STUDENTS' CORNER - 184

Effective communication ends in smiles, genuine and good

In our last session, we discussed the importance of communication in both professional and personal life.  We considered one of the essential points of communication: words must mean the same thing to both the speaker and the listener, the writer and the reader, so on.

The next important fact in communication is completeness.  A communication to be successful must be complete. In business communication completeness guarantees business; it promises continuity; it binds and builds relationship. What is completeness? Simply, the writer understands the needs of the reader, both stated needs and the unstated needs. You should anticipate the problems your reader, your customer might face and answer them also in advance. In business communication we talk of two major categories of correspondence: yes letters and no letters.  The first kind does not require much tactics because you will be expressing ‘Yes’ to the request of your customer. Supposing your customer is expecting some refund, and you are going to accept his request, it is not a problem. Generally “yes” letters are easy; but the real challenge comes when you are saying ‘no’ to his request.

Mere saying ‘no’ after explaining the situation briefly may not satisfy your customer.  Here, you have to talk about your company’s policy, or any extraordinary circumstances which have led to this negative situation and you should impress upon the customer that you are taking pains to explain your act to him ; this will make him feel that you are respecting the customer.  This is a crucial point; an offended customer might leave you. And losing a customer is anti-business proposition. That is why it is insisted upon in the business communication that the final part of the correspondence must always reinforce continued relationship between the company and the customer. This makes the letter complete.

To be complete in communication is an essential quality of a successful communication. Completeness in a way involves two-level consideration: fact and feeling. If you are cancelling a trip you have taken the initiative to begin, you must place your cards on the table; the customer must be convinced of your explanation. This is Fact. About Feeling, you express you have understood the disappointment your customer might be experiencing and you assure them that you will be compensating it with a better tour with no extra cost. This sort of communication does not generally hurt the feelings of the customer.

Where consistent coordination is required, such complete communication achieves the purpose and in the logistics sector, the importance of complete communication cannot be overemphasized.

In our next, we shall move on to the next point in communication.