Creating a communication plan for your business can be a very big deal. It gives you the opportunity to organize your thoughts and approaches to obtaining new business on paper. To be more precise, a communication plan is your written strategy for spoken, written, and electronic communication with your customers or potential customers. A good communication plan includes:
- Your objectives – what do you want to accomplish when your associating with clients or potential clients?
- Your audience – who do you want to reach and what are the ways you can reach them?
- Timeframe – when will reach these clients?
- Your plan – how will achieve this plan?
- Accountability – how will you measure your results?
A few questions to ask yourself or your sales team might be: How often do I want to reach out to new prospects? What should I say when following up? Should I follow up with a face to face meeting, email, or a good old-fashioned note?
Your communication plan should include the way you want to reach your audience through traditional marketing mediums, as well. Think about your approach to writing newsletters, blogs, social media communication and more.
I recently wrote out my own communication plan. It includes specific numbers of people I want to meet and network with, specific numbers of events I want to attend and the types of events I want to attend, bullet pointed lists of how I want to carry myself, what I want to say, and how I intend to be perceived. Yes, the details do matter! You see, the more specific a goal (or plan in this case) can be, the more your mind can wrap around and perceive you actually doing it.
The benefits of a great communication plan can help you focus better on your day to day goals with a clear strategy in sight and helps you prioritize.
Contact us for a Free Communications Plan template.