Effective Business Writing

Communication for Global Managers

DCP 2019
IMT Dubai

Gita Bajaj
September 2019

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 Business Documents

Inside Outside
• Memo • Sales & Marketing
• Note/ Notice letters
• Circular • Complaint letters
• Budget • Collection letters
• Proposal
• Proposals
• Report
• Reports
• Day to Day Emails
• Newsletters
• Manuals
• Job Descriptions

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When the tone of an email went
wrong

Case: Cerner Corporation

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WHEN THE TONE OF AN
EMAIL
WENT WRONG
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• Lack of Multiplicity of Cues
• Lack of Social Presence
• Lack of Similar Physical and Psychological
Climates
• Reduction in efficiency in Equivocal
Situations
• Lack of Immediacy of Feedback

WAC Gita Bajaj 5

 Messaging
• You are Zach. Your boss has asked you to organize lunch meeting
with Marina Smith. You just found out that she is vegetarian. You
need to check with your boss about Venue. Boss is busy in a
meeting so you decide to send a message. You send the following
message:

• Marina Smith is a vegetarian. Where should we take her for lunch

today? Zach.

• A better version might be this: Marina Smith is a vegetarian. Shall

we go to 1) Fish House, 2) Souplantation, 3) Mandarin House? All
are available at noon.

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Eleanor Hadley, a manager at a marketing research firm, has a new intern,
Seth Haderberg. The first assignment she has given him is to recruit between 7
and 12 people for a focus group (a form of market research in which
representatives of the target market offer reactions to a product thats about to
be marketed). Using the phone numbers of potential participants, he needs to
call until he gets enough people, find out which days and times are best for
them to meet, and schedule the focus group. Then he needs to ask Eleanors
assistant, Alex, to send a letter to each of the participants telling them when
and where to meet and how they’ll be compensated. Eleanor has asked Seth to
let her know when he has made these arrangements and what they are.

 Seth is now sitting in an airport waiting to go on a quick trip to Disney World.

Has done all Eleanor asked but he realizes that he forgot to tell her so. With
no computer at hand, he decides to send her a text message. It reads as
follows:
 lined up focus group. c alex. going 2 fla. c u mon. will say hi 2 mickey 4 u lol

What advice would you give Seth about his writing process? About his use of
text messaging?
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Choose your channel of communication
with consideration

Case: Car Pick-up

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 Oral vs Written Communication

ORAL WRITTEN
• Immediate Feedback  Delayed feedback
• More conversational  Less spontaneity
sentences
 Less colloquial quality
• Focus on interpersonal
relations  Focus on content
• Contextual nature  Greater linguistic
• Prompter Action emphasis
• Less detailed, technical  Permanent record
information  Detailed documentation
 Possibility of review
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 Media Richness
• Richness of media is defined as the ability of
the media to reproduce the message in its
entirety

• A Phone Call is a lean media compared to a

Conference Call

• A Phone Call is a richer media when compared

to an email

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 Media richness theory OR
information richness theory

States that the more ambiguous and

uncertain a task is, the richer is the format
of media suitable to it

What would be the Corollary?

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 Appreciating the medium

• Which occasions are most suited for

sending emails?
• When should we avoid sending emails?
• Who should be marked a ‘To’, ‘Cc’ and
Bcc?

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How to write effectively?

Use correct and appropriate formats

Open BW PR Ex1
Open BW PR Ex 2

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 ELITE COMPUTER SYSTEMS Pvt. Ltd.
12 MG Road, Manded – 14
Tel: 517 8236 Fax: 5178844
Our Ref. no.: ECS/MKT/682 Date: 6.5.2014
To:
M/s Triveni Pumps Ltd.
Balanagar
Hyderabad 500 062
Kind attn: Mrs N S Gokhale
Dear sirs,
Subject: Computer-assisted design – new software package developed in-house specially for
designing new motors and pumps and redesigning old designs – Reg Your ref. no. SPL/VM/210
of 26.4.2014.
With reference to your above –cited letter of enquiry, it is my pleasure to inform you that we are
in a position to …….
Enclosed herewith ….
Thanking you
Yours faithfully
For Elite Computer Systems Pvt. Ltd.
Sr. Manager – Marketing
CC: Mr. Purshotam
Enclosure: a/a

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• Format the letter
• Reformat the letter in email format

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 7 Cs of Communication
• Clear
• Correct
• Concise
• Complete
• Concrete
• Courteous
• Considerate

WAC Gita Bajaj 18

 Applying the
7Cs of Communication
• Practice Exercise 1
• Practice Exercise 2
• Practice Exercise 3
• Quiz

WAC Gita Bajaj 19

 News in Business Documents
Document Reader PoV Writer PoV
Sales letter Neutral Neutral/Good
Letter of inquiry Good Neutral

Reply to an inquiry Neutral Good

Complaint Bad Bad

Answering a complaint Good Good/Bad

Reference/ introductory Good Neutral/Difficult

letter

Notice/ Circular Good/Bad Good/Bad

Proposals Neutral/Good Good

Reports Good/Bad Good/Bad 20
Cover Letters
 Business Situation
Jul 7, 2019
One of your client has not made payments as
committed. The payment was due on 15 June 2019.
You have already mailed two reminders but you have
not received any response.

This is a usual problem in your industry. Clients keep

delaying payments and you have noticed that mostly
the payments flow in two to three months late.
Sometimes you wish the industry was more
professional.

Write a reminder to the client.

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 A Routine Message
7 July 2019

Payment Reminder: Invoice no…dated …

Dear Mr. Shetty

Please note that one of your bills is overdue. The details are as follows:

Bill no. Amt. Due date

You had committed to pay by 15 July 2019. My two reminders have

probably not caught your attention. Please expedite the payment and
send a cheque of the said amount in favor of ‘XYZ Ltd.’ or RTGS at
1234556ABC

Yours sincerely
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 A Routine Message

• Be direct
• Be clear – writing and formating
• Be specific
• Be complete
• Be courteous

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 Strategy for routine requests

• State your request upfront

– Pay attention to the tone
– Assume your audience would comply
– Be specific
• Explain and justify your request
• Request specific action in a courteous close

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 Routine Requests: examples

 Asking for information or action

 Asking for recommendations
 Making claims and requesting adjustments

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 Exercise
• Write an email to Manager Stores, to check the
availability of 4 items that you would need. These are
Mouse Pads, Wrist pads, Copy Stand and Computer
Lamp. You need 6 quantities of the first three and 5 of
the fourth one.
• In case they are not available readily, request the
manager to procure them at the earliest as you would
need these before the next department meeting
scheduled on December 15, 2018.

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To: jacobl@abc.ac.ae
CC:
Subject: Request for Items

Dear Mr. Jacob

You are requested to issue the following items for the forthcoming IT
Department meeting:
S. No. Item Quantity (No.)
1. Mouse Pads 6
2. Wrist pads 6
3. Copy Stand 6
4. Computer Lamp 5
Incase any of these items is not readily available, please procure
immediately to ensure availability by December 14, 2018, a day prior to
the meeting on December 15, 2018.

Thanks
Manju 27
To: manju@xyz.ac.ae
CC:
Subject: Re: Request for Items

Dear Ms. Manju:

Please note that I have reserved the following items for you:
S.No. Item Quantity (No.)
1. Mouse Pads 4
2. Wrist pads 4
3. Copy Stand 5
4. Computer Lamp 5

Kindly have the same collected. I have placed an order for the items
not immediately available. We shall receive these on December 13,
2018. You can have them collected on December 13 anytime post 2
pm.
Regards,
Jacob 28
 BW Practice Ex
You are Senior Manager Administration at
IMT Dubai. You have to organize the Annual
faculty meet at a hotel in the UAE.
Write an email to Cove Rotana Resort, RAK
to check availability for the meet. You may
assume the requirements, if need be.

WAC Gita Bajaj 29

• You are Senior Manager Reservations,
Cove Rotana Resorts, RAK. Write a
response to the Senior Manager IMT
Dubai

WAC Gita Bajaj 30

 How to answer inquiries?

• Answer the question

• Be friendly
• Be brief
• Be prompt
• Follow up

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 How to answer inquiries?

• Homelike friendliness
– I’m delighted to send you the catalog as requested

• Businesslike friendliness
– This year’s catalog offers an amazingly wide and attractive
assortment of styles….

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 How to answer inquiries?

• Call attention to specific pages or information

• Recommend a salesperson
• Handle delayed response promptly
• Learning to write a simple ‘no’
– I wish we could give you information you’ve asked for about
plastic sheeting. However, we’re not in that business……

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 How to answer inquiries?

Rejecting a request
We’re sorry we have no space available …

OR
We would have very much liked to have you with us for the
New Year Celebrations but because our room
reservations were heavy this year, we had to stop
accepting reservations about a month ago……

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 How to answer inquiries?

OR

We are honored that you considered our resort for the

Conference. Due to New Year Celebrations we are
completely booked till the end of December.
However, we have a special package on offer in
January that you may like to consider..

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 Writing effective emails

• What makes a good subject line?

• On several occasions we forget to attach
the files. How can we avoid the slip?
• Is it essential to include salutation in all
emails?

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 Writing effective emails

• How should we format the text?

• How should we close an email?
• What should we include in the
‘Signature’?

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Tested E-mail Writing Practices

• Make thoughtful use of the existing format

• Keep the computer screen in the mind when

you write so you can make your message easy
to read

• Break up paragraphs and keep them short.

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Tested E-mail Writing Practices

• Don’t let the “quick-note” feeling of e-mail lure

you into shooting off memos without
proofreading and thinking twice about what you
say
• E-mail is not suited to complex messages.
Keep the content basic.
• Keep messages short. Think of e-mail as a
kind of telegram; too many words are costly.
They cost your reader’s attention
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 Business Situation

July 7, 2019

One of your client has not made payments as committed. The

payment was due on 15 June 2019. You have already mailed
two reminders but you have not received any response.

This is unusual in your industry. In fact the Company policy is

to provide extremely high standard of customer service and to
take nasty action on late payments. However, this is an
important client and you do not wish to lose the client, which is
why you have been sending reminders.

Write the last reminder to this client.

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 A Firm Reminder
July 7, 2019

Dear Mr. Ahuja

Urgent request to pay overdue

Your company has been a valued customer for us, for many years now. Mutual trust has been built
through concerted effort to keep our commitments.

Somehow, this last bill (bill no. 2516) is breaking the rule. We, on our part, have been sending
reminders. However, we are now pushed to hand it over to the credit collection department.

In our Company, this department is empowered to take legal action for long overdue. Considering the
strong relationship that we’ve built over the years, we will do our last bit to avoid this unfortunate turn in
our dealing. We will hold the bill with our department for the next ten days.

From your side, you are requested to make a cheque of AED 15,650 in favour of ‘XYZ ltd.’ and send it
to us before July 17, 2019 or RTGS at ABC12345 and close this chapter.

We await your positive response.

Sincerely yours
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Strategy for Negative Messages
 Decide whether to use direct or indirect approach.
 Write clearly and sensitively.
 Take the sting out of bad news
 If your credibility is not already established, clarify your
qualifications
 Convey respect and avoid accusing tone
 Carefully review the document to ensure it is clear,
complete and concise
 Deliver messages promptly; withholding or delaying bad
news can be unethical or illegal

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 Using Direct Approach
for Negative Messages

• Open with a clear statement of bad news

• Provide reasons and additional information
• Close on a respectful note

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 Using Indirect Approach
for Negative Messages

• Open with a buffer

• Provide reasons and additional information
• Continue with a clear statement of the bad news
• Close on a respectful note
– Avoid an uncertain conclusion
– Manage future correspondence
– Express optimism, if appropriate
– Be sincere

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 Sending Negative messages
on routine business matters

 Routine matters such as withdrawl of employee benefit

 Reduction in number of suppliers on the panel
 Rejection of suggestions and proposals
 Refusing routine requests as invitations, favours etc.
 Bad news about transactions such as late deliveries.

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 Sending Negative
Employment Messages
• Refusing Requests for recommendations
• Refusing Social Networking requests for
Recommendation
• Rejecting Job Applications.
• Giving negative performance reviews
• Terminating Employment

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 Sending Negative Organizational News.
 Responding to Negative Information in a social media
environment
 Engage early. Engage often.
 Monitor the conversation.
 Evaluate negative messages
 Trolls stir up conflict
 Ragers rant and tell jokes
 Misguided spread incorrect information
 Unhappy who have had negative experiences
 Respond appropriately

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 A Difficult Message
Guidelines
Think about the recipient in a positive way
Think about the things you can say that will make the
recipient want to do what you request and to continue
to do business with you
Possibly an indirect approach
Watch the timing of the message
Personalize your messages

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June 19, 2019

Dear Mr. Sachdev

As your records will show, on 5 June 2019 we had ordered 24 fire

extinguishers (our order no. 7135). The units were shipped to us by Overnite
Freight Forwarders (your invoice no. 8260) and arrived at our loading docks
on June 14, 2019.

At the time of delivery, our shipping and receiving supervisor noticed that all
boxes were filled with fluid. Further inspection showed that your workers had
been negligent in checking the cap screws. As a result of their negligence,
acid leaked and destroyed the chrome finish on all the units.

It is hard for me to understand a shipping system that permits such errors to

take place. Pinnacle does not accept these Fire Extinguishers. Further we
want these damaged units taken off our hands and replaced with good
ones. Because we will be inspected by the Fire Inspector on Monday, we
further insist that the replacements reach us by that date.

Respectfully 49
 URGENT

June 14, 2019

Damaged shipment
Shipment no……..recd. Vide Challan no. …dated …..
Overnite freight receipt no. …. Dated …..

Dear Mr. Sachdev

Today, we received a shipment in which all boxes were filled with fluid. Further
inspection revealed that the top screws were loose. As a result, the acid leaked
and destroyed the chrome finish on all the units.

As you will appreciate, we cannot accept these fire extinguishers. You are
requested to replace all of them with good ones. The fire Inspector will inspect our
equipment on coming Tuesday, seven days from today.

Please make sure that we receive the new shipment by Monday June 25, 2019.

Yours sincerely
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 Firm Message
Complaint Letter
Be Prompt
Be Direct
Be Objective
Be Courteous

A firm message when you are in a stronger position

• Assume the lapse happened at your end.
Now, respond to the complaint.

• Assume that the lapse did not happen at

your end. Now respond to the complaint.

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• Write a letter to a Company soliciting a
research that IMT Dubai students can do
for them.
• You may plan to charge a nominal fee for
this research.

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 Caution!!

1.In just about all cases, assume your e-mail

is not confidential

2.They can be sent to more people than you

realize

3.They can be preserved much longer than

you realize

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 Tested E-mail Writing Practices

Watch your tone.

Users consistently report that e- mail flattens
tone, perhaps because the receiver isn’t
getting other message from your vocal tone,
facial expressions, or gestures.

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 Tested E-mail Writing Practices
Messages can sound angry, sarcastic,
happy, or mean without the writer realizing
it.
“I’m angry that the brochure will not be
shipped in time”, or “This is a sad message
for me.”

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 Tested E-mail Writing Practices

Don’t right-justify or use all capital letters. All

capital letters represents SCREAMING in e-
mail, and can cause a hostile reaction.

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 Tested E-mail Writing Practices

• Don’t get too informal. Use standard English and think of it as

relaxed rather than informal.

• Check your email frequently. This piece of etiquette is the most

frequently mentioned request. If you don’t check your e-mail, the
entire purpose of a quick action note is defeated.

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 Restaurant Services

A researcher studies and analyzes menus and the

bills of restaurants, to identify the fast and the slow
moving items. She then suggests pricing and
volumes for different items considering the demand
and supply of the items.

To sell her restaurant services to a prospective

client, she writes a letter as follows:

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Dear Mr. Mahindru

I am now pleased to offer to you the services I provide to restaurant

management. Probably you’ve heard of them in the trade.

From 28 years of experience I have learnt the details of restaurant management. I know
what food costs should be. I know how to find other cost problems, be they in buying or
selling end. I know how to design menu offerings for maximum profitability. I have
studied kitchen operations and organization. And I know how the service end must be
connected for best results.

From all this knowledge, I have perfected a simple system for analyzing a restaurant and
finding its weakness. This I do primarily from guest cheques, invoices and a few other
records. As explained in the enclosed brochure, my system finds the trouble spots. It
shows one exactly where to correct all problems.

I can provide you with the benefits of my system for only AED 5000/- - AED 2000 now
and AED 3000 when you receive my final report on your operations. If you will fill out
and mail in the enclosed form, I will show you how to make more money

Sincerely yours
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 Marketing letters - Writing to
persuade
1. Get Attention and Interest
2. Establish Credibility
3. Establish reader benefits
4. Describe the service
5. Detail the action expected
6. List the reward to action
7. Ensure an engaging close

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 Various techniques to catch interest

• Get Attention and Interest

– Arouse Curiosity
– Stress Special points
– Strong Emotional Appeal
– Make Bonus offer

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 100% guarantee to escalate your profits
Current Client list :
McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Papa’s Pizzeria, Starbucks, Farzi Café and TGI Friday

Dear Mr Mahindru

Vision is adding AED 100,000 every year to Mc Donald’s profits. Hundreds of satisfied
customers are similarly benefiting from our ‘restaurant management plan’.
This time-proved plan is a product of 28 years of intensive research and consulting work
with restaurants all over the country. We found that where food costs exceed 40%,
staggering amounts slip through restaurant managers’ fingers. Then we traced causes of
these losses. These are trouble spots that go unnoticed in almost all restaurants – and we
can find these for you, at no extra costs.

What will you get?

An eye opening report to indicate how much money your restaurant should make and how
to make it.
The report will show
 what items are causing you higher food costs
 which “best sellers” are paying their way
 what “poor movers” are eating into your profits.
 how to cut costs, build volume and increase sales (Contd.)
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 Your menu will also receive a thorough treatment.
All you have to do is:
Fill the form attached.
Collect your guest cheques and bills for a 30-day period along with the menu card
Make a cheque of AED 3000 for ‘Vision India Ltd.’
Enclose these in the addressed pre-paid envelope enclosed and send these to me.

You will pay the balance AED 7,000/- when we submit the report.
I can assure you that the extra AED 90,000 or more that you will earn every year will
make you glad you did!

For product insights and benefits you may visit: www.vision.ae

For a personal meeting or discussion, please call me at +971……. And we’ll make sure
that your restaurant profits get a face lift
Sincerely yours
 Writing Persuasive Messages

Plan Persuasive Messages

Analyze situation
Gather Information
Select Right combination of medium and channel
Organize your information
Write Persuasive Messages
Develop Persuasive Messages

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 Framing your arguments

Adopt the AIDA model

Attention
Interest
Desire
Action
Example: Instead of : Request for development budget
to add automated IM response system
Write this: Reducing the cost of customer support
inquiries
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 Balance Emotional and Logical Appeal
 Reinforce your position
 Anticipate objections
 Avoid common mistakes:
 Using hard sell
 Resisting compromise
 Relying solely on great arguments
 Assuming persuasion is a one shot effort

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 Persuasive Messages: examples

Persuasive request for action

Persuasive presentation of ideas
Marketing and Sales messages
Assess audience needs
Analyze competition
Determine key selling points and benefits
Anticipate purchase objections

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• Write a letter to invite a Company to IMT
Dubai for recruiting students from IMT
Dubai Campus

69
 Purpose of Writing
Routine Letters: Simple Inquiries
Be direct, concise and complete
Regular Reminders vs Firm Reminders
Mind your Tone
Persuasive Claims
Be direct, mind your tone and pitch, be concise,
complete and firm
Persuading to sell
Adopt ‘you’ orientation
Organize your thought

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 Letter Writing checklist

 Know the content

 Know the audience
 Know the purpose
 Choose the correct approach
 Organize your message
 Use simple language
 Write grammatically correct English
 Adopt appropriate tone and pitch
 Always be courteous
 Remember you are communicating to living beings with
feelings and emotions that direct their actions.
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 Some general guidelines

• Write your response quickly.

• Do not allow writer’s block to impede your
speed.
• Write the first draft and then edit it.

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 Some general guidelines
for editing your draft
 Revisit the format and ensure there are no formatting
errors.
 Revisit the subject line
 Consider the situation and ensure you have adopted the
correct approach – direct vs indirect
 Ensure the tone is correct
 Ensure you have an engaging start
 Ensure the closing line is an action statement (in most
cases)

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 Ensure your writing is concise and complete, concrete
and courteous, considerate and clear and correct.
 There should be no extra words – concise
 There are no grammatical mistakes – correct
 All relevant information has been included – concrete
and complete
 The tone is correct – courteous
 Give the other person benefit of doubt – considerate.

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 Check for a complete document

Answer the following:

Who?
What?
Why?
When?
Where? And
How?

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 Non-Starters
• Please/ Refer to your letter..
• With reference to your inquiry..
• We are/I am extremely/pleased to inform..
• I am/ We are in receipt of your letter..
• Thank you for your..
• It is a pleasure to have..
• At the outset, I would like to convey that..
• This is in response to your letter..
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THANK YOU!

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