The Process of Preparing Effective Business Messages Effective Business Communication by Herta A. Murphy Herbert W. Hilderbrandt Jane P. Thomas

Five Planning Steps To communicate effectively, consider the following five steps before you write your message. Identify Your Purpose. Analyze Your Audience. Choose Your Ideas. Collect Data to Support Your Ideas. Organize Your Message.

Identify Your Purpose Your first step, when planning your communication is to determine your specific purpose. Is your message mainly informational, such as announcing your firm’s new location? Is it mainly persuasive, such as asking customers to buy your products? Are you trying to negotiate a contract with some vendor? All messages have an underlying “relational” purpose - to create goodwill. Creating goodwill is especially important when communicating with foreign companies. Courtesy and patience in waiting for a response are especially necessary.

Analyze your Audience Choose your Ideas See your message from your receiver’s point of view; their needs, interests, their attitude, even their culture. Choose your Ideas With your purpose and receiver in mind, the next step is to choose the ideas for your message. If you are answering a letter, underline the main ideas to discuss and jot your ideas in the margin. If you are writing a complex message, begin by listing ideas as they come to you- brainstorming- and then choosing the best ideas for your receiver.

The ideas you include depend on the type of message you are sending and the background and location of your receiver. For example, in a response from a large resort hotel to a person who has asked about rates, you might send a brief list of in- and out – of - season prices. But if you limit your response to this list, you would miss an opportunity to sell the other products you have to offer. In this kind of response, the following ideas should be included:

Thank the reader for the letter asking about rates. Mention the services the hotel provides. Include information regarding the place where the hotel is located. Describe the facilities. List the rates. You might include a brochure of your hotel along with small brochures of popular sights in your area.

Collect Data to support your Ideas After you have decided what ideas to include, you must determine whether you need specific facts, figures, quotations, or other forms of evidence to support your points. Be sure you know your company policies, procedures, and product details, if your message requires them. Always check your data on names of individuals, dates, addresses, and statistics. Sometimes you may need to enclose a brochure, table, picture, or product sample.

Organize your Messages Before you write your first draft, outline your message (mentally or on paper). The order in which you present your idea is as important as the ideas themselves. Disorganized message often seem careless, confusing, and unimportant. However different approaches are necessary for different cultures. While the direct style is often preferred by USA businesspeople, the indirect plan is often more effective in Middle East & Asian countries.

Basic Organization Plan Your choice of organizational plan depends on a number of factors: how you expect your reader or listener to react to your message, how much this person knows about the topic or situation, and what his or her cultural conventions are. For letters and memos, you can choose one of four basic organizational plans: the direct - request, good - news, bad - news, or persuasive-request plan.

The first two plans use the direct approach, which begins with the main idea: the last two plans use the indirect approach, which states the main idea later. All these plans are flexible guides only, not rigid rules. Your own judgment must help you decide the best organization and content of your message, taking into your consideration your audience's views, conventions, knowledge and culture.

Direct (Deductive) Approach The direct approach is suggested when the audience is receptive to your message. Here you begin with the main idea or the best news. After the opening, you include all necessary explanatory details in one or several paragraphs and end with an appropriate closing. Use this approach, when the main purpose of your message is to make a request that requires less persuasion.

Use the good – news plan to grant requests, announce favorable or neutral information, and exchange routine information within or between countries. The direct-request & good-news plans have three basic parts. Main Idea Explanation Courteous close, with motivation to action

Indirect (Inductive) Approach If you think that your readers or listeners might react negatively to your message, generally you should not present the main idea in the first paragraph. Instead consider beginning with a buffer – a relevant pleasant, neutral, or receiver-benefit statement; then give an explanation before you introduce your idea. Many bad-news and persuasive-request plans use the indirect approach. The bad-news message is one of the most difficult to prepare because your reader may react negatively.

Persuasive request Plan The indirect approach ( bad-news & persuasive-request plans) have four basic parts. Bad-News Plan Buffer (pleasant or neutral) Explanation Decision Positive, friendly close Persuasive request Plan Attention Interest Desire Action

Beginnings And Endings Two of the most important positions in any business message are the opening and closing paragraphs. You have probably heard the old sayings “First impressions are lasting” and “We remember best what we read last”. Whenever possible place the main favorable ideas at the beginning and the ending of a message. This advice also applies to paragraphs.

Opening Paragraph The opening of a message determines whether the reader continues reading, puts the message aside, or discards it. Choose Openings Appropriate Main Ideas or Good News Subject first Begin with the main idea or good news subject when you are sure that the reader will consider the information favorable, or neutral. It is also easier for the reader to understand the main idea if it is in the first paragraph.

These openings are desirable in direct-request, neutral and good-news messages. Request: So that your CD funds, which have matured, can be transferred to your IRA account as you have requested, please return to us the following: Good News: Enclosed is a cash refund for the defective mobile set that you have sent to us recently. Announcement: As an executive in Ufone, you are invited to attend a free seminar in paris.

Buffer First When you have bad news for the reader, begin with a buffer – a statement that you can agree on which sets a neutral tone. Poor: Your application to the Executive skills program has been rejected. Good: Because of the large number of applications we received for our executive skills Program, we had to turn away many persons. A new program is being planned and we shall send you information as soon as it is announced.

Attention – Getting Statements first when you write a persuasive request ( sales letter), begin with the relevant statements that will induce the recipient to read further, as in this opening: Did you know that up to half of all lower back pain is caused by sleeping on a too soft mattress? In addition, back pain due to other causes can be made worse by sleeping on a poor mattress. We remedy that. Our company has developed a new mattress -------

Make the opening considerate, courteous, concise and clear. Check for completeness. Closing Paragraph Your closing is more likely to motivate the reader to act as requested if it is appropriately strong, clear, and polite. Here you have the opportunity to bring final focus on the desired action and leave a sense of good will with the reader. What you say in the closing should reinforce the central purpose of your message.

Make Action Request Clear & Complete with 5 Ws and the H. Your closing paragraph will usually be more effective if you make clear what, who, how, where, when and if appropriate, why. Poor: I look forward to hear from you regarding this matter. Good: So that we can make appropriate arrangements for your visit, please let us know about your detailed program.

End on a Positive, Courteous Thought Negative: I am sorry we can’t be more encouraging at this time. Positive: We wish you success in your search for a position. Keep last paragraph concise and correct. Trim your last paragraph to five or fewer lines of complete sentence. Avoid unnecessary repetition.

POOR: Again we thank you for your inquiry POOR: Again we thank you for your inquiry. Enclosed will you find a self - addressed, stamped envelop. Hoping to hear from you soon about your preference. Good: please fill out this form and return it in this enclosed envelop by April 30, 2009.Then you can soon begin to enjoy the comfort at--------------

Composing the Message No two people prepare their first draft the same way. The first important thing is to get on paper the information you want to include in your message. The next step is to polish the document. Some of the world’s best writers believe their strength lies in revising and editing. The first step is to get the most important information in your message on paper early.

Revising Your Message Revising means adding necessary and deleting unnecessary information, making sure your points are adequately supported, checking your organizational approach, and reviewing your language in terms of the seven Cs. Have your message accomplish its purpose? Have you chosen the most effective organizational plane?

Are your points supported by adequate material? Is you language complete, concise, considerate, clear, courteous, concrete and correct? Have you used variety in sentence structure? Editing and Proofreading Your Message Editing and proofreading are important to ensure that your document has no mistakes in grammar, spelling, punctuation, or word choice.