How to Create a Culture of Communication

Retail chains where the multiple levels of responsibility within the organization communicate with each other about critical business processes succeed and are run more efficiently than those that don’t. The question is, how do you foster a culture of communication within your retail chain with the right integrated internal messaging software?

It doesn’t matter what retail sector you fit into. If store managers aren’t communicating with regional managers and your home office, then your operation will not run smoothly. Likewise, if regional managers aren’t intrinsically connected with buyers, business development, and transportation, you’ll have holes in your operation.

Here are seven ways to foster better communication across your entire chain:

1. Make it mobile friendly – In today’s retail environment, your communications have to be mobile and tablet friendly. Store managers may be in the middle of aisle 9, or regional managers may be on the road. Don’t rely only on office-to-office communications.
2. Facilitate targeted messaging – Everyone in your organization does not have to be involved in every discussion. Allow everyone in your organization a means of targeted specific messages only to those recipients to whom it pertains.
3. Make read receipts available – People are busy. Not everyone has a ready reply when they read a message. Make read receipts available so senders know receivers have received a message without needing an immediate response.
4. Facilitate large attachment transfers – Your retail chain is a business organization. Your team members need to be able to share information easily with few hindrances.
5. Multiple channel communication – Store managers should be able to communicate with each other as well as with their regional managers and various departments at company headquarters. Make this communication possible.
6. Smart search – When team members need to refer back to a previous conversation, it should be as easy as a search.
7. Roaming – As mentioned before, not everyone in your retail chain is in their office all the time. Regional managers tend to travel. Other personnel may be required to travel. Make it easy to communicate through mobile with roaming access to the signals that make such communications possible.

Effective retail organizations are communicating organizations. That’s why you need integrated internal messaging. Make it happen.