Entrepreneur Maga Kambala
Every entrepreneur is taking an inherent risk in running a business, let alone a successful one. Creating a viable product or service is no easy feat and aside from being able to articulate your vision, you’ll need to establish trust and credibility. You will also need to maintain these factors throughout your time in business, rise above challenges and be heard among marketplace saturation and competition.
Maga Kambala knows this all too well. Having been interviewed globally for her personal and professional coaching for entrepreneurs and executives, she says that communication is perhaps the most important thing that astronomically increases the odds of success.
As an entrepreneur starting your own venture, or taking your current venture to new heights, communication skills are applicable to everyone. They help us communicate our messages and establish trust with our audience and stakeholders.
Different Types of Communication
Kambala says there are different types of communication and that all should be mastered gradually as you pursue the path of entrepreneurship.
Firstly, verbal communication, which is perhaps the most important. This means being able to communicate clearly and effectively through spoken words. When trying to persuade or influence people, in-person communication is going to reveal the most information, and that’s why it’s the most important yet often the most challenging to master.
Next, it’s nonverbal communication. That means being able to communicate through body language. It’s all about body language, facial expressions, and other nonverbal cues. It is just as important as verbal communication and sometimes even more. The University of Texas shared a groundbreaking statistic about nonverbal communication: “It was Albert Mehrabian, a researcher of body language, who first broke down the components of a face-to-face conversation. He found that communication is 55% nonverbal, 38% vocal, and 7% words only.”
In the digital age, written communication follows as an obvious contender. It is important to be able to write clearly and concisely when communicating with others, especially when trying to persuade or influence them. Also understanding the nuance between different types of customers and the expected etiquette will influence your writing.
“This is something that’s often taught by hands-on experience,” says Maga Kambala.
Lastly, interpersonal communication, which is often overlooked, must be prioritized. This means being able to communicate effectively with others with a level of understanding that transcends transactional communication. It allows you to build relationships and understand how people communicate in order to personalize your approach and communicate better.
Tips for Better Communication
Maga Kambala says one tip for better communication is to approach it by learning specific hard skills that translate into other areas of entrepreneurship.
“Speaking to dozens of customers each day, picking up the phone and dialing, recording your conversations (with permission) and continuously refining will help you improve,” says Maga Kambala.
In addition, try to get better with negotiation skills, public speaking, presenting and listening.
Listening more effectively will allow you to personalize and give more client-specific feedback. It will allow you to negotiate better as well because you understand what your customers are looking for, the bottlenecks they’re facing and what makes them tick.
As a bonus, Maga Kambala recommends networking. It’s a low-stakes way of learning all of the major communication skills and it allows you to build a supporting and like-minded network.
To learn more about communicating with your customers and audience, or even in your personal everyday life, Maga Kambala shares resources on her website.
“I hope everyone will approach communication with excitement because it has the ability to yield major returns on your time invested,” says Maga Kambala.
