Telemarketing

We all know that there is nothing more annoying than telemarketing. And the reasons for that are many – telemarketers are intrusive, persistent, and almost never give up on selling us something we do not need at all. However, in Denmark right now there is a real boom of telemarketing. I would suppose that it is the crisis to blame. Or maybe the fact that the relative stability of the economy has made companies believe that marketing is not necessary and now when it actually is necessary companies make the biggest mistake – go for the quick kill, find customers right now and sell to them in that minute. Kind of shortsighted, is it not?

But I guess it is a valid point that you do it because it is your last recourse. I do agree that an unknown company needs to reach out – first to survive and then, if things go well, to grow. Telemarketing though presents more of a danger than a survival tool and its popularity only points to lack of market experience. It is dangerous because in many cases it damages the image of the company. Nobody wants to become a customer of an annoying company intruding their lives as nobody can predict how annoying that company might become in the future. It is a question of image, trust, and expectations.

When it comes to B2B telemarketing, the situation is slightly different. There, if done according to careful planning and in accordance with a strategy, telemarketing can create awareness and relations and boost the business. However, unfortunately this is rarely the case. If done correctly, telemarketing will not be called telemarketing. It will be just a part of a stakeholder management strategy. If done wrong, you risk once again your company’s standing, your network and your prospective customers or partners.

I would not at all comment on end-consumer-focused telemarketing as I find it not suitable for any decent company. It is indeed not in accordance with any set of business ethics rules. If we concentrate on the B2B telemarketing, my comment would be that it is something you do on your own risk and it will most likely do more damage than good to your company but at least from an ethical point of view you are in your full right to do so.

Let’s assume you are not convinced that telemarketing is a bad idea. Here I will present to you a list of the most common mistakes that will ensure you a ruined company image. Avoiding them does not guarantee you success as telemarketing is much about personal skills and abilities and grasping the situation as it comes and develops. But it might help you minimize the damage you otherwise will cause. Remember: no matter what branch you are in there is only a limited number of potential partners/consumers. Do not waist opportunities!

Most common mistakes with telemarketing:
1. Inability to speak short and precise;

2. Inability to present a valid reason for contacting the other side;

3. Inability to comprehensively (in short!) present the main features of your product/service;

4. Inability to present a unique feature/competence as grounds for the customer to choose you;

5. Inability to engage the other side;

6. Inability to answer all questions with confidence;

7. Inability to listen and understand the position/need of the consumer;

8. Inability to provide a flexible product/service fitting the consumer’s needs;

9. Inability to take a no and finish the conversation in a positive manner leaving open doors;

10. Inability to demonstrate knowledge and interest in the business of the other side and present an offer that is tailored specially for that consumer/partner in that very moment;

11. Inability to innovate and develop the product/service in time;

12. Inability to see one’s mistakes and adjust the strategy due to lack of strategic insight and control.

Once again, my advice is just to not do it at all or to do it only in very serious situations where the company is facing bankruptcy if no customers are found that very minute. If you, though, have made up your mind and do not see other solutions to your business dilemma, then try to plan the whole process very carefully.

First, you need to decide on a product/service/market niche and make a list of possible contacts. Research them thoroughly including financial data, market segments, image, vision, mission, network, recent activity, planned activity. Try to prioritize and make the list again including only those companies which you mean are suitable for your goals.

Then you should consider the different ways you may contact those companies – you can call, send an e-mail, regular mail, visit. You could always research your network and try to find referents who can help you to come in contact with those you need to reach.

If you are not sure what is the best way to present your company or service/product, that is, if you never before had done something similar and you have never received feedback on it, it is recommended to make a trial. Choose a few companies from the list who are of least priority and try out a few different methods of contact. It is a good idea to use the same method on at least 4-5 companies to be able to make some sort of a reliable conclusion. If you though operate in a sector with not so many prospective customers/partners you might want to consider additional advisory before doing anything as every company contacted in a wrong way is a loss for you.

Last but not least, you have to consider implementing effectiveness control. Without it you risk to lose track of what is happening and end up with no results at all. You are advised to undertake a small-scale bench marketing to estimate average success rate for the branch. Then you can use it to evaluate your own results. Results that do not meet the average success rate mean that your strategy is not working and revision is necessary. No matter how many times you change strategy, remember to always implement result control.

My advice is, however, do not do telemarketing. Working on a proper stakeholder management strategy will not take much more effort but it will guarantee you long term results and image enhancement. Saving the business today is not a long-term plan and if you want also to have your business up and running tomorrow you will need a bit more than just a momentary financial injection.

It is simple – think strategically!

 

DIDI

Internal Communication: Brainstorming and idea-sharing

In a company, no matter the size, the process of idea-sharing is very important. It is so as it not only provides additional thoughts and points of view which always can be beneficial when evaluating or reshaping the company’s strategy, it can also contribute to valuable insights into the company, the market or the consumers’ perceptions of the company. Furthermore, sometimes what from top seems flawless, could show defects other places. For instance a marketing strategy could be thoroughly planned but fail in the implementation phase. The reasons for failure could be countless – simple human error or some unpredicted trait in consumer behavior or a new competitor. And you never know who is going to notice the problem as the first and as some marketing specialists say, in today’s world it is not the big that survives, it is the fast. Reacting to the changing environment is a requirement for survival.

Not to forget, if there are process errors in the company it is the employees who are going to notice them first. Process errors equal infectivity which equals losses. Such process errors could be found in production, in communication, in marketing, in customer service and they should be fixed as if not fixed they will not only affect productivity but will likely lead to employee frustration.

Therefore listening is an important managerial function. However, most companies, especially bigger ones, experience some difficulties collecting such input as the number of employees or the busy work schedule does not allow enough discussion. Imagine a room full of people who all want to share their thoughts. Some of those thoughts will of course not be worth the time but unfortunately in an open discussion environment they cannot be stopped.

Therefore an alternative is necessary. Environment where everybody freely can share their thought and discussion can be carried out. Before that was a challenge for many but today technologies offer us the tool to do it the right way. Using a platform as an intranet or a social network gives the opportunity to allow for enhanced employee involvement in the decision making, for better communication among employees and for idea-sharing which can be the driver of changes in the company.

The pluses here are that the added freedom and informality of a social network for example will help employees give their inputs with less self-censure and carry out discussions in the form of brainstorming without wasting working hours on that – it could be done even from home and it only takes seconds. Furthermore, such discussions do higher employee motivation as employees feel that they matter and they for real are a part of the company. Last but not least, with only a fast skim management could pick up important ideas and even more importantly, trends among employees. It does not need to be mentioned that displeased employees are dangerous if nothing is done to correct the issues.

Minuses? There are none. It is cheap; employees are happy because they have the possibility to talk and be heard; and management is happy because time-waste levels go down, employee motivation goes up and is monitored, important ideas and trends are picked up on time. So do it.

DIDI

Exclusive Business Style

When talking about business style it becomes clear that different companies and different managers understand that term and what it is supposed to symbolize differently. Style is about presentation, about standards, about image, about who you really are. Style encompasses almost every aspect of everyday life. The image we create includes and is defined by our style.

Therefore our business style should be carefully formed and developed to perfection. Unlike many other things style cannot be faked. If we pretend to be an honest and socially responsible company while we steal from our customers and pollute the environment, it is stealing and irresponsibility that define our business style. Of course, some companies use a lot of money on public relations in an effort to cover their indiscretions and create a stable pretend-image. Money bad spent.

Another wrong interpretation of business style is that exclusivity is achieved by being different. I have seen the results of exaggerated focus on being the only one. They included mail labels which did not follow the generally accepted norms about labeling a letter, business cards which confused customers by providing unclear contact information, and last but not least 4 slogans on the back of the business cards promoting corporate responsibility and progressive innovation, while the company still did not account for any of them. That is what one can call an outside-in style, that is, a style created outside of the company, not aligned with the its values and forced onto it in the hope of becoming true.

Style is indeed a great commodity and it is understandable why companies strive to be perceived as working with great style. It is a great commodity though, only because it is a reflection of our behavior in the minds of our stakeholders, a reflection of our hard work on becoming who we are. That cannot be faked. Just think about corporations as Maersk. One can argue that it is different small things that build up their image and the perception of great style. The truth is though that their style cannot really be tracked to any of the small details in particular as all about them adds to who they are in our minds, thus creates the idea of business style.

In that sense trying to fake a business style is a condemned mission. First, it will take a lot of resources and time. Second, it will add to the stress in the company as employees will perceive the attempts to present the business in one way while working in another as schizophrenic. Last but not least, we live in an information society and truth always surfaces sooner or later. Therefore save your business the chocking impact with reality and avoid becoming a schizophrenic company. In fact the stakeholders have often a more positive attitude towards innocent-sins companies than such which pretended to be saints and turned out to be sinners. Do not forget – image is hard to build and easy to destroy, the same is valid for business style.

That is why most successful businesses demonstrate that they have understood the importance of genuine identity. Genuine identity refers to such an identity build from inside out, following the business strategy and practice. It is not a mask, product of an outside PR agency, forced onto the company’s face. Producing slogans and offering them to stakeholders, as mentioned above, is simply pure waste of resources and on top of that is dangerous.

Another common mistake regarding style development is attempting to be unique. Being unique is in fact something, everyone dreams about but there are good reasons for some equity to be established among us. The given example with the one-of-the-kind mail labels shows why. The post office got confused about who the sender was and whom they needed to deliver to. Was that a good way to differentiate the company? Following established standards is necessary in order to function in a society. Developments, innovation and revolutions are carried out in such a way that they do not bring confusion. That means that consensus should be achieved on them. Otherwise they are either dismissed or ridiculed by the conservative society.

If not that way, how do we establish an exclusive business style? Well, the simplest answer is just be exclusive in everything you do. We live in a society which values quality, simplicity, high standards, excellent services, transparency, responsible businesses, welfare, environment, care, etc. Being exclusive means that you fulfill as many as possible of the requirements of your stakeholders AND you do a bit more than required. Furthermore, it almost does not need mentioning, you have to be a reliable partner, honest and ethical and open to your local communities, perfect in legal and economic perspective, bold enough to be a leader.

After working hard enough on becoming the great company you wish to be perceived as, you can focus on the other details – presentation, communicating – directly and indirectly – your social leadership, sustaining your position. You need to accept though that it takes time and resources and the end result is often unpredictable as it depends on many internal and external factors.

What is guaranteed though is that you will gain a lot in the form of enhanced image and stakeholder trust and support. Exclusive business style today stretches beyond business and transforms companies into socio-business institutions with responsibilities for welfare, healthcare, safety, ecology, etc. No company, no matter how strong it is at carrying out business operations, will be perceived as a high-standard company as long as it does not take ownership of social issues as well.

That is why what you need to remember is: do not spend money on style attributes or image creation. Follow the highest standards of business, respect and include your stakeholders, act socially responsible and always go a bit further than required. Instead of talking too much how great you are, let others talk about you. Do not forget that every detail of your behavior talks, be thorough in developing and sustaining your public image.

DIDI

Strategy development, stage 1

CONTENTS

1.      The Perfect Chaos

2.      A strategy – how to manage the chaos

a.       How to prepare for strategy development

b.      Strategy development

 

THE PERFECT CHAOS

Some companies do not understand the importance of strategy it seems. My personal experience with such a company made me aware of some worrying tendencies which one should absolutely avoid if the company is to survive on the market.

First, it seemed that after a relatively recent merge between the company and another company operating in the same general market segment nobody had bothered to evaluate the results in terms of qualifications, working environment, customer relations, company and business structure, etc. Nobody noticed that the company had turned from a small to a middle company. Then nobody understood the necessity of changes in terms of policy, structure, synergy, strategy, consumer segments, competition, market development, and so on.

The problem was that everything was driven on an emerging basis: we stumble upon it, so we should deal with it. However, that resulted in confused customers, dealing for more than a year with a double entity (both companies co-existing under one management); no clear concept about business structure or heading; no vision, mission or image which usually means problems in terms of finding a niche or a stable customer base; no visual image – no business cards, no logo, no presentation materials.

The worst mistakes though came in the form of lack of understanding of strategy. Chaos was created by trying to centralize the control and the administration even though there were two offices operating on different tasks with different customers and with completely different needs. The lack of marketing strategy (and business strategy for that matter) resulted in financial pre-crisis at the smaller office and absolute confusion about how to handle the insufficiency of clients.

The biggest problem though, was that the HQ management did not develop a strategy managing the issues on hand. The understanding and inclusion of all key elements characterizing the business and giving it a fighting chance seemed mission impossible. No wonder there – managing a small office is different than managing two bigger offices. Furthermore, strategy is a specific field and requires competences. You should not believe that knowing your field qualifies you as a strategist.

That is why, before everything falls apart, please understand:

 

A STRATEGY SHOULD BE DEVELOPED BY A STRATEGIST.

In line with that comes the last paradox in the story. Buried in problems, the small office had a great core competence that clients were interested in. However, not understanding what a strategy implies and what the business logic requires, development suggestions given by splendid professionals in their own field included ideas as offering a predefined service to customers (instead of learning to listen and adapt to clients’ needs) and mixing the successful service with different unconnected activities to ensure revenue (thus risking an image that has a chance to be established). Last but not least, one can even argue that the relative success so far has only been a coincidence as the short-termed action strategy – contacting possible customers – cannot ensure the achievement of any of the typical business goals – sustainability, growth, prestige.

A STATEGY – HOW TO MANAGE THE CHAOS

How to prepare for strategy development?

A strategy is crucial, as shown above.

Preparations for strategy development include full analysis of the available resources, of the market, the consumers, and the competition. Resource analysis should include:

1.      Personnel – number, location, qualifications, network, image (in some cases);

2.      Buildings – what does the company own or rent, how much does it cost, what is the location, what is the use of the buildings, what are the eco-characteristics of the buildings, etc.

3.      Management – what is the managerial structure, who are the managers, which are their qualifications, what network do they have and how good they can use it, what is their public image;

4.      Partners – qualifications, resources, CSR, public image, financial state, contracts and agreements, network;

5.      Supply chain – companies, CSR, qualifications, resources, public image, contracts and agreements, network.

6.      Finances – what is the current state of the company, debts, interests, investment, how are the resources managed;

7.      Image – how do our stakeholders see us and why, do we manage to broaden and retain the customer base, what is our strongest feature, what is negative about us, are we known, have we promoted our core competences effectively, have we reached all the stakeholders we needed to reach.

8.      Core competences – licenses, limited knowledge, special type of a service or a product difficult to copy, innovation, etc.

9.      Product – expected frequency of use, demand, price, quality, development, stage in the product life cycle, primary target groups, etc.

After finishing the internal corporate analysis, an external research should be launched to get a detailed picture of the market situation. It should absolutely include:

1.      Competitors – bench marketing, consumer segments, core competences, possibly future strategy, types of products, financial state and public image.

2.      Market – rules and regulations, supply and demand, financial stability, customers’ ability and desire to buy, market tendencies and branch tendencies, etc.

3.      Political and social situation – development and freedom of the market, legal systems and necessary steps to legalize the business, expectations of local communities, political interests and cross-border connections, war, etc.

4.      Consumers – brand dependency, expectations regarding product quality, price, socially responsible practices, levels of consumer awareness in connection to the product’s characteristics and the business practices, local communities, customers of other brands/companies, etc.

5.      Other stakeholders – mapping of all groups or individuals with an interest in the business or interest affected by the business or affecting the business.

Those factors do vary depending on the type of company, on the branch, and the country you operate in. The important part is to analyze comprehensively all factors that have impacted, are impacting or might impact the company. Only then you are ready to talk strategy.

Strategy development

Strategies are developed in close collaboration between the company’s finance manager, business administrator, marketing manager, development/innovation managers, sales managers and possibly stakeholder representatives. It might be that a smaller company will hire outside help if not housing all the needed experts, but it should not happen that any of the core business areas is overlooked.

After establishing the status of the company, vision and mission should be defined. At first they would typically encompass only the financial and growth goals but in the formulation process they will come to encompass everything from resources and company interest to marketing, communication and stakeholder interests. Mission and vision are closely connected to the existing (if any) image of the company and to the desired one. That is to say that setting goals should not only be based on perceived abilities but also on stakeholder expectations.

With the appropriate choice of mission, vision and image goals the first major step in strategy development is over. From here on follows the development of a company-specific operative plan meant to lead the way to realization of the corporate goals.

A very important point here is that mission, vision and image have the purpose to channel the company’s efforts, thus maximize outcomes. However, this also means failure if mission, vision and image are chosen inappropriately. Last but not least, a note which one easily can find in any management textbook – the strategy must be a process, not a campaign with a clearly defined deadline.

DIDI
 

Communication Strategist: Fight bad marketing decision making

Sometimes being a communication consultant is an easy job which only implies responsibility about the company’s direction, action and stakeholder management. However, every now and then we stumble upon management that either underestimates the importance of communication or has a strong desire to control the whole process, no matter how much they actually know about communication.

I have been in such situation where the top management disregarded my advice concerning a comprehensive marketing strategy and implemented something which they called a marketing strategy even though it was not even close to such.

The strategy plunged towards a disaster already with its launch. Management thought it was a good idea to set corporate goal disregarding resources, market analysis and without any corporate vision or mission. The result was simply something dysfunctional, a waste of time and resources.

As I was still a relatively new employee my advice was not taken seriously from the beginning. However, I did not give up. I continuously pointed out that there is need for change of strategy. Interestingly enough, my boss seemed to agree with me but did not change anything in the line of what he called marketing.

The complete crash that followed convinced him though that another approach is necessary.

Unfortunately as communication consultants we cannot allow ourselves to fail that way. Therefore a more strategic internal communication strategy is crucial. The first step we take should be locating the decision makers. We should not forget that sometimes power lies not where we expect it to. Than communication channels must be established to ensure that the decision makers can easily be reached. Of course, as next step follows the need to develop trusting relationships with those decision makers. Here an additional remark should be that sometimes decision makers are hard to reach as they are eager to follow the established communication channels and hierarchy in the company, no matter how functional they are. In such cases it is necessary to start your work as a communicator with evaluating existing internal communication channels and suggesting changes in a report supported by hard evidence.

The point here is that sometimes it is necessary to skip hierarchy levels or stubborn managers in order to avoid crashes. There is also almost always an additional challenge for new or young professionals as their opinion is often disregarded and they are perceived as inexperienced, thus not trustworthy. In such cases especially but in all other cases just the same it is a good idea to support your strategy suggestions with data. Research a lot, read a lot and create a flawless presentation of your ideas.

If that does not work pull back for a while and closely observe the communication process as ordered by management. React already with the first sign of failure or dysfunction. Prepare and present a comprehensive analysis of what is happening, why and how the company should react.

If that doesn’t work, turn to other decision makers and point out the problems. If even then nothing changes, well, better look for another job as there is obviously no place for reason where you currently work.

DIDI

What advertising is not

Advertising has always been an important part of any communication strategy. But what does that mean in practice when deciding on marketing strategy?
I was recently asked to look through some university notes meant to help students prepare for their state exam. As I read I realized that there was a serious problem. It seems that many consider commercials to be the center of any marketing activities. And this is what they are not.

Stakeholder Management: behind the commercial

 

A commercial is designed not just according to the desire to sell certain product to certain target group. A commercial is designed as a visible end of a long marketing process. That is because even before designing a product or a service one should make sure that there is market for such product or service. That includes a comprehensive analysis of consumer needs and desires, of competition, of resources, of market tendencies. A successful product is usually designed in collaboration with target groups. Communication specialists always advise that consumers and other stakeholders are empowered when it comes to decision making. And this is a reasonable advice as practice shows that empowered stakeholders are more involved and thus less likely to switch to another company/brand. This implies that potential consumers along with all other stakeholders will be involved in the design and production of a product. Therefore they will not need to be informed about the new product through commercials.

A very good example of empowered consumers are brand communities as the Apple community. There we talk about much more than a product or a consumer need. What drives sales is the brand community’s culture. It is a question of pride to own an Apple product and it is always desired to have the latest model. The same we observe with the Harry Potter community. What can make a 10-year-old spend a night in front of a book store in order to get the new book as the first? It is not advertising. It is much more. Behind Harry Potter we can find a whole industry bringing the characters to life making them important part of the children’s lives through producing dolls, posters, creating stories, online communities, myths, etc. Thus it is superficial to regard advertising as a central marketing activity.

Kotler says that marketing is as an iceberg – what you see on the surface is just the tip of the iceberg. And this is where some less experienced companies stumble. Not understanding the importance or scope of marketing is fatal.
 

Advertising and types of commercials

Advertising offers good possibilities for reaching out to wider consumer segments, for establishing status or class, for promotion, for additional information, for keeping up interest, for comebacks. And used as such it will serve its purposes. Especially if designed accordingly and distributed through the right channels.

There are three general types of commercials – rational, based on promoting quality, stability, and price; emotional, designed to prompt an emotional response; and class-establishing, promoting luxury and exquisite lifestyle. There are furthermore commercials meant to accompany a product’s launch, to stabilize market positions and reach new consumer segments, to remind of the existence or characteristics of a product and finally to announce a comeback.

Media Strategy 

The media we choose for a commercial depends on the marketing strategy just as much as the commercial itself. Everything starts with analysis, mapping publics, budget, status, goals, and strategy. Nowadays typically used media as TV, radio and newspapers are no longer as effective as they have once been. This is mainly because of the enormous impact internet has on our lives today. Most people use it to get informed about products, read reviews, contact consumer communities. That is why it is almost useless promoting quality or other characteristics. People have the power to find the very truth about a product. For that reason today it makes much more sense to advertise the existence of a product, especially valid in the case of small or new companies, the class of the product and its superiority – why should we consider buying it.

However, we should not forget that today’s society is flooded by products and services and it becomes more and more obvious that other differentiators are needed to turn consumers’ attention towards one self and their product. It is advised that as long as you cannot provide a product impossible to copy, you have to invest in building an image that will make your product more desirable than the products of competitors. Doing so includes different types and mixes of activities as CSR, brand communities, partnerships, welfare, support of causes or science/medicine/sport/culture/etc., discussion groups, company outreach, transparency, reporting and many more depending on the branch.

That is why I will say it once again – advertising has its purpose, goals and results when used as a part of a thorough marketing strategy. It should not be underestimated, but even more importantly, it should not be overestimated.

DIDI

Good Marketing Strategy: Rule #1 for success

Marketing - why?

A marketing strategy is not a magical tool but it is a crucially important business tool. When asking questions about what makes the difference between failure and success, one might receive quite variable answers depending on who you are and who is being asked. However, there is a principle that is worth being considered:

You are worth as much as your marketing is worth.

You might be the best of the best but it is not who you are that is important. The crucial element for success is marketing and corporate communication. You stakeholders – clients, partners, communities, rivals, suppliers, media, government – should know who you are, what you are good at and most importantly why they should choose you before others who perform the same service/offer the same product and are comparably good. It is your responsibility to communicate it effectively.

Maturity of business and marketing strategy

 

In the market there are several different situations a company could find itself in. First, one might be the only provider of a service/product. Secondly, the company could be a market leader in certain or the specific category. Alternatively, one could be a small player in a mature market battling for small segment of consumers. Last but not least, one might be trying to enter a market that could either be mature or developing. All those market situations require different marketing strategies which should develop following the development of the environment.

In that sense before even considering advertising or any kind of publicity/communication you should understand the importance of a comprehensive marketing strategy, starting with research. If you are for example an established company it is best to gather all available data concerning experience, special competences, priorities, successes and failures, old and current public profile, network, clients, economical and sales data and figure out what resources you have, where you are starting from.

A next step requires that the market is researched. Remember! It is not important what product you want to sell, it is important what product the consumers want to buy. Therefore you should focus on the branch where your core competences are and conduct bench marketing, consumer research, market tendencies research.

When you have gone through all the resource and market data you need to figure out where it makes sense to concentrate your efforts. As it is a market with strong competition, it is important that you find a differentiator. That could be anything depending on your company and it is important that it is genuine, sustainable and difficult to copy. This will be the core of your business.

Image

 

Once you have grasped the business core you start building the company’s image. The image is a concept that stretches from the business core through the whole business process to the end consumer and the other stakeholders. You should remember that an image must be genuine. Further, you should define vision and mission of the company which generally are a map to its future and are inseparable of the image and interact with it. Remember that setting a mission and a vision is not just words in the air. It is a promise you have to live up to. They can also be a perfect differentiator if chosen wisely.

After you have cleared the idea about where the company is, where it is heading and what values it will stand for, you have to make sure that the business is really structured according to the proclaimed values. Only then you are ready to speak up and communicate your values. That you can do in many different ways and choosing the right way again depends on your company and the market you operate in.

DIDI

Communication (not) for all

Corporate Communication is a tool and as such it needs to be used professionally and this is the responsibility of a Communication Manager. As everyone every now and then needs a second opinion or advice this website will focus on professional communication in all its forms and uses. There will be theory, arguments, controversy, questions and answers, examples, cases and most of all an effort to bring communication into the light spot. As we ALL need and use communication in our daily lives. And we do so without really realizing it. Communication is indeed so natural for us that the majority never spares a moment to think of the importance of that seemingly simple act.

If you observe carefully those around you, you will discover how many misunderstandings, failures and problems come from miscommunication. The most striking is still that those involved have no idea about the fact that their problems often arise because of a simple mistake or failure to read their partner’s reactions. The reason is mostly that as humans we are programmed to focus on ourselves and ignore the outside world as it is too much of a complicated task to simultaneously reflect on ourselves, the others and the interactions between us, the others and the environment.

However, this “rationalization” impacts us daily and in unpredictable ways. Even if you assume that it is alright to live without a special focus on communication in your personal life, it is a mistake you will come to regret if you allow yourself to be careless about your business communication.

And here comes the first question. Do you grasp the concept of communication? As an owner or managing director you are surely quite competent when it comes to business strategy. But do you understand the importance of acceptance by the communities? Do you see the need of communication that stems from the core of the business and encompasses all the company’s activities? Do you feel it is necessary to have your employees as empowered and informed supporters of your cause? Do you realize that besides goals you need a cause? And so do the questions go on and on.

Most businessmen believe that communication is simple. You need to communicate that you are responsible, you offer good quality and you are generally better than anybody else. Well, if it was so simple there would not be so many company crashes.

The truth is that communication is not a tool you order from the store and it just starts working. It is not a dress you buy ready, reshape if necessary and wear. It is not something which could be generalized. Just as in our personal relations, the communication of a company with its publics and stakeholders is and should be unique.

That is exactly what I will focus on here. I will show how communication works in practice as all the posts here will be based on experience. I will answer questions and in doing so I will do my best to help you understand your own communication process.

DIDI