Stages of business communication

Communication skills - one of the most important conditions for successful communication between people, sharing information and achieving the desired result. Business etiquette has come into use since the advent of market relations. Many cultures give it a separate niche in relations between people, elevating them to the rank of ceremonies. And this is paying off, because business etiquette contributes to establishing contact with a partner, and the success of an enterprise largely depends on the behavior of people during a business meeting.

Unlike regular everyday communication, business communication has its own clear principles and is aimed at achieving a certain goal through agreement and fulfillment of obligations. The business environment allows you to make new useful contacts on which the success of the business you are undertaking. But not always future partners can sympathize with each other and find points of contact.

Business contact involves receiving benefits. Other things being equal, the one who wields knowledge and rules of business etiquette will win. This is easy to follow by the example of the interaction of two businessmen, one of whom easily and naturally brings the interlocutor to the conclusions he needs, and the second one does not have business communication skills or eloquence and has to lose profitable business opportunities time and time 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);
• relationship psychology;
• the logic of speech construction (oral and written);
• image;
• timbre and intonation.

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

• Business conversation - is verbal or virtual communication between colleagues or partners, which aims to discuss business problems. Most often, a conversation takes place between participants in one business sphere who understand the specifics of this dialogue and are able to support a conversation on a narrow professional topic.
• Business meeting - a well-directed discussion, the tasks of which include solving current organizational tasks, analyzing the information available to participants, building a line of 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 a business letter and issued according to all standards of business correspondence. As a rule, both a paper and electronic form of a business letter is provided with a logo, address data of a company or institution. Also in business letters observed certain markup on the page.
• Public speaking - interaction of the speaker and listeners. This type of business communication is complex and requires eloquence. The speaker should be as competent as possible in the voiced question and have the skills of speaking, to interest and convince the audience.By the type of presentation of the material, a public speech can be informational (report), encouraging (agitation), persuasive (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 successful building of business relations between business partners, colleagues, diplomats from different countries. Culture and business behavior may differ dramatically from each other, but There are generally accepted standards 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 keeping your interlocutor waiting is the height of unethicality.
• Binding. Fulfillment of commitments is the basis of good reputation, without which successful interaction in a business environment is impossible.
• Confidentiality. The ability to keep confidential data confidential, to comply with corporate secrets is one of the conditions for mutual trust and full cooperation.
• Respectful attitude. Respect for the interlocutor, the ability to listen, to penetrate what has been said, has to itself, opens up broad opportunities for establishing contact. This skill is also useful when interacting with employees and subordinates.

• Self-esteem. As far as perception of oneself in the process of communication is concerned, one should be able to find the “middle ground”. To calmly react to criticism or advice, but also not to allow yourself to manipulate, to be able with dignity to stop the attempts of pressure, to return the conversation in the right direction.
• Oratory. The ability to clearly express their thoughts, convey the meaning of speech to the interlocutor, without clogging the phrase with inappropriate words and not leading the thought away from the topic of conversation. This ability is not given to everyone by nature; therefore, oratory must be given time in its training.
• Literacy. Purity of speech is largely dependent on the literacy of the person, and the ability to write without mistakes 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 the workplace, events, organizations or establishments. Usually these are business suits for men and women, a standard set of jewelry and accessories. In the case of the first visit to an unknown organization or event, you should know in advance about the adopted dress code.

The structure of business communication can be divided into four stages, the sequence of which will allow to achieve the maximum effect in the negotiations.

Here the first impression is of primary importance. Preparing for a meeting with the interlocutor, it will be useful to work in advance with the information: the circle of interests of the interlocutor, the environment and peculiarities of his culture, the rules and important traditions for the interlocutor. This will allow you to feel more confident and with due respect for those or other features of the partner.

Properly constructed first phrases - the key to the success of further communication. You need to start with attracting attention and location of the opponent to yourself. This will help ordinary human friendliness, courtesy, a polite interest in the person of the interlocutor, the pronunciation of his name.

In the process of discussing the tasks, it is necessary to tune in with the interlocutor on one “wave”. This result can be achieved if you carefully observe the emotional state of the partner or the general emotional atmosphere within the group, if we are talking about negotiations with the audience.

The knowledge of three main channels of perception: sight, hearing and kinesthetics (this includes touch, smell, body position, gestures and facial expressions) will help to tune in with the interlocutor.

Direct concentration on the topic of the meeting, discussion of problems and tasks. The goal of this stage 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 the motives and goals of the interlocutor;
• maintaining attention: it is important to see the main thread of the conversation, not leading aside and not jumping from topic to topic;
• argumentation and conviction: applies in case of differences of opinion;
• fixing the result is a critical moment in the conversation, when communication on this topic should be completed, regardless of the results, this inner feeling comes with experience and depends on observation, ability to clearly perceive 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 recorded most vividly in memory. Therefore, the ability to properly complete the conversation may be a determining factor for further cooperation.

How beautifully to communicate, look in the following video.