Whether you’re communicating with your internal or external stakeholders, you need to provide consistent messages and your data must remain up-to-date.
Your stakeholders usually have a specific interest in your business. They want to know the most recent information that applies to them. We previously wrote an article about why consistent messaging to your stakeholders is important, but how is this achievable?
Client/Stakeholder profile
Effective Messaging = Simple + Consistent
Stakeholder profiling is a simple way to ensure you have the most relevant information about a person/group. This way, if a stakeholder calls and asks a question about a past meeting, any employee can easily look up the notes from the last meeting. It’s an efficient way to stay organised and give the correct information and consistent messages.
To help you out, here are a few categories to consider when creating a profile:
Stakeholder Details
- Name
- Suffix
- Salutation
- Role
- Organisation
- Contact number
- Fax
- Mobile
- Web Address
- Relationship with business
Meeting Notes
- Meeting date
- Meeting agenda
- Linked projects
- Outcome of the meeting
- Best person to contact for more information of the client/stakeholder
- What is to be completed by the next meeting date
- Next meeting date
Data Transparency
Data needs to be transparent and comprehensive. Ensure your staff has access to complete records so they can efficiently perform their roles.
An example of this commonly occurs where an organisation manages multiple projects – especially with the same interested parties. Workers can easily get confused and may rely on the incorrect message.
How can an inconsistent message cause an impact on your company?
- Your stakeholders may leave you for a competitor who is more organised.
- There could be a backlash on social media which can negatively reflect your organisational image.
There are a few operational practices you can include to keep your data transparent, current and consistent:
- Proactively be on top of stakeholder sentiment
- Enable informed decision making
- Consistent organisation wide messaging
- Encourage knowledge sharing in the organisation
Teach your employees to convey a consistent message to stakeholders
You and your team have the power to create valuable stakeholder relationships. Make sure your stakeholders are always receiving updates on the most important and relevant information. Use data transparency as a method to encourage consistent messaging. Educate your team to be clear and concise when note-taking, and use consistent messaging to reflect a positive organisational image.
Enjoyed this article? I think you will also enjoy our article, What is Internal Team Knowledge Sharing?
