16 Jan The Cost of Poor Communication
A friend, looking for a new dentist, bemoaned the difficulty in picking a good one. “It isn’t like shopping for blueberries where you can see which ones are good and which ones aren’t. I end up going with the one who has a nice receptionist.”
Wow, I thought. What a responsibility for that receptionist! The success or failure of that medical business could depend on her customer service skills.
A friend with an insurance business asked me to look at some of the emails that his staff was sending to his customers and prospects. He noted the errors in grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and sentence structure, and said he thought this sloppy writing sent a negative message about his company.
An accounting executive told me that he hadn’t worried about the writing skills of his agents because the clients only cared about the numbers until a few of his clients called him for clarification of some poorly written reports. He realized that he was spending time fixing problems caused by the poor writing skills of his agents.
Many managers in our communication skills programs tell of the time they have to spend sorting out conflicts and disagreements, mediating problems, and facilitating negotiations – all because their employees lack basic communication skills.
At all levels, in almost any organization, poor communication skills cost money.
What can be done?
Communication skill training can be timely and targeted.
Organizations don’t have to spend a lot to save a lot.
Contact Language at Work (202-298-7700) to schedule a class today.