Introduction
Effective communication is a desire of anyone involved in the process. As a result considerations have to be made with respect to type of meeting, characteristics of the target audience, appropriate communication channels and considering the diversity of the audience. Each of these considerations shall be examined singly.
Characteristics of the audience
The presentation is in-person and its information quarterly sales. The target audience a group, which constitutes stakeholders: managers, sales people and customers. For such like mix of the audience, the characteristics to be considered are physical abilities of the audience, the age profile gender, race and ethnic backgrounds of the audience.
These characteristics determine the how the presentation is going to be executed. For instance, some section of the audience may require a special attention in order to communicate due to their physical ability aspect, thus determining and influencing the choice of communication channel.
On the other hand, gender is a characteristic that must be carefully considered during an in-person meeting. Aspects of language such as sexist language should be avoided in a meeting constituting of diverse audience. In addition, race and ethnic backgrounds of the audience is also a consideration that must be put in mind.
This diversity has a lot to do with the cultural aspect of the audience. Since the customers are part of the audience, probably constituting the majority, we would expect to have a good feedback at a later stage. If your communication touches the positive attributes of the ethnicity and racial aspects without any edge of discrimination, then the sales information will reach the diverse audience, leading to good feedbacks.
Appropriate communication channel
Channel selection for communication must be given the same caution and weight as the message to be communicated. In this incidence, the sales information is to be presented in-person to a group of people. Since this is an in-person communication, the most appropriate channel an orally presented speech, which will integrate other media to pass the message. Oral communication has persuasive capability to an audience. Media such as power point presentation.
It also has the power using gestures to convince the stakeholders of the company about the performance in the sales for the quarter just ended. Besides, brochures and printouts can be distributed to the audience to enable them to have an updated follow up of the presentation ever time the speaker puts across a point. Another importance of using oral communication in this presentation is that the presenter is given an opportunity to assess attentiveness, which is an indicator of appropriateness of the communication process.
If the presenter realizes that the message is not getting to the recipient as intended, he has an opportunity to rectify and use an appropriate means (Trehanu, & Trehanu, 2006). Cost of a channel is also an important consideration. Therefore, the choice of oral presentation is cost effective and its benefits are diverse as well.
The integration of power point in this communication process, will give the presenter an added advantage of enabling the presenter express aspects figures and tables pertaining to sales. The projection method makes figures magnified ti life size, reaching even the farthest audience in the presentation room. Audibility and clarity can be enhanced by the use of public address systems, which are available in most modern day companies at a fairly low cost.
Important considerations due to audience diversity
The message to be communicated has an objective. In the case of this sales information, the characteristics of the audience are profiled along gender, ethnicity, physical ability and race of the audience. Besides, we have to consider each audience individually.
In the first place, this information is targeting stakeholders, who must keenly follow the sales progress of perhaps a product(s) that they invested in. stakeholders, in this case investors must be convinced that the sales of the product are viable. The presenter must make the message as clear as possible so that profitability of the sales reaches the stake holders. Secondly, the audience also involves the salespeople.
Great care has to be taken because this is the point where salespeople can be motivated or demotivated. Correct choice of words is essential for the message to reach the salespeople. Therefore, the approach to presenting sales information in an environment including the sales team must be carefully selected since it may influence succeeding sale reports.
Managers are also part of the audience. As a result of their presence, information presentation should also be explicit such that future sales and marketing strategies are as a result of their analysis of the sale information. The last portion of the audience is the customers.
The information should reach the customer with an objective that the company’s products are actually their value. Customers may come from different educational backgrounds. With education in mind, the presentation should be in such a manner that the audience collectively receives the message and comprehends the message fully.
Ensuring effectiveness of the message
The message can only be effective if the target audience, that is, managers, customers, salespeople and managers. The needs of this audience must be considered singly so that the message is designed in the view of these needs. Another way to ascertain the effectiveness of the message is to identify possible barriers to the presentation environment and carry out measures that mitigate their effects before presenting the message (Trehanu, & Trehanu,2006).
Furthermore, to design communication objectives beforehand so that the sales report takes care of each audience in the presentation environment. Also, the channel to be used must be appropriate and geared towards achieving communication objectives of the message. You must therefore, choose a channel/media combination that meets the objective requirements of the message, bearing in mind the diversity of the audience at hand. Lastly, you must ensure that the message feedback can be measured immediately after communication.
The feedback can be designed in such a manner as to solicit information from each audience in the presentation environment. One quickest way to determine effectiveness of a message is to judge the attentiveness of the audience during the presentation process. The best way however, is to determine response and feedback in the context of the original message’s objectives.
Conclusion
In conclusion, an effective communication process needs a careful analysis of the audience. The message presenter should design his channels of communication putting in mind the audience’s diversity, the objectives of the message to solicit a positive feedback from the audience. The whole process combining the above requirement constitutes effective communication.
Reference
Trehanu, M & Trehanu, J. (2006). Advertising and sales management. New Delhi: V.K. Enterprises.