EXPERT’S COLUMN

“Excellent Communication does not just happen naturally. It is a product of process, skill, climate, relationship and hard work”.

– Pat McMillan, Author, CEO

In my three decades of experiences in Sales, Marketing, business and Service sector including Education, Religious, Spirituality and Media, I have found out that the Communication is the cornerstone of any business or Service Industry “.

Any student or School leaver who wants to excel in his career or any organisation that sells products or services to its customers, to succeed in their industry must fully focus on “Effective Communication “, in order to thrive in their chosen sector.

Long years ago,  I have learnt that in Sales and Marketing, there is nothing called ” good managers” but rather you should focus on employing ” Effective Managers”. Now that thinking has evolved and accordingly, as an employer, you must employ, “Effective Leaders” and employees must always strive to become one such leaders, to drive their organisation to realise its vision, mission, values, goals and objectives to achieve and sustain the No.1 position in their respective industry.

THE POSSIBLE REASONS WHY WE ARE FAR BEYOND EXPECTATIONS IN EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION:

Having worked for many ” over 100 year old Multinational Pharma Companies, including  an over 100 year old, Former Fortune 500 Pharma Giant (subsidiary and local agent), as well as a “150 year old French Pharma Company and few other International Companies, including M/s. IPCA LABORATORIES and M/s.EMAR PHARMA (PVT) LTD. (local agent),I have realised that those respective ethical Pharma Companies first invest in training and developing their Managers and the team members. At Emar Pharma, I was trained by Mr.Sisira Nanayakkara, the Eminent and legendary Pharma Marketer and Guru,on Pharmaceutical Marketing, Disease Knowledge and Detailing Skills and Mr.S.Selladurai, Managing Director and Mr.S.Nadrajah, Director on Business ethics and they laid a very strong foundation for my career in Pharmaceutical Marketing, for which I am greatly indebted to them.

 When I joined M/s. Mansel (Ceylon) Ltd. the local agents for M/s. Merck Sharp and Dohme, three decades ago, we were provided with one month training on “Company knowledge”, ” Disease knowledge “, ” product knowledge”, procedure Knowledge “, ” territory Knowledge”, ” technical knowledge”, “Customer knowledge “, as well as the following skills were taught to us, by our superiors.

“Professional Communication Skills I and II”, “Group Communication Skills” and ” Presentation Skills”.

At the end of the training we had to sit for an exam.

Only those who scored 80 marks and above were selected to our much respected Company.

I am grateful to Mr.A.C.Wijenathan, Founder Chairman of Mansel (Ceylon) Ltd, Ms.Bernardine De Silva, Director, Mr.Upali Panditharatne, Director and the General Manager, Mr.Krishna Rengaraj, Regional Manager, Mr.G.S.Perera, Director, for their immense valuable support and guidance given to me.

I am also thankful Mr.Tahir Iqbal, Managing Director and Mr.Aftab Ahamad, National Sales Manager

of M/s.Merck Sharp and Dohme of Pakistan, a subsidiary of Merck and Co.USA.for their guidance, inspiration and Sculpting me a a Proficient and Ethical Pharma Marketer.

The rationale behind listing out the knowledge and skills areas acquired by us involved with “Effective Communication”.

In essence all above mentioned Eminent personalities coached and guided us with their “People Centric” approach.

Nowadays everywhere in the world, adequate and quality training are only by certain companies and Institutions which follow ethics, good working culture, vision, values, transparency, open communication are thriving in their respective industry. They have good and positive attitudes and they ensure that their staff too to follow their footsteps. They have an exclusive department for training and development but the most important fact remains is it has to be Training and Continuous Development, to succeed in the industry which operates in high competitive environment.

Majority of the companies strive to earn fast as possible and they do not focus on training and development. 

IMPORTANCE OF PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION SPECIALISTS:

For me, Effective Communication or Professional Communication Skills is more than an art. Well it is beyond an art.

When a student wants to prove his capabilities in particular his or her leadership skills he or she has to be an effective communicator (oral and written skills).

May be during his or her school career he or she may need to overcome challenges and effective leadership skills and effective communication skills play pivotal roles in overcoming the challenges successfully and shape up personality to become a dynamic, vibrant and resolute leader.

When a start up company enters in to business industry generally there will be a smooth sailing.

When the competitors notice the presence of the start up company, the competition heralds thereafter which may be difficult to rebuttal the strategies deployed by the competitive company.

Furthermore, there could be possible changes that will take place in the business environment, which may have a negative impact on the start up company.

To cope up with the changes and challenges, you need to have profits. If you are unable to generate sufficient profits, then perhaps you may not be able to survive and eventually you have to wind up the business. 

However, the chances are less for the above closure to happen, rather your company will thrive, provided you have a well trained field force who are effective communicators as they could assist in the following areas, which are of paramount importance;

Agility, Change Management, Crisis Management, Conflict Management, Pre- marketing, New Product Introduction, Sales and Marketing, Training and Development, Press Conference, Media and Advertising, Business negotiations, Social Media, Company Spokesman, Public relations, Leadership, Job promotions and the list can continue.

When it comes to the employees if they are well equipped with the above mentioned knowledge, skills and attitudes they could have a higher value for their head.

CONCLUSION: Based on the above-mentioned impact your trained Effective Communicators with their knowledge, skills and correct attitudes not only could assist your company to merely survive in the industry, but rather they could also assist you and the management to take it to the No.1 position in your selected industries including education and business.

If you do the same things every time, in the same manner, you will get the same old results. But, should you need positive and favourable results in the near future, start something new and in my experience, it can be providing Training and continuous Development or Continuous Professional development.

When both l employers and employees have the “same chemistry”, there will be abundance of profits for the employers and lucrative career and income, for the employees.

In my humble opinion, ” if you could communicate well, you could even conquer the world”.

Hence, invest your time, energy and investment on training and continuous Professional development to make your dreams a reality.

Realise the power of Professional Communication Skills and the Specialists.

“Happy Learning”, “Happy Sailing”

-Maruthai Ravindhiran