The Pleasure of Doing Business

“It’s been a pleasure doing business with you.”

I was surprised to hear the words come out of my own mouth. That sentence seemed more like a cliché that grownup business professionals use, not me. I’m just an intern and still a student.

But as I hung up the phone, I couldn’t help but wonder if the business professional on the other end had been pleased with his business experience at Jackson Marketing Group (JMG). Had I represented JMG well? Had I communicated effectively?

Pleasing people is a valuable part of communication, and communication is what I do. As a journalism and mass communication major, I’ve made communication the focus of my college career. Although I never thought I would end up with a marketing internship, I’m realizing that the principles I’ve learned as a journalism student are applicable to any job—especially marketing!

Marketing professionals are fantastic communicators. They not only know what to say, but they know when and how to say it. Journalists use the same strategy when they’re writing articles.

Strategy is important, but a vital part of communication is building a relationship between communicators. At JMG, we take time to get to know our clients. We treat them with respect as we enable them to represent themselves brilliantly to the public. In the same way, journalists should take time to get to know their sources and strive to respect sources’ reputations when representing them in the media.

Only after a relationship has been built, will people take pleasure in your company. At the end of the day, it’s the quality of the relationship that determines whether business has been a pleasure.

So as I work on the marketing side of communication at JMG, I’m still using many of the communication principles my journalism professors taught me. I’m simply transitioning my focus from the written word to the spoken word, which is equally important.

How is your communication to the public? Is it a pleasure?