Top 10 Business Communication Mistakes
It seems that at this time of year, everyone puts together some type of “Top 10” list pertaining to an outgoing year, so we thought we’d add ours to the mix! Here are the Top 10 mistakes we frequently see in business communications.
- Business cards that aren’t user-friendly. How many times have you received a business card and you needed to use a magnifying glass to read it? Maybe they think the teeny-tiny font is “in” or maybe they simply have too much info on their card. Or, sometimes, they used a more artistic font or look that is difficult to read. No matter what, if the card can’t be easily read, more than likely it will end up in the trash.
- Netiquette mistakes. Simply put, these are common mistakes by people in sending e-mails. It’s one of our pet peeves that people assume that they don’t need to use proper grammar and punctuation when sending e-mails, nor do they feel the need to correct spelling errors and typos. Always remember that you are using your e-mail as a means of professional communication with someone. Also, unless you know it’s OK, don’t send jokes, funny pictures, political commentaries and so forth to someone’s business e-mail. You might end up in their Spam filter – permanently.
- Not following up. If someone requests information from you, or you tell them you’ll provide it, then do so – and in a timely manner. If someone leaves you a message, return their call if you are in any way interested in doing business with them. The same thing applies with e-mails. The cliché “you snooze, you lose” definitely applies here!
- Out-of-date info. In this day and age, printing is cheap and fast. There is simply no excuse to give someone a business card, a brochure or any other printed material that you have crossed out and changed the information on. The same goes with your Web site. If information has changed, update it! Don’t list a product or service that you no longer provide, or more importantly, make sure that everything you do offer is listed!
- Typos. Whether in an e-mail, brochure, Web site or so forth, you should never have a typo. If you’re not good at proofreading, have someone else look it over. Sloppiness and carelessness in these areas often carries over to other things, such as the product or service that you provide.
- Overcommunication. If you are like many people, you probably receive over a hundred e-mails a day – and you probably only skim many of them. Bear that in mind when communicating with current and potential customers. While you don’t want them to forget about you, you also don’t want to send so many e-mails that they start ignoring everything they receive from you. Unless specifically requested, we recommend communicating no more than once a week.
- Not enough information. When sending an e-mail or leaving a voice mail message, be sure to provide enough information so the recipient knows why you are contacting them. Personally, if I don’t know why someone contacted me, I don’t bother to respond. Also, never assume they know who you are. You may be just one of many “Bob’s” or “Mary’s” that they know.
- Too much information. This is the flip-side of #7. Make sure that your e-mail messages don’t border on the length of War and Peace and that your voice mail messages can be listened to in less than a minute. In addition, have the most important information first – including why you are contacting them and how to reach you. That way, if they don’t make it to the end, they have the critical information.
- Not user-friendly. Always keep in mind who will be reading your printed materials. Just as with business cards, if your brochure, Web site, and so forth cannot easily be read and understood, it is a waste of time and resources. If your target audience is “young and hip” you can be more creative. However, if they are “more mature,” don’t make them have to put on their reading glasses! For the majority of items, try not to use a font smaller than 10 point. We receive a trade publication that features very small (6 point) white font printed on a dark background for a majority of the articles. While this may look nice, it is very difficult to read…so we don’t bother.
- Lack of professionalism. Many of the prior tips basically fall into one general thought: be professional in everything that you do. Except in a very few instances, you are just one of many providers for the service or product that someone needs and sometimes the “impression” that you provide – whether it’s in your business communications, personal appearance, marketing collateral and so on – can be the difference between someone working with you or going elsewhere.
