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Business Communications is to deliver your ideas to your audiences and achieve the outcome you want. It requires concentration and energy to digest your message, so make your reader read with ease, instead of creating a resistance in your reader.
Communications Goals
They tie closely with the basic concepts of the communication process and are important for both written and oral communications called the Seven C.
Courtesy Conciseness Consideration Correctness Concreteness Completeness Clarity
Correctness
The correctness principle comprises more than proper grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
A message may be perfect grammatically and mechanically but still insult or lose a customer (internal & external) and fail to achieve its purpose. The term correctness, as applied to a business message, means the writer should:
Use the right level of language (When to be formal, tone, etc.) Include only accurate facts, words, and figures Maintain acceptable writing mechanics Choose nondiscriminatory expressions Apply all other pertinent C qualities
Informal Pl. let me know when you plan to pay the outstanding balance of your account.
Verify
your statistical data. Double check your totals. Have someone else read your message if the topic involves data.
We are living in information age where computer and relating electronic gadgets are used to collect, store and edit information. Various software packages are available to make our editing tasks (grammar-check, spell-check and thesaurus) very easy, yet careful attention must be given to the mechanical part (Punctuation, Abbreviation, Numbering and Word Division) of every well-written document.
English language is constantly changing. In fact, even dictionaries can not keep up with the rapid change in English language but at the same time dictionary is still a major source for locating correct words and their intended meanings.
Completeness
Your business message is "complete" when it contains all facts the reader or listener needs to react to your desire outcome. Remember that communicators differ in their mental filters; they are influenced by their backgrounds, viewpoints, needs, attitudes, status, and emotions. Completeness is necessary for several reasons: Complete messages are more likely to bring the desired results without the expense of additional messages. Second, they can do a better job of building goodwill. Third, they can help avert costly lawsuits that may result if important information is missing.
As you strive for completeness, keep the following guidelines in mind: Answer all questions asked. Give something extra, when desirable. Check for the five W's and any other essentials.
Example
Imagine you are CEO of a Sports Club and receive the following inquiry from an out-of-town member: Im new to the city and would like to consider joining your club. As I will be visiting your club within the month, will you please tell me where the next meeting will be held.
Where to put your ideas and instructions (The Flow)? Good flow allows reader to progressively understand your ideas at ease and will act upon your message quickly.
When should you deliver the information? Deliver at the right time, not at the wrong time, will have better results. How to achieve your objective? If you have to ask your reader to perform certain tasks, then state clearly the steps to achieve that. If your instructions, is not clear, you will not get your things done or the way you want in the shortest time.
Communications is key to productivity. Are you productive? Are you able to get things done quickly without to and fro
Courtesy Courteous messages help to strengthen present business friendships, as well as make new friends. Courtesy stems from sincere you-attitude. It is not merely politeness with mechanical insertions of please' and thankyou.
To be courteous, considerate communicators should follow these suggestions regarding tone of the communications.
Be sincerely tactful, thoughtful, and appreciative. Omit expressions that irritate, hurt, or belittle. Choose Bias-free language/expression
Be sincerely tactful, thoughtful, and appreciative. Be sincerely tactful and dont be abrupt or blunt as these negative traits are a common cause of discourtesy. Sometimes they stem from a mistaken idea of conciseness, sometimes from negative personal attitudes, sometimes from not knowing the culture of a country or even group of people Examples Tactless vs. Tactful.
Stupid letters; I did not understand any of it Its my understanding . . .
Clearly, you did not read my latest fax Sometimes my wording is not precise; let me try again.
I rewrote that letter three times; the point was clear Im sorry the point was not clear; here is another version.
IRRITATING EXPRESSIONS
I do not agree with you Inexcusable Irresponsible Why have you ignored The fact that You claim that You did not tell us You failed to You forgot to
Bias-free language/expression
Aint Aim at proving Possessed with ability Comply to In accordance to Should of Irregardless Cant hardly In search for Listen at Superior than Equally as bad
isnt; arent aim to prove Possessed of ability Comply with In accordance with should have regardless can hardly In search of Listen to Superior to Equally bad
Consideration
Consideration means that you prepare every message with the recipient in mind and try to put yourself in his or her place. Try to visualize your readers (or listeners)with their desires, problems, circumstances, emotions, and probable reactions to your request. Then handle the matter from their point of view. This thoughtful consideration is also called you-attitude empathy, the human touch, and understanding of human nature. (It does not mean, however, that you should overlook the needs of your organization) In a broad but true sense, consideration underlies the other six C's of good business communication. You adapt your language and message content to your receiver's needs when you make your message complete, concise, concrete, clear, courteous, and correct. However, in three specific ways you can indicate you are considerate: Use the you-attitude. Emphasize positive, pleasant facts. Avoid words with negative connotations.
Used cars
Toilet paper
Resale cars
Bathroom tissue
Peon
Attendant
Clarity
Clarity means getting your message across so the receiver will understand what you are trying to convey. You want that person to interpret your words with the same meaning you have in mind.
Accomplishing that goal is difficult because, as you know, individual experiences are never identical, and words have different meanings to different persons.
Here are some specific ways to help make your messages clear:
At the core of clarity is the sentence. This is grammatical statement, when clearly expressed, moves thoughts within paragraph. Important is to consider length, unity , emphasis and paragraph.
Complete sentence will have at least 2 words ( a subject and a verb). Short sentences will average 15 to 20 words. Long sentences are 30 words or longer.
Unity
Sentence unity means that communicates main idea-one thought. At times you may also want to include ideas that support the main idea. The general rule, however, is one thought , one sentence.
Lacks unity
It is easy for you to do your Eid shopping, and we offer three unique catalogs.
Has unity
Because we offer three unique catalogs, it is easy for you to do .your Eid shopping
Concreteness
If you want to be put in vague and general messages, its better to omit it altogether! Wasting your readers time is the Last thing you want in communications.
Vague/Unclear Messages This computer reproduces campaign letters fast. Our product has earn several prizes. These brakes stop a car within a short distance.
Clear/Specific Messages
This computer types 400 word campaign letters in one hour.
Our product has won first prize in four national contests within the past three years.
These Goodson power brakes stop a 2-ton car traveling 60 miles an hour, within 240 feet.
Vague (unclear)
There are a great many
Vivid (bright/clear)
The spacecraft has 2 million solder join
solder joints in the space-craf t, and each must have just th e right amount of solder.
This is pure clover honey, m
ts. If an extra drop of solder had been left on these joints, the excess weight would have been equivalent to the payload of the vehicle.
Honeybees have gathered nectar from about 4 million clusters of clover and traveled about 150,000 miles---or equal to six times around the world--to deliver this package of Bradshaw honey to you.
ade by honeybees.
Conciseness
A concise message saves time and expense for both sender and receiver. Conciseness is saying what you have to say in the fewest possible words without sacrificing the other C qualities. Conciseness contributes to emphasis. By eliminating unnecessary words, you help make important ideas stand out. To achieve conciseness, try to observe the following suggestions:
During the time that In accordance with In view of the fact that Please dont hesitate to write Under the circumstances In due course In most cases
Wordy I met the accountant on only Occasion. The speaker who is giving the keynote address belongs to Multan. He went to the market for the purpose of buying goods. There is something I have to tell you.