Why Visual Communication is important for your business
The visuals your business presents is often the first interaction a person has with your company and these are enough to communicate what an individual can expect from your business. More importantly they can stir emotions and thoughts that can either work for, or against your company. If the visuals your business presents are done incorrectly, they could be costing your business money.
For example, have you ever found yourself visiting a company’s website after being curious about their offerings only to be greeted by poorly designed and vague content? Chances were, the appearance alone triggered sensations of disinterest. This experience can be easily explained by the saying “People fear what they don’t understand”. It’s a simple idea, people generally don’t respond well to what they don’t fully understand. Worse yet, people don’t want to understand what they don’t find interesting. Have you considered what this could mean for your business?
But how could this be costing my business money?
Consider that whenever trying to create a positive or favorable change of any kind, it inevitably requires influencing or motivating individuals through communication. This applies to vital business functions from selling products, to creating an efficient and productive workforce, to changing the way people in your organisation think and behave.
Imagine what it would mean for your business if any of the stakeholders in those pursuits either didn’t understand what was being communicated or didn’t have enough interest to understand what was being communicated?
Picture your sales staff losing out on sales because they just couldn’t convey the benefits of your offerings to potential clients in a way they could understand. Imagine your work force all understanding how to perform the same task differently, simply because the procedure was difficult to understand and not engaging.
What impact would a failure to communicate effectively have on the success of your business?
How to assess the effectiveness of your business’s communication
It’s difficult to know whether your business is communicating effectively or not. This is because the symptoms of ineffective communication present themselves in an indirect manner. The best way to identify whether your business communication can be improved is to question the nature of the problems your business is experiencing.
For example, Cool Boost Systems, were experiencing a problem whereby their sales team were spending more time disseminating product knowledge than recommending the correct solution for their customers.
They were inundated with calls from potential customers trying to understand how their product worked and why it worked well. A lot of this information was present on their website, albeit being very technical and in the non engaging medium of text which spurred their customers to call in to gain a better understanding. This indicated that the means of communication the business used to communicate vital product information to their potential customers was ineffective and had a direct impact on their sales performance.
It would have been natural to assume the sales team were to blame for a less than desirable performance when in fact it was the way the business communicated that was influencing their sales effectiveness.
How can I stop ineffective communications from costing my business money?
To truly avoid the downfalls of ineffective communications and to truly communicate toward success in your business we recommend the use of a comprehensive Visual Communication Schedule.
“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”
George Bernard Shaw