Stages of business communication

Communicative skills are one of the most important conditions for successful communication between people, exchange of information and achieve the desired result. Business etiquette has come into use since the advent of market relations. Many cultures give him a separate niche in the relations between people, raising them to the rank of ceremonies. And this is bearing fruit, because business etiquette helps to establish contact with a partner, and the success of an enterprise largely depends on the behavior of people during a business meeting.

Unlike ordinary everyday communication, business communication has its own clear principles and is aimed at achieving a specific goal through agreement and fulfillment of obligations. The business environment allows you to make new useful contacts, on which the success of your business depends. But not always future partners can sympathize with each other and find common ground.

Business contact involves profit. Other things being equal, the one who owns the knowledge and rules of business etiquette will win. This can be easily seen on the example of the interaction of two businessmen, one of which easily and easily brings the interlocutor to the conclusions he needs, and the second does not have the skills of business communication or oratory and is forced to miss profitable business opportunities over and over again.

Thus, business communication is a system of skills that includes a whole complex of communicative behavior:

• communication culture (adopted in a particular country);
• oratory;
• business ethics (rules and regulations);
• psychology of relationships;
• logic of speech construction (oral and written);
• image;
• timbre of voice and intonation.

In the modern world, business communication is presented in several of its forms at once:

• Business conversation - This is an oral or virtual communication between colleagues or partners, aimed at discussing business problems. Most often, a conversation occurs between participants in the same business sphere, who understand the specifics of this dialogue, are able to maintain a conversation on a narrow professional topic.
• Business meeting - a clearly directed discussion, the tasks of which include solving current organizational problems, analyzing the information available to participants, building a line for further behavior, making and voicing decisions.

• Business correspondence - This is official communication through a business letter, excluding any manifestation of familiarity or slang. A business letter is a document containing an official message and executed in accordance with all standards of business correspondence. As a rule, both in paper and electronic form, a business letter form is provided with a logo, address data of a company or institution. Also in business letters, certain markup on the page is observed.
• Public speaking - interaction of the speaker and listeners. This type of business communication is complex and requires oratory skills. The speaker should be as competent as possible in the question being voiced and possess the skills of oratory, interest and convince listeners. By type of presentation, a public speech can be informational (report), inducing (agitation), persuading (solemn speech).

Understanding the specifics and importance of business communication leads to the conclusion that he can and should learn.

Compliance with the rules of business etiquette is necessary for the successful building of business relations between business partners, colleagues, diplomats from different countries. Business culture and behavior can be dramatically different from each other, but There are generally accepted norms of behavior that must be observed by any self-respecting person, regardless of belonging to a particular society.

• Punctuality. In the business environment, the saying “Time is money” is relevant, so being late for meetings and making your interlocutor wait is the top of unethicality.
• Obligatory. Fulfillment of the undertaken obligations is the basis of a good reputation, without which successful interaction in the business environment is impossible.
• Confidentiality. The ability to keep confidential data confidential, to observe corporate secrets is one of the conditions for mutual trust and full cooperation.
• Respectful attitude. Respect for the interlocutor, the ability to listen, to be imbued with what has been said has to him, opens up wide opportunities for establishing contact. This skill is also useful when interacting with employees and subordinates.

• Self-esteem. Regarding the perception of oneself in the process of communication, you need to be able to find a "middle ground". To calmly respond to criticism or advice, but also not to allow yourself to be manipulated, to be able to curb with dignity attempts to pressure, to return the conversation back on track.
• Oratory. The ability to clearly state your thoughts, convey the meaning of speech to the interlocutor, without clogging up phrases with inappropriate words and without taking the thought away from the topic of conversation. This ability is not given to everyone by nature, therefore, oratory should be given time in its training.
• Literacy. Clarity of speech to a large extent depends on a person’s literacy, and the ability to write without errors is a mandatory requirement in a business environment.
• Appearance. In the modern world, there is already an established dress code (clothing code), which involves a certain form of clothing for visiting a workplace, events, organizations or institutions. Usually these are business suits for men and women, a standard set of jewelry and accessories. In the case of a first visit to an unknown organization or event, you should know in advance about the adopted dress code.

In the structure of business communication, four stages can be distinguished, the sequence of which will achieve the maximum effect in negotiations.

Here, the first impression made is of primary importance. Preparing to meet with the interlocutor, it will be useful to work with the information in advance: the circle of interests of the interlocutor, the environment and characteristics of his culture, the rules and traditions important to the interlocutor. This will allow you to feel more confident and with due respect to treat one or another features of the partner.

Properly constructed first phrases are the key to the success of further communication. You need to start by attracting the attention and location of the opponent to yourself. The usual human friendliness, courtesy, the manifestation of polite interest in the person of the interlocutor, the pronunciation of his name will help in this.

In the process of discussing tasks, it is necessary to align with the interlocutor for one “wave”. This result can be achieved if you carefully monitor the emotional state of the partner or the general emotional atmosphere within the group when it comes to negotiations with the audience.

Knowledge of three main channels of perception: vision, hearing and kinesthetics (this includes touch, smell, body position, gestures and facial expressions) will help you to adjust with your interlocutor.

Direct concentration on the topic of the meeting, discussion of problems and tasks. The purpose of this phase is to reach an agreement that is as satisfactory as possible for both parties.

At the third stage, several phases are used, of which the essence of the contact consists:

• identification of motives and goals of the interlocutor;
• maintaining attention: it is important to see the main thread of the conversation, not taking aside and not jumping from topic to topic;
• argumentation and persuasion: applied in case of disagreement;
• fixing the result is a critical moment in the conversation, when you should finish communication on this topic, regardless of the results, this inner feeling comes with experience and depends on observation, the ability to clearly capture the slightest changes in the emotional background of the interlocutor.

The general impression of the meeting is formed at the last stage of business communication and is most clearly recorded in memory. Therefore, the ability to properly complete the conversation can be a determining factor in further cooperation.

See how to communicate beautifully in the next video.