7 Cs of Business Communication

Why do we write a business letter?

When we write a business letter, we are trying to convince someone to act or react in a positive way. Our reader will respond quickly only if our meaning is crystal clear.

The 7 Cs of effective communication

1. Completeness 2. Conciseness 3. Consideration 4. Concreteness 5. Clarity 6. Courtesy 7. Correctness

Completeness
 Your business message is complete when it contains all the facts, the reader or listener needs for reaction you desire.  Communicators-Sender and receivers-differ in their mental Communicatorsreceiversfilters; they are influenced by their backgrounds, viewpoints, needs, experiences, attitudes, status, and emotions.  Because of these differences, communication senders need to assess their messages through the eyes of receivers to be sure they have included all relevant information.  Provide all necessary information Who, what, where, when, why, how?  Answer all questions asked  Give something extra, when desirable

Completeness - examples
 Q: How come my request for an interview did not receive a response?
A: When was the letter sent? To whom? Who sent it?

 Q: Im new to the city, and would like to join your club. When is the next open day?
A: Where are we? How to get here?

Conciseness
 Conciseness is saying what you have to say in the fewest possible words without sacrificing the other C qualities.  Eliminate wordy expressions  Include only relevant material
Stick to the purpose of the message

 Avoid unnecessary repetition

Leads to dullness

Conciseness
Eliminate Wordy Expressions:
 At this time  Now  Due to the fact that  Because  Have need for  Need  In due course  Soon

Conciseness
 Omit unnecessary expressions
Allow me to say how helpful your last response was Your last response was helpful

 Replace wordy conventional statements

Please find attached the list you requested The list you requested is attached

 Avoid overusing empty phrases

There are four rules that should be observed Four rules should be observed

Conciseness
 Omit which and that clause whenever possible.
She bought desks that are of the executive type. She bough executive-type desks executive-

 Eliminate unnecessary prepositional phrases.

The issue of most relevance is teamwork. The most relevant issue is teamwork.

 Limit use of passive voice

The reports are to be submitted by employee prior tp 5:00 at which time they will be received by Mr. Jones Please submit your reports to Mr. Jones by 5:00

Consideration
 Consideration means preparing every message with the message receiver in your mind.  You are considerate when you do not lose your temper, you do not accuse, you do not charge them without facts.  Focus on you instead of I and we
You are foremost aware of their desires, problems, circumstances, emotions, and probable reactions to your request. This thoughtful consideration is also called you attitude, empathy, the human touch, and understanding.

 Show audience benefit or interest in the receiver

Readers react positively when benefits are shown to them

 Emphasise positive, pleasant facts

Readers will react positively or negatively to certain words

Consideration
Examples:
 I am delighted to announce that we will be

extending our hours to make shopping more convenient

 You will be able to shop evenings with the

extended hours(Focus on You Instead of I)

 It is impossible to open an account for you today. (Negative, Unpleasant)  When we receive proof of ID we will gladly open an

account for you (Emphasis on Positive, Pleasant Facts)

Concreteness
 Communicating concretely means being specific, definite, and vivid rather than vague and general.  Often it means using denotative (direct, explicit, often dictionary based) rather than connotative words (ideas or notions suggested by or associated with a word or phrase)  Thus, the term female may appear in a personal folder as a part of a job description, yet widely different connotations may occur when using terms as wife, mother, spinster, widow, maiden, matron, or dowager.

Concreteness
Guide Lines for creating concrete messages:  Use specific facts and figures
It is desirable in both oral & written communication

Example:
 Shes a brain (Vague, General, Indefinite)  Her grade-point average in 2006 was 3.9 on a gradefourfour-point scale. (Concrete, Precise)

Concreteness
Guide Lines for creating concrete messages:  Put action in your verbs

make your sentences alive, more vigorous. That is to have dynamic sentences in your communication. Active verbs help your sentence more: 1. 2. 3. 4. Specific: The dream decided is more explicit than A decision has been made Personal: You will note is both personal and specific; It will be noted is impersonal. Concise: The passive requires more words and thus shows both writing and reading. Compare Figures show with It is shown in the figure. Emphatic: Passive verbs dull action. Compare The students held a contest with A contest was held by the students.

Verbs propel thought: Verbs can activate other words and help

Clarity
Getting the meaning from your head into the head of your reader accurately Guideline No.1 for Communicating with Clarity
Your audience will understand better if you Choose precise, concrete and familiar words Familiar About After Home For example Pay Invoice Pretentious circa (L) subsequent domicile e.g. (L) remuneration statement for payment

Clarity
Example of Unfamiliar/Familiar sentences: Unfamiliar: After our perusal of pertinent data, the conclusion is that lucrative market exists for the subject property. Familiar The date we studied show that your property is profitable and in high demand.

Clarity
Guideline No. 2 for Communicating with Clarity
Your audience will understand better if you construct effective sentences and paragraphs. This includes: Length of sentence: Try for 17-20 words per sentence 17 Unity: In a sentence keep one idea at a time. If you want to add another idea, it should be closely related to the first one. Example: I like Jim, and Eiffel Tower is in Paris Above sentence is obviously is not a unified sentence. Coherence: In a coherent sentence the words are correctly arranged so that the ideas clearly express the intended meaning.

Clarity
Example of Coherent and non-coherent sentences: non  

Unclear: Being an excellent lawyer, I am sure you can help us Clear: Being an excellent lawyer, you can surely help us Unclear: Our report is about testing, broken down in unit and functional methods Clear: Our report on testing focused on unit and functional methods Unclear: After planting 10, 000 berry plants, the deer came into our botanists arm and crushed them. Clear: After our botanist had planted 10,000 berry plants, the deer came into his farm and crushed them

 

Courtesy
 The courtesy involves being aware not only of the    

perspective of others, but also their feelings. Knowing your audience allows you to use statements of courtesy Be sincerely tactful, thoughtful and appreciative Use expressions that show respect Choose non-discriminatory expressions, for example in nonin order to avoid gender discrimination you can use:
 Entering student instead of freshman  Workers, employees instead of manpower  The best candidate for the position instead of the best man for the position.

Courtesy
 Clearly, you did not read my latest fax  Sometimes my wording is not precise; let me try again
(Tactfulness)

 Manpower vs. Employees (More Desirable as its non-sexist term) non Man-made vs. manufactured Man The best man for the job vs. The Best Candidate  Anyone who comes to the class late will get his grade

reduced

 Students who come late to class will have their grades

reduced (Avoid using he/him)

Correctness
 At the core of Correctness is proper grammar,

punctuation, and spelling.

 However, a message may be perfect grammatically and

mechanically but still insult or lose a customer

 The term Correctness, as applied to business

messages, also means the following three characteristics:  Use the right level of language  Check accuracy of figures, facts, and words  Maintain acceptable witing mechanics.

Correctness
 Use the right level of Language: There are three levels of language: formal,
informal, and substandard.  Formal writing this often associated with scholarly writing: doctoral dissertations, scholarly articles, 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 follows: Formal vs. informal Participate/join Procure/get Endeavour/try Ascertain/find out Deem/think

Correctness
Check accuracy of figures & facts
 Verify your statistical data.  Double-check your totals Double Avoid guessing at laws that have an impact on your, the sender and your message receiver  Have someone else read your message if the topic involves data  Determine whether a fact has changed overtime.

Correctness
Avoid using substandard language:
Substandard vs. more appropriate Aint vs. isnt Aim at proving vs. aim to prove Irregardless vs. regardless Should of vs. should have

Correctness
 Accept vs. except
Accept is a verb and means to receive; Except is a verb or a preposition and relates to omitting or leaving out.

 Between vs. among

Between involves two people, among three or more

 Effect vs. affect

Effect is a noun, affect is a verb

 Farther vs. further

Farther used for distance in space, further for distance in time, quality or degree

 Imply, infer
Imply means suggest; infer means to conclude

END OF CaHPTER NO. 2

Other tips UK English

 Punctuation goes after quotations
The doctor said Hello George.

 Abbreviations finish with a period only if the last letter of the abbreviation is not the last letter of the word
vs (versus), Dr (doctor), Mr (mister) (versus (doctor (mister etc. (et cetera), tel. (telephone)

 Abbreviations finish with a period if they spell a regular word

in. (inches), no. (number)

Other tips UK English

 Certain well-known abbreviations do not welltake periods
am (ante meridium), pm (post meridium)

Initials do not take periods

CIA, FBI, USA, etc.

If an abbreviation uses only one period, then it can finish a sentence:

The window is 30 in. I bought many types of cheese, such as cheddar, feta, brie, etc.

Common abbreviations
ca. cf. e.g. et al. etc. ibid. i.e. N.B. P.S. viz. Circa confer exempli gratia et alii et cetera ibidem id est Nota Bene post scriptum videlicet approximately compare for example and the others and so on in the same place as the previous reference that is note well an addition to the main text namely