The Cost of Poor Communications December 22, 2006 From the Sales and Marketing Management, Performance Newsletter
While managers are off worrying about sales trends and marketing plans, they often overlook a primary drain on productivity: poor communication. A new study by Information Mapping, Inc. (IMI) shows ineffective communication, everything from poorly written e-mails to outdated documents, costs a company in time, money and reputation.
"Managers feel they have bigger, more important issues to worry about — like poor sales performance, low customer satisfaction ratings, skyrocketing operating costs, failed audits, high turnover, or costly compliance or manufacturing errors. They don't see that their organization's ineffective communications are costing them money and are often the root cause of each of these problems," says Deborah Kenny, vice president and general manager of Learning Solutions at Information Mapping, a consulting firm that helps companies organize and visualize information better.
The impact of the communications gap:
* 85 percent of those surveyed said it is possible their business has lost money due to an ineffective presentation, proposal, memo or e-mail.
* 55 percent say their employees are not easily able to find information they need.
* 45 percent say information they use in their business is not accurate, complete or up to date.
* 44 percent say the information they use lacks appropriate detail.
* 44 percent say an average of 30 minutes to an hour is wasted each day reading ineffectively written business communications.
Sales & Marketing Management Magazine
This article is brought to you by Sales & Marketing Management, the leading authority for executives in the sales and marketing field.
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