Hassan Bin Rizwan

BUSINESS COMMUNICATION TOOLKIT

Important Stuff Setting Standards

What setting you want today? Formal or Informal?

What learning environment would you prefer? Lecture-based or interactive?

Would you like others to talk on the phone during the program?

Would you like to receive rewards for good performance?

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Important Stuff

Setting Standards Not a training program This is an EXPERIENCE

– Learning Experience for ALL of us

Be ready to give and receive constructive criticism

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Learning Contract

A contract between YOU and YOURSELF

Write ONLY what you want to remember later

Not more than 10 points

“The Only Barrier to Learning the Truth is to Assume You Already Know It” Confucius

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Business Communication Toolkit

Cost of Miscommunication

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Miscommunication

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Miscommunication

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Miscommunication

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Miscommunication

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Miscommunication

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Business Communication Toolkit

Communications in the 21st Century

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5 Things That’ve Changed in the 21st Century

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Grabbing Start If you don’t excite my interest in the first 5 seconds, I will ‘tag’ it

for later Writing is More ‘Active’

Replace ‘is’ and ‘are’ with action words “We are planning to” to “We plan to”

Less the use of passive sentences “This project has been spearheaded by Atif” to “Atif lead this project

Less Formal than Before Ok to start a sentence with ‘And’, ‘But’, ‘Because’ etc Write to make it easy to read

5 Things That’ve Changed in the 21st Century

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Quick, Short, To-the-point You have less time to ‘do’ more – so does your reader Write so it can be speed-read

Highlighting the important words, ideas, numbers etc

Last Sentence is More than a Goodbye It often asks a question Suggests an action Demands a response

Understanding the Expectation Game

Communicating through E-mail

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Basics of Format Using bullets and lists Font

Professional and ‘serious’ Not funky Or difficult to read

Responding time? E-mail size? Attachments – describe

them Read receipt? Priority Flag?

For example, Place the paper in

drawer A. Click the green “start”

button. Another example,

Improve customer satisfaction.

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Choosing the Subject Attention grabber Better specific than

generic Remember some will

receive the e-mail on their phones

Delete “Fwd:” even if you ‘forward’

Which is a better subject? Road Rage Can’t Drive 55 Road Rage: Curing Our

Highway Epidemic

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Signature Block

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Give several ways to connect with you Example : my signature block

Use different for ‘first message’ and different for ‘replies’ Favorite quote? Only if it isn’t offensive

Wishing you well,

_________________Hassan B. Rizwan  |  Tel: +9221-7659067  |  Mobile: +923003043094  |  Web: www.hassanrizwan.com  |  Skype: hbrizwan  |  YouTube: hbrizwan  |  Twitter: hassanrizwan

"Dream like you'll live forever .. work like you don't need the money .. love like you've never been hurt and dance like no one's watchin" - Satchel Paige

Writing Long E-mails

Avoid them But if you must, then

Provide the ‘ELEVATOR PITCH’ in the first para

Your ‘action close’ must be at the TOP

Example “Our profit margin for the

last quarter went down 5%. As a result I am proposing budget adjustment for the following areas…”

“This email contains Budget projections for the

last quarter Actual performance for the

last quarter Adjustment proposal Projected profitability”

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E-mails on Smart Phones

Everything SHORTER and MORE PRECISE

No or less attachments

Additional space between paras

One topic per e-mail

Documenting SMS replies Fwd them to your e-

mails

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Setting Objective & Analyzing Situation

Getting Ready to Write

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The Columbus Disease

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start with the end in mind!

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Situation No 1You have to write a quarterly progress report and send it to

your boss

Situation No 2You are writing a

financing/investment proposal to a BIG client

Situation No 4Complaining to a regular vendor about the recent bad service you

received

Situation No 3Responding to a query from a customer about product info

Setting Objective

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The FOCUS Principle

FOCUS Addressing the issue,

the whole issue and nothing but the issue

Avoid opening a “pandora’s box”

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The FOCUS Principle

ORGANIZED Present your ideas

systematically Use logical arguments

to add weight to your case

Use headings, paras and lists to organize

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The FOCUS Principle

CLARITY Proper language

(grammar, spelling and sentence structure)

Use ‘Active’ voice Create simple and short

sentences

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The FOCUS Principle

UNDERSTANDING Understand the

situation and the audience

Adapt to the situation “It is not the strongest

of specie who survives, it is the one that is the most adaptive to the change”

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The FOCUS Principle

SUPPORTED Supported by logic and

sound reason Supported by stats if

any Supported by relevant

examples if any

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Positive Emphasis & YOU Attitude

Setting the Tone

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YOU Attitude Positive Emphasis

1. In positive messages, use YOU more than I

2. In negative messages, avoid YOU

1. Focus on what can be done – not otherwise

2. Link negative info with audience benefit

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Examples

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We provide after-sales service to all our customers.

We have approved your credit extension request.

You don’t qualify for the Exclusive Membership unless you have been a member for 5 years.

Examples

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You made no allowances for inflation in your proposal.

We can’t sell computer disks in lots of less than 10.

Your research on article lacks credible evidence.

Convincing Your Readers

Writing Persuasive Messages

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Persuasion Pyramid

Start with a grabber Elevator Pitch Supporting content

Stats Relevant examples Stories

Action close

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Principles of Persuasion Reciprocation

Give ‘n Take Consistency

Reference to moral, ethical, religious or spiritual belief consistency

Authority Reference to expertise

and knowledge

Social Acceptance Reference to

acceptance by aspired people

Liking Reference to personal

preferences Scarcity

Reference to shortage time and resources

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Getting the Most Out of Bad News

Writing Negative Messages

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Negative Message

Start with the Buffer Deliver bad news Give logical reasons Provide alternatives Goodwill ending

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Examples “We at ABC Services truly wish to retain our reputation as being

the most competitive and affordable in the industry. To offer you the best rates, we must cut down on after-sales service.”

I am sure your directory services are of great interest to all businesses in the industry. However, we simply don’t have the budget …

I agree with you that we all should do our best to support a cause that is worthy of our time and money. Our firm, however, ….

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Turning the Negative into Positive

Writing Bouncing-Back Messages

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Bouncing-back Messages

Acknowledge Empathize Resolve Thanks

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