your communication skills and set an example for others who work for you to follow:<\/p>\n

Listen\u2026carefully: Effective communication starts with listening. If you find yourself talking at someone, providing endless details and insights about an issue or experience, take a deep breath. Your goal is to encourage two-way communication so that you learn from the other person\u2019s experiences and point of view.<\/p>\n

Ask questions to get input: Questions that can be answered with yes or no can end a \"team<\/a>conversation in a nanosecond. If you are truly looking to have a give-and-take conversation, ask your team open ended questions: What do you think about that latest trend? What are customers telling you when they call in? How do you think we should reply to our competitor\u2019s latest announcement? Open ended questions help to get at the heart of an issue.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t get ahead of yourself: I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve had the experience of talking to someone and they interject questions before you\u2019ve had time to answer. I don\u2019t think they are intentionally being rude but they may be so enthusiastic about the conversation, their minds go into overdrive. Effective listening means putting your brain in neutral to let someone talk and holding questions until the person has finished.<\/p>\n

Stop mentally crafting your response: Conversation shouldn\u2019t be a contest. No one wins if you haven\u2019t learned something or have a better understanding of the other person. Don\u2019t start shaping your answer while the other person is still talking. It will divert your attention from listening.<\/p>\n

Let people have their say: Everyone needs to be heard, especially if you want to develop your team to take on major responsibilities to help drive your small business. Whether it\u2019s an impromptu conversation or a team meeting, give everyone a chance to talk and be open about what they say.<\/p>\n

Effective communication is at the heart of every successful company. Whether you are face to face or across the country or the globe, listen and learn and encourage everyone in your small business to do the same.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In yesterday\u2019s post, I wrote about the range of technology […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[510],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}