With a solid plan in place, youre ready to choose the words and craft the sentences and paragraphs

that will carry your ideas to their intended audiences. Planning business messages. To plan any message, first analyze the situation by defining your purpose and developing a profile of your audience. With that in mind, you can gather information that will meet your audiences needs. Next, select the right medium (oral, written, or electronic) to deliver your message. With those three factors in place, youre ready to organize the information by defining your main idea, limiting your scope, selecting an approach, and outlining your content. Planning messages is the focus of Chapter 4. Writing business messages. Once youve planned your message, adapt to your audience with sensitivity, relationship skills, and style. Then youre ready to compose your message by choosing strong words, creating effective sentences, and developing coherent paragraphs. Writing business messages is discussed in this chapter. Completing business messages. After writing your first draft, revise your message to make sure it is clear, concise, and correct. Next produce your message, giving it an attractive, professional appearance. Proofread the final product for typos, spelling errors, and other mechanical problems. Finally, distribute your message using the best combination of personal and technological tools. Completing business messages is discussed in Chapter 6.

Whether consciously or not, audiences greet most incoming messages with a question: "What's in this for me?" If your intended audience thinks a message does not apply to them or does not offer them anything useful or interesting, they'll be far less inclined to pay attention to it. By adapting your communication to the needs and expectations of your audience, you'll provide a more compelling answer to this question and improve the chances of your message being successful. To adapt your message to your audience, do the following: Be sensitive to your audiences needs. Build a strong relationship with your audience. Control your style to maintain a professional tone.

Even in simple messages intended merely to share information, it's possible to use all the right words and still not be sensitive to your audience and their needs. You can improve your audience sensitivity by doing the following: Adopting the "you" attitude Maintaining good standards of etiquette Emphasizing the positive Using bias-free language

Approach your messages by adopting a you attitudethat is, focusing on the audiences interests, hopes, and preferences. On the simplest level, adopt the you attitude by replacing terms that refer to yourself and your company with terms that refer to your audience. In other words, use you and yours instead of I, me, mine, we, us, and ours. Too many business messages have an I or we attitude. The message tells what the sender wants, and the audience is expected to go along with it. The you attitude isnt just a matter of using one pronoun rather than another; its a matter of genuine empathy. Its the thought and sincerity that count, not the pronoun. The important thing is your attitude toward audience members and your appreciation of their position. Be sensitive to situational elements. Sometimes, youll do better to avoid using you. For instance, using you in a way that sounds dictatorial is impolite. If someone makes a mistake, you may want to minimize ill will by pointing out the error impersonally. You might say, We have a problem, instead of You caused a problem. When using the you attitude, strive for professionalism. Consider the policies of your organization and the attitudes of other cultures. In some cultures, it is improper to single out one persons achievements because the whole team is responsible for the outcome. Moreover, some companies have a tradition of using a formal, impersonal style. In such cases, confine your use of personal pronouns to informal letters and memos.

Another good way to demonstrate interest in your audience and to earn their respect is to be demonstrate positive etiquette in your messages. You know yourself how it feels to be treated inconsiderately; you probably reacted to such treatment emotionally and then paid less attention to the offending message. Use the following techniques when communicating in business: By being courteous to members of your audience, you show consideration for them and foster a more successful environment for communication. Demonstrate your diplomatic skills by controlling your emotions and communicating calmly and politely. Another simple but effective courtesy is to be prompt in your correspondence.

During your career, you will have many occasions to communicate bad news. However, there is a big difference between delivering negative news and being negative. When the tone of your message is negative, you put unnecessary strain on business relationships, which can cause people to distance themselves from you and your ideas. If youre facing a potentially negative situation, look for ways to soften the blow or emphasize positive aspects of a situation. Another way of establishing a good relationship with your audience is to emphasize the positive side of your message. When youre criticizing or correcting, dont hammer on the other persons mistakes. Avoid referring to failures, problems, or shortcomings. Focus instead on what he or she can do to improve. Emphasize whats in it for him or her, not why you want that person to do something.

Use the positive language In general, try to state your message without using words that might hurt or offend your audience. Substitute mild terms (euphemisms ) for those that have unpleasant connotations . However, dont carry euphemisms to extremes . If youre too subtle , people wont know what youre talking about. It would be unethical to speak to your community about relocating refuse when youre really talking about plans for disposing of toxic waste. In the end, people respond better to an honest message delivered with integrity than to sugar-coated double-speak.

Bias-free language Bias-free language avoids unethical, embarrassing language blunders related to gender, race, ethnicity, age, and disability. Gender bias. Avoid sexist language by using the same label for everyone (dont call a woman chairperson and then call a man chairman). Reword sentences to use they or to use no pronoun at all. Vary traditional patterns by sometimes putting women first (women and men, her and his). Racial and ethnic bias. The central principle is to avoid language suggesting that members of a racial or an ethnic group have stereotypical characteristics. The best solution is to avoid identifying people by race or ethnic origin unless such a label is relevant. Age bias. As with gender, race, and ethnic background, mention the age of a person only when it is relevant. When referring to older people, avoid such stereotyped adjectives as spry and frail. Disability bias . Avoid mentioning a disability unless it is pertinent. If you must refer to someones disability, avoid terms such as handicapped, crippled, or retarded. Put the person first and the disability second.

Build A Strong Audience Relationship Focusing on your audience's needs is vital to effective communication, but you also have your own priorities as a communicator. Sometimes these needs are obvious and direct, such as when you're appealing for a budget increase for your department. Other times, the need may be more subtle. For instance, you might want to demonstrate your understanding of the marketplace or your company's concern for the natural environment. Two key efforts help you address your own needs while building positive relationships with your audience: establishing your credibility and projecting your company's image.