7 C’s of Effective Communications

When we talk about “Effective Communication”, one thing that comes in mind that is the basic
principles of “effective communication”. These principles tell how your message can become
effective for your target group.They also tell about style and importance of the message.
These are commonly known as 7 C’s of effective communication.

1. Completeness
2. Conciseness
3. Consideration
4. Concreteness
5. Clarity
6. Courtesy
7. Correctness
Completeness
Message Receiver- either listener or reader, desires complete information to his question.
Suppose you are working with multinational company who is busy with engineering goods, like
A.C. Now one of your major customers wants some technical information about “cooking range”
(because he wants to convey the same information to the end users). In this case you have to
provide him complete information in shortest of time. If possible, provide him some extra
information when desirable. In this way you can maintain a good business relation with him,
otherwise he will switch to another company.
Five W’s

One way to make your message complete is to answer the five W’s i.e. the who, what, when,
where and why questions. This five question method is useful when you write requests,
announcements, or other informative messages. For example, to order merchandise, make clear
WHAT you want, WHEN u need it, WHERE it must be sent.
In the end, you must provide him:-
1. All necessary information as requested by him.
2. Answers all of his questions carefully
3. Provide some extra information, which is not required, just to maintain good relations.
Conciseness
Conciseness means “to convey the message by using fewest possible words”. Conciseness is the
necessary to effective business communication. As a business executive is always short of time,
therefore a concise message saves the time and expenses for both the parties.

How to achieve the conciseness

To achieve conciseness, you must consider the following.

1. Avoid wordy expression
2. Include only relevant material
3. Avoid unnecessary repetition.

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Avoid Wordy Expression

Instead of “at this time” you can just use a concise word: - Now. Always try to use “To the point
Approach” in business scenario.

Include only relevant information

Always try to provide only relevant information to the receiver of the message.
Let’s say, one of your customers requested for a list of clients of the company. In reply, you
should provide simply a list of the clients at the panel of your company. There is no need to
provide detailed business information about client.Observe the following suggestions to include
only relevant information.

1. Stick to the purpose of message.

2. Delete irrelevant words.
3. Avoid long introduction, unnecessary explanation.
4. Get to the important point concisely.
5. Avoid un-necessary Repetition

Some times repetition is necessary for focusing on some special issue. But when the same thing
is said without any reason, the message becomes wordy and boring. Following are some ways to
eliminate unnecessary words.

1. Use shorter name once you have mentioned the longer one. For example, for Spectrum
communications Private limited use Spectrum.
2. Use pronouns or initials for example, instead of world trade organization use WTO or you
can use IT for Information Technology (keeping in views that receiver knows about these
terms).

Consideration
Consideration means preparing every message with message receiver in mind. Try to put
yourself in their place before handling any matter related to them. This is called “You Attitude”.
It is very important for effective communication. While writing a message, you should always
keep in mind your target group.
Consideration is very important “C” among all the seven C’s. Following are three specific ways
to indicate consideration:
1. Focus on “you” instead of “I” or “We”
2. Show audience benefit or interest of the receiver
3. Emphasize positive, pleasant facts.

Try to focus on ‘you’ instead of ‘I’ and ‘We’.

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We attitude

I am delighted to announce that we will extend to make shopping more.

You attitude

“You will be able to shop in the evening with the extended hours.”

Show audience benefit or interest of the receiver

Readers may react positively when benefit are shown to them. Always try to address his/her
needs and wants.Always show/write to reader what has been done so far as his/her query is
concerned.

Emphasize positive and pleasant facts

It means you stress on what can be done instead of what cannot be done. For example:
It is impossible to open an account for you today. (Negative, unpleasant.)
As soon as your Identity card reaches us, we will gladly open an account for you.(Positive,
pleasant)

We don’t refund if the returned item is soiled and unsalable.( Negative, unpleasant.)
We refund when the returned item is clean and resalable.(Positive, pleasant)

Concreteness
It means that message should be specific instead of general. Misunderstanding of words creates
problems for both the parties i.e. the sender and the receiver. When you talk to your client always
use facts and figures instead of using ambiguous words.
The following guidelines should help you achieve Concreteness.
1. Use specific facts and figures
2. Choose image building words

General

He is very intelligent student of the class and stood first in the class.

Concrete
Ali’s GPA in B.Sc Electrical Engineering was 3.95/4.0; he stood first in his class.

Always write on a very solid ground. It should definitely create good image as well.

Clarity
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Getting the meaning from your head into the head of your reader –accurately – is the purpose of
clarity. In effective business communication the message should be clear so that the reader can
understand it easily.
1. Choose precise words.
2. Choose familiar and easy words.
3. Construct effective sentences and paragraphs.

In business communication, always use precise words rather than longer statements. If you have
a choice between a longer word and a shorter one, always use the shorter one.

Always use familiar/easy to understand words so that your reader will quickly understand.

Familiar Unfamiliar words

After subsequent
Home domicile
For example e.g.
Pay remuneration
Invoice statement for payments

Courtesy
Knowing your audience allows you to use statements of courtesy. Be aware of your message
receiver. True courtesy involves being aware not only of the perspective of others, but also their
feelings. Courtesy stems from a sincere you-attitude. It is not merely politeness with mechanical
insertions of “please” and “thank you”, although applying socially accepted manners is a form of
courtesy. Rather, it is politeness that grows out of respect and concern for others.Courteous
communicators generates a special tone in their writing and speaking. Following are some
suggestions for generating a courteous tone:

1. Be sincerely tactful, thoughtful and appreciative.

2. Use expressions that show respect for the others
3. Choose nondiscriminatory expressions

Be sincerely Tactful, Thoughtful and Appreciative

Though few people are intentionally abrupt or blunt, these negative traits are common cause of
discourtesy. Sometimes they stem from a mistaken idea of conciseness, sometimes form negative
personal attitudes, and sometimes form not knowing the culture of a country or even groups of
people.
Avoid expression like those in the left hand column below; rephrase them as shown in the right-
hand column:

Tactless, Blunt More Tactful

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Stupid letter; I can’t understand I think I am slow at understanding things.
Could you please explain it?

Its your fault, you did not properly read my latest Sometimes my wording is not precise; let me
FAX try again

Thoughtfulness and Appreciation

Writers who send cordial, courteous messages of deserved congratulations and appreciation (to a
person inside & outside), help build goodwill. The value of goodwill or public esteem for the
firm may be worth thousands of dollars.

Correctness
At the core of correctness is proper grammar, punctuation and spelling. However, message may
be perfect grammatically and mechanically but still insult or lose the customer. The term
correctness, as applied to business messages also mean three characteristics:
1. Use the right level of language
2. Check the accuracy of figures, facts and words
3. Maintain acceptable writing mechanics

Use the right Level of Language

We suggest that there are three level of language

1. formal
2. informal
3. Substandard

Formal and Informal Words

Formal writing is often associated with scholarly writing: doctoral dissertations, scholarly, legal
documents, top-level government agreements and other material where formality is demanded.
Informal writing is more characteristic of business writing. Here you use words that are short,
well-known and conversational as in this comparison list:
More Formal less formal
Participate Join
Endeavor try
Ascertain find out
Utilize use
Interrogate question

Avoid substandard language. Using incorrect words, incorrect grammar, faulty pronunciation all
suggest as inability to use good English. Some examples follow:
Substandard More Acceptable
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 Ain’t isn’t,aren’t
Can’t hardly can hardly
Aim to proving aim to prove
Desirous to desirous of
Stoled stolen

Facts and Figures Accuracy

Check Accuracy of Facts, Figures and words. It is impossible to convey meaning precisely,
through words, from the head of the sender to a receiver. Your goal is to be as precise as
possible, which means checking and double-checking to ensure that the figures, facts and words
you use are correct.
A good check of your data is to have another person read and comment on the validity of the
material.

Figures and facts

 Verify your statistical data

 Double-check your totals
 Avoid guessing at laws that have an impact on you, the sender and your message
receiver.
 Have someone else read your message if the topic involves data.
 Determine whether a “fact” has changed over time

Proper Use of Confusing Words

English language is constantly changing. In fact, even dictionaries cannot keep up with rapid
change in our language. Following words are often confused in usage:
A, An use a before
consonants
andconsonants sounds
or a long “u” sound.
Use an before vowels.

Accept, except accept is a verb and

means
toreceive.Except is a
verb or a preposition
and relates toomitting
or leaving out.
Anxious, eager Anxious implies
worry, eagerconveys
keen desire.

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