“You” Attitude

In business we must create friendliness with all those to whom we write.

Friendliness is inseparable from courtesy. Our communication can be effective if
we are courteous in our language and conduct. Courtesy can be defined as the
considerate, friendly and sympathetic approach towards others. In order to be
courteous in our language and conduct, we must not become sarcastic, unfriendly,
impatient and irritated. In business, the important objective of communication is to
build goodwill by establishing better customer-company relationships. We can
create the new customers and hold the present ones by our courtesy. By our
courteous and thanking nature, we shall not only be able to create new friends in
the business world but we shall also be able to avoid enmity and wrath of others.
Courtesy is a matter of polite tone, good manners and thanking nature. A courteous
man neither criticizes the other party for their mistakes nor uses harsh and bitter
words in his speech. He maintains goodwill by keeping ‘You’ attitude in his mind
and on his tongue. When the ‘You’ attitude is kept in mind, a courteous tone
naturally comes in written as well as oral communication. He wins the trust and
reliability of the other. party by promptly attending to their complaints and
requests. Also, he wins their favour by using the sweet sounding words like ‘thank
you’, ‘please’, etc.

A manager can not afford to ignore courtesy in his manners and etiquettes. While
writing a business letter, the importance of courtesy does not need to be mentioned.
We can say that a manager should not write a letter unless he is in a right frame of
mind. In fact, when he is an irritated and perturbed state of mind, he is likely to
write in an unfriendly and insulting manner. His discourtesy may be quite
unintentional, but the reader will fail to realize that it was unintentional and
unsought.

We must remember that the receiver is primarily interested in himself and in

his gains. His own achievements, success and well-being is more important to him
rather than those of his communicator’s. If he is a businessman, his main goal will
be to make profit for himself. Therefore, our communication is effective only when
we communicate from the receiver’s point of view. Our message must be
organized in such a way that it makes underlying appeal to the issues of his own
interest. While organizing the message, we must not forget the truth that the
receiver loves his name, his position, his property, his status, his fame and his
profits.
By adopting the ‘You’ attitude, a business communicator must look at the
things as the receiver does. If he does not view the things from the receiver’s point
of view, his arguments will-not be effective. The word ‘You’ is magnetic and
highly effective in both the oral and written media of communication. The listeners
as well as the renders of the message like themselves personally addressed by the
communicator. We can make our communication effective and persuasive by using
the word ‘You’ as many times as possible.