THE PROCESS OF PREPARING EFFECTIVE BUSINESS

MESSAGES
Whether you are preparing a written or an oral business message, to be effective
you need to plan, organize, draft, revise, edit and proofread. Essential also is
thoughtful adherence to communication principles ─ the seven C qualities ─ and
awareness of legal and ethical aspects.
Even with the most advanced office technology, the need for careful preparation of
either written or oral messages demand effort. Add to this percept the idea that
companies are becoming more global and international and the argument for
thoughtful preparation receives more emphasis.
This chapter presents planning steps, basic organizational patterns, suggestions for
opening and closing, and composing procedures. Letters, domestic and
international, are the focus of discussion.
PLANNING STEPS
To communicate effectively, consider the following steps before you write your
message.
1. IDENTIFY YOUR PURPOSE
Your first step when planning your communication is to determine your
specific purpose. Is your message is 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
a parts supplier in South America? Or must you explain why you are not
granting a customer’s request for credit?
All messages have an underlying “relational” purpose ─ to create goodwill.
For example, in a credit refusal letter, your purpose is twofold: to refuse the
request while encouraging the customer’s continued business. Creating
goodwill is especially important when communicating with foreign
companies, including the governments of those companies. Courtesy and
patience in waiting for a response are especially necessary.

2. ANALYZE YOUR AUDIENCE

It is important to adapt your message to your receivers’ views, mental filters,
needs and culture. If you are acquainted with your readers or listeners, you
can actually visualize individuals. Much of your writing, however, will be
 directed to people you have never met. Additionally, when communicating
for the first time with a foreign company or government, you cannot be too
cautious. Take care even with the salutation of the letter, paying attention to
proper placement of first and last names and correct titles. Take time to
become knowledgeable about the basic communication principles of the
country to which you are writing.
If you are sending a message to one person, try to see that person as a
member of a group, such as business or professional person or laborer;
superior, colleague, or subordinate; woman or man; new or long customer;
young, middle-aged or elderly. Consider also the person’s educational level,
attitudes, any probable values (often culture-specific). Finally, consider your
message and decide whether your readers or listeners are informed or
uninformed on the subject and whether they will react positively or
negatively, with interest or disinterest.

3. 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 points 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 (national or international). 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 limited your response to this list, you would miss an opportunity to sell
the other services you have to offer. In this kind of response the following
ideas should be included:
▀ Thank the reader for the letter asking about the 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 also include a brochure of your hotel along with small brochures
of popular sights in your area.
4. COLLECT YOUR DATA
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 companies 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.

5. ORGANIZE YOUR MESSAGE

Before you write your first draft, outline your message (mentally or on
paper). The order in which you present your ideas is as important as the
ideas themselves. Disorganized, rambling messages often seem careless,
confusing, and unimportant. However, different approaches are necessary
for different cultures. While the direct style is often preferred by U. S.
businesspeople, the indirect plan is often more effective in South America,
Middle Eastern and Asian countries. Europeans most often prefer the direct
approach. Choose your organizational plan after you have worked through
your initial planning steps.

THE ORGANISATIONAL PLAN

Your choice of your 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.
ORGANIZATIONAL PLANS FOR LETTERS
Direct-Request Plan

1. Main idea
i. Request, main statement, assertion, recommendation, question
ii. Reasons, if desirable

2. Explanation
 i. All necessary and desirable details and data

3. Courteous close with motivation to action

i. Clear statement of action desired
ii. Easy action, dated when desirable
iii. Appreciation and goodwill

Good-News Plan
1. Best news or main idea

2. Explanation
i. All necessary and desirable details and data

3. Positive, friendly close, including if appropriate

i. Appreciation
ii. Clear statement of action
iii. Appreciation
iv. Easy action, dated when desirable
v. Offer of further help, reader benefits

Bad-News Plan

1. Buffer (a pleasant or neutral statement, reader-oriented)

2. Explanation
i. Necessary data which is tactfully stated
ii. Pertinent acts
a. Favorable
b. Unfavorable
iii. Reader –benefit reasons

3. Decision (implied or expressed) along with the offer of additional help or

suggestions

4. Positive, friendly close

i. Appreciation
 ii. Invitation to future action
iii. Willingness to help further
iv. Reader-benefit and good will

Persuasive Request Plan

1. Attention
i. Reader-benefit
ii. Reader-attention theme

2. Interest
i. Descriptive details and data
ii. Psychological appeal
iii. Reader benefits

3. Desire
i. Statement of request
ii. Supporting data to help create reader’s desire to grant request

4. Action
i. Clear statement of action
ii. Dated when desirable
iii. Reader benefit