Communication is a tool for success. Not understanding this will cost you. It is a tool you as an entrepreneur must maximise to close big deals. The art of communication is to get the recipient to understand the intent of the sender. Everybody communicates; how you do it is what varies and what matters most.

We all cannot but communicate; everything we do sends a message. If we don’t say anything, we still communicate. Our body language and even the way we dress communicate on our behalf.

Excellent communication is essential for all entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs (those with entrepreneurship mentality who are still employees). Entrepreneurs basically sell their ideas and the way this is done matters a lot. It is through the potency of words that the passion and vision the entrepreneur has can be relayed.

Every entrepreneur needs to cultivate the habit of using the right words rightly if they are to close the big deals they desire. This is an offshoot of persuasion. As an entrepreneur, you must learn the art of persuasion that is how to convince employees to give in their best and how to persuade clients and sponsors to do business with you. Good communication skills help entrepreneurs to paint pictures with words thereby creating a good imagery for the clients to do business with his company. This is important because even if you have the imagery of a 12-storey building in your head, or maybe you have the mental picture of the next communication gadget the world needs, if you cannot communicate it to those that would help you bring it to reality, you might go forever unnoticed.

Mark Marsland said, ‘You communicate your enthusiasm about a product to a customer, it’s not the words you use; it is how you use them. And language is the all-important part of selling.’ The truth is that if your employees don’t understand the vision of your company, it means that there was a break in the communication process, so you must communicate till they comprehend and see it the way you do. Every good entrepreneur must encourage his employees to ask questions, that way, he can be sure that they are running with his vision.

For effective communication, you must know two things: one, you have to know what to say, two, you have to know who you are talking to; their emotional level and their level of comprehension which would influence how to say it. The fact is, if you can manage your employees well, you can manage your clients well.

There are basically four types of employees according to Nigel Risner who studied animals in a zoo. He says we have the Lions, who are fast and furious, they are in a hurry, they are on a mission, and they have a purpose. Just give them short and sharp information and they will get the job done. We also have the Elephants, who are slow and laborious; they need lots of information before they can make a decision. The Dolphins are the HR-support services, they need lots of concepts to make sure the team is better; and finally, the Monkeys who are the traditional sales, marketing and advertising people, who just need lots of fun, they need lots of creativity. Smart entrepreneurs know that they must identify their employees’ uniqueness and communicate with them as such.

Communication is a two-way experience. One person is delivering information and the other person understands the information, if this is not so, it is soliloquy. Smart entrepreneurs must get to understand people’s uniqueness and know how to communicate effectively, the more in rapport an entrepreneur is with his employees, the fewer barriers they would have to open up for effective communication.

Effective communication is an art, develop it and close your dream deals. It is possible.