1. McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2009 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved.

2. Informative & Positive Messages
Chapter 10
Informative & Positive Messages
Overview
Purposes
Information Overload
Common Media
Organization
Subject Lines
Managing Information
Audience Benefits
Ending
Varieties

3. Informative & Positive Messages
Informative message - receiver’s reaction neutral
Positive message - receiver’s reaction positive
Neither message immediately asks receiver to do anything
Good news!

4. Primary Purposes To give information or good news to audience
To have receiver view information positively

5. Secondary Purposes To build good image of sender
To build good image of sender’s organization
To build good relationship between sender and receiver
To deemphasize any negative elements
To eliminate future messages on same subject

6. WARNING: Protect your communication reputation!
Information Overload
Employees are bombarded with junk mail, sales calls, spam, and other ads
Even routine communications are becoming overwhelming
WARNING: Protect your communication reputation!

7. Common Media: Face-to-Face Contact
Use face-to-face contact to
Visit a colleague
Build a business relationship
Save multiple calls or s
Engage in dialogue or negotiation
Acquire something immediately
Avoid leaving a paper trail
Increase visual and aural cues

8. Common Media: Phone Calls
Use phone calls to
Convey appropriate tone
Save multiple phone calls or s
Acquire something immediately
Avoid leaving a paper trail

9. Common Media: Instant Messages
Use IMs when to
Be less intrusive (than visit or phone call)
Ask questions on tasks that fellow colleagues are working on

10. Common Media: Letters/Memos
Use letters to
Send messages to people outside your organization
Use memos to
Send messages to people within your organization
External
Internal

11. Common Media: E-mail Use e-mail to
Accomplish routine business activities
Save time
Save money
Allow readers to deal with messages at their convenience
Communicate accurately
Provide details for reference
Create a paper trail

12. Organizing Start with good news or the most important information
Clarify with details, background
Present any negative points positively
Explain any benefits
Use a goodwill ending
Positive
Personal
Forward-looking

13. Subject: New Smoking Policy
Subject Lines
Serves three purposes
Aids in filing, retrieving
Tells readers why they should read
Sets up message
Subject: New Smoking Policy

14. Subject Line, continued…
Specific
Differentiate message from others on same topic
Concise
Usually less than 35 characters
Appropriate for the pattern of message
Must meet situation and purpose

15. Subject Lines—E-mail Specific, concise, and catchy
Include important information/good news
Name drop to make connection
Make sound easy to deal with
Create new subject line for reply when
Original becomes irrelevant
Re: Re: Re: Re: appears

16. Managing Information Give audience information they need
Consider your purpose
Develop a system that lets people know what is new if you send out regular messages
Put the most vital information in s, even if you send an attachment
Check message for accuracy and completeness
Remember s are public documents

17. Audience Benefits Use audience benefits when Presenting policies
Shaping audience’s attitudes
Stressing benefits presents the audience’s motives positively
Introducing benefits that may not be obvious

18. Audience Benefits, continued…
Omit benefits when
Presenting factual information ONLY
Considering audience’s attitude toward information does not matter
Stressing benefits makes audience seem selfish
Restating them may insult audience’s intelligence

19. Ending Not all messages end same way
Goodwill ending –focuses on bond between reader, writer
Treats reader as individual
Contains you-attitude, positive emphasis
Omits standard invitation
Ex: If you have questions, please do not hesitate to call.

20. Varieties: Transmittals
Tell reader what you're sending
Summarize main points
Give details to help reader grasp message
Tell reader what will happen next

21. Varieties: Summaries Conversation summary (internal use) Identify…
People who were present
Topic of discussion
Decisions made
Who does what next

22. Varieties: Summaries, continued…
Document summary
Start with main point
Give supporting evidence or details
Evaluate document if audience wants such advice

23. Summaries, continued… Client / customer visit summary
Put main point (in your company’s view) in first ¶
Use umbrella paragraph; name points
Give details to support your conclusions; use lists, headings to make structure clear

24. Varieties: Thank-You Notes
Make people willing to help you later
May be short; must be prompt
Must be specific to seem sincere

25. Varieties: Adjustments and Responses
Mention rectification in first sentence
Don’t talk about decision making process
Don’t say anything that sounds grudging
Give reasons for mistake only if it reflects responsibly on the company