As the Chief Operating Officer, your top priority is to ensure that all operations run smoothly for the best results, and a key part of this falls under the area of communications. After all, if processes, guidelines, rules, deadlines, etc. are not communicated correctly, your B2B can waste thousands of dollars in resources and lose customers fast.
With this in mind, what are you doing to ensure the right messages are communicated to the right people at the right time – both internally and externally?
How Often do you Meet with your Communications Team?
If you are not talking to your marketing, public relations and sales’ teams on a regular basis, do you really know what’s going on at your business? It’s essential to understand the processes they use to communicate certain messages.
Sit down with the Communication Team members on a regular basis and find out what’s working and what isn’t. Ask questions…
What kinds of things need to be shared to increase productivity, address issues, and recognize high achievers?
If sales are down, what kind of messaging is in place to improve it now and in the future?
What can you share with the Communications Team to help them do their jobs better?
When you have answers, work with the appropriate people to develop and send appropriate messages to employees on a regular basis. Whether it’s a weekly email, monthly newsletter, digital bulletin, or something else, let them know how things are going from an operations’ perspective and what they can do to help improve things.
Employees will appreciate the current updates and that they can voice their ideas, questions and concerns. It’s a win-win because they want to share their insights and feedback, and you will discover things you may not have known previously that can help various procedures at your B2B run smoother.
Also, let the Communications Team know how things are going overall and where potential problems may be brewing. This way, they’ll know what messages to promote and which ones to keep quiet until the issues are resolved. You can help them say the right things to media members and avoid a huge, public relations’ nightmare for your B2B.
Do you Monitor Communications Activities Regularly?
While it’s important to know what’s going on within your B2B internally, it’s also smart to have a pulse on what outsiders are saying about your business.
Read online reviews, monitor search rankings, send out surveys, and research appropriate news and trends relevant to your industry and location on a regular basis. This data can reveal important information about how others see your B2B and where there may be potential problems you can fix right away. You may also discover insights that you can use to improve productivity and offer unique products and services for a competitive edge
Operations are Important, but so are Communications.
As a COO, you have a lot of responsibility. To reduce stress, it’s a good idea to monitor all of the internal and external communications going on related to your B2B. Work closely with the appropriate team members to send out the right messaging at the right time. Then, listen to the feedback.
By sharing input on a regular basis, you’ll have a better understanding of what’s really going on within your business (and what others think of your products and services) to improve overall productivity and get the results necessary for positive growth.
