OBER, CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS COMMUNICATION, 4/E. COPYRIGHT © HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 8.1 Persuasive messages u Decide when to use a direct and indirect organizational plan for persuasive messages. u Compose a persuasive message promoting an idea. u Compose a persuasive message requesting a favor. u Compose a persuasive claim. u Compose a sales letter.

OBER, CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS COMMUNICATION, 4/E.. COPYRIGHT © HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 8.2 Audience analysis u Knowledge and attitude of the reader u Effect on the reader u Writer credibility

OBER, CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS COMMUNICATION, 4/E. COPYRIGHT © HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 8.3 Prefer the DIRECT plan when u Writing to superiors u Presenting a long or complex proposal u The reader prefers directness u Strong persuasion is not needed u The reader will probably listen objectively

OBER, CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS COMMUNICATION, 4/E. COPYRIGHT © HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 8.4 Prefer the INDIRECT plan when u Writing to colleagues and subordinates u Writing to someone outside the organization u The reader prefers the indirect approach u Strong persuasion is required u The reader is initially resistant to your proposal

OBER, CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS COMMUNICATION, 4/E. COPYRIGHT © HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 8.5 Gain the reader’s attention. u Rhetorical question What is black and white and red (read) all over? Very few things, as a matter of fact!

OBER, CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS COMMUNICATION, 4/E. COPYRIGHT © HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 8.6 u Unusual fact A study conducted by IBM showed that participants remembered almost twice as much of the information on color slides as on black- and-white slides. u Reader/writer common ground Almost 95% of the participants at our four seminars last month gave us an overall rating of “Outstanding.”

OBER, CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS COMMUNICATION, 4/E. COPYRIGHT © HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 8.7 Provide convincing evidence. u Facts and statistics The Lexcraft prints a four-color transparency in 90 seconds at a cost of $1.80, including the transparency.

OBER, CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS COMMUNICATION, 4/E. COPYRIGHT © HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 8.8 u Expert opinion The Lexcraft rated a “Best-Buy” award in the February issue of Personal Computing. u Examples We spent $ to have Imagemaster develop the 32 transparencies we used in last month’s purchasing managers’ seminar. We could have printed them on the Lexcraft for less than $60— with same-day service.

OBER, CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS COMMUNICATION, 4/E. COPYRIGHT © HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 8.9 Minimize obstacles. Although the vice president has asked for a moratorium on equip- ment expenditures until June, if we purchase the $2,100 Lexcraft printer before December 31, we’ll actually save that amount in print- ing costs by April—before our quarterly budget is due.

OBER, CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS COMMUNICATION, 4/E.. COPYRIGHT © HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Ask confidently for action. So that we can have this copier installed in time for us to use at our January sales meeting, may I order this copier for $2,350 by December 1. Being able to update our charts right up to an hour before our presentation will mean that our figures are always the latest available.

OBER, CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS COMMUNICATION, 4/E. COPYRIGHT © HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Gain the reader’s attention. u Rhetorical question u Thought-provoking statement u Unusual fact u Current event u Anecdote u Direct challenge

OBER, CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS COMMUNICATION, 4/E.. COPYRIGHT © HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Interpret—don’t just describe. Not: The Comfy Lap Desk is 13" by 31". But: The Comfy Lap Desk’s 13"-by-31" surface provides enough room to hold an open encyclopedia and still have room to take notes.

OBER, CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS COMMUNICATION, 4/E. COPYRIGHT © HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Not: This portable desk weighs only 12 ounces. But: You don’t have to be afraid to rest this lap desk on your knees for hours at a time. It weighs just 12 ounces—about the same as your favorite can of soft drink.

OBER, CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS COMMUNICATION, 4/E. COPYRIGHT © HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Key terms u central selling theme u derived benefit u persuasion u rhetorical question u solicited sales letter u unsolicited sales letter

OBER, CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS COMMUNICATION, 4/E. COPYRIGHT © HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Selling an idea—direct pattern As a means of increasing my sales productivity, I propose the purchase of a notebook computer with built-in printer. Several times during the past six months I have lost sales because I could not provide customers with the information they needed immediately. With a notebook computer with built-in printer, I

OBER, CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS COMMUNICATION, 4/E.. COPYRIGHT © HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED could electronically send for information from the company’s mainframe computer and print a specification sheet for any product immediately. Since the customer would have the needed information right on the spot, the sale could be completed while I’m still with the customer. The Canon NoteJet is a Pentium-based notebook computer with built-in modem and ink-jet printer. It weighs 8.7 pounds and comes with 128MB of RAM and a 366MHZ hard drive.

OBER, CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS COMMUNICATION, 4/E.. COPYRIGHT © HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED I estimate that the $2,499 cost of the Canon NoteJet would pay for itself in increased sales within eight months. My present three-year-old computer would then serve as a valuable back-up computer for me or for my district manager when she is visiting my territory. May I please have approval to purchase the Canon NoteJet. If I can get the computer by the end of the month, I can begin increasing sales during the second quarter of the year.

OBER, CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS COMMUNICATION, 4/E. COPYRIGHT © HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Requesting a favor—indirectly We believe it’s never too early to begin teaching students the value of good nutrition, of eating the very kinds of foods you serve at Salad Haven Restaurant.

OBER, CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS COMMUNICATION, 4/E. COPYRIGHT © HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Over the next few weeks the children at Jack ’n Jill Preschool will be discussing food and nutrition. At the end of the unit we would like to bring the students on a field trip to your restaurant. Would it be possible for the students to tour your kitchens and then make their own salads for lunch at your popular salad bar? We would arrange to have several parents present to supervise the 23 children (ages three to five) in our group, and I would collect the money from each person in advance.

OBER, CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS COMMUNICATION, 4/E. COPYRIGHT © HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Because state law requires that the children eat lunch between 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., I suggest that we bring the children early. They could first tour your kitchens and then eat at 11 a.m., thus allowing us to finish in time for you to accommodate your regular customers during the noon hour rush. Can we count on you to help us arrange this educational experience for our students? We could come in any day from October 10 to 14. I would appreciate hearing from you by next week so that we can arrange for parental supervision. We will all enjoy eating in your fine restaurant.

OBER, CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS COMMUNICATION, 4/E.. COPYRIGHT © HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Critical thinking u Using free tickets from frequent-flyer programs would save the company money. u All employees should be entitled to the same fringe benefits. u Nontraveling employees might experience lowered morale. u Company money was used to buy the tickets, so logically the free tickets belong to the company. FOR Larry’s proposal:

OBER, CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS COMMUNICATION, 4/E. COPYRIGHT © HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Critical thinking u There is no easy way to enforce the requirement. u Additional personnel would be needed to monitor the process, which would be expensive in itself. u The morale of employees who do travel is improved if occasionally they can travel with family members. u Employees who are happy with their job benefits are more highly motivated. AGAINST Larry’s proposal:

1.With 14,000 professionals registered, Lightfair Interna- 2.tional has won its bet that Las Vegas would be a good location 3.for its trade show for architectural lighting. Not only is Vegas 4.one of the top trade show cities in the world. But its streets 5.simply shimmer with billions of bright lights. This show is the 6.biggest of the two international lighting shows planned this LAB 8 test OBER, CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS COMMUNICATION, 4/E. COPYRIGHT © HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED S URBAN SYSTEMS U world but (FRAG) bigger (MOD)

OBER, CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS COMMUNICATION, 4/E. COPYRIGHT © HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED year. In fact, if it wasn’t for the competing smaller regional 8.shows, this would be the largest lighting show ever held. 9.The conference program at this and similar shows offer 10.light designers and architects a chance to earn continuing educa- 11.tion credits. None of the sessions are to be repeated, and nei- 12.ther tape recorders nor videotaping are allowed in any session. S URBAN SYSTEMS U weren’t (AGR—SUBJ) offers (AGR—INT WD) is (AGR—PRO) is (AGR—SUB  VB)

OBER, CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS COMMUNICATION, 4/E. COPYRIGHT © HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED One highlight of the show is a presentation by Luc Lafor- 14.tune, lighting director for the Cirque du Soleil, Lightfair also 15.has organized a group trip to see the Cirque du Soleil's perma- 16.nent Las Vegas show. Lafortune is always a lively speaker; and at 17.last year’s show, it was him who provided a look at the chal- 18.lenges of lighting the dangerous feats of circus performers. 19.There are, for the first time, one session featuring light- 20.ing designers who will address the issues of adapting theatrical S URBAN SYSTEMS U Soleil. Lightfair (RUN-ON) he (CASE—NOM) is (AGR—EXPL)

OBER, CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS COMMUNICATION, 4/E. COPYRIGHT © HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED fixtures for permanent installations. Walt Disney Imagineering is 22.also providing a look at lighting for their themed environments. 23.Lighting designers Charles Stone from London and Rogier 24.Heide from Amsterdam takes a look into the crystal ball of lighting 25.for a preview of the future. Stone and him will also answer audi- 26.ence questions. Finally, the great Paul Gregory himself talks 27.about project management in a global market. S URBAN SYSTEMS U its (AGR—CO NAME) take (AGR—GEN) he (CASE—NOM) (CASE—REF)