Business Communication 1

1. Business Communication 1 Emails, Memos, Letters, and Reports

2. Communication Skills There is a growing consensus among business executives that there is a lack of good writing skills among job applicants, as reported in several recent surveys.  Because of this, employers are including writing skills as one of the skills they look for when hiring and sometimes ask for a sample report when screening applicants. Sometimes, it is even included in the job description that the job requires a motivated communicator.

3. Introduction • Communication is essential for being able to act and make decisions in the business world. • People must be able to share information. • Some communication can take place face-to-face, but a great deal is conducted through emails, memorandums, letters, and reports. • Each type of communication has its own distinguishing characteristics.

4. Purpose of Business Correspondence • Effective business correspondence fosters goodwill through its word choice and message. • Goodwill is the act of making and keeping friends.

5. Principles of Effective Communication • Concise language • Accuracy, completeness • Professional appearance • Conventional format • Logical organization • Standard English usage To ensure that the information in your correspondence is well organized, complete, and free of errors, always proofread the document before you send it.

6. What Business Correspondence Says About You • Emails, memos, letters, and reports not only help to get the job done, but also serve as a way of evaluating the writer’s performance. • Managers and administrators can tell from an employee’s correspondence whether that employee is solving or creating problems, communicating with or confusing the readers, building or ruining relationships, getting the job done, or making no progress.

7. Memos • Memos are used to correspond inside an organization. • The audience for emails and memos is internal (within a company).

8. Standard Memo Format Letter of Memorandum TO: YES, Inc. Staff FROM: Mrs. Murray DATE: September 15, 2012 SUBJECT: HOW TO WRITE A MEMO A memo should cover only one main point. Writers who have two messages for the same audience should write two memos. The first paragraph of the memo should contain the main idea…what the writer wants the reader to do. The subsequent paragraphs explain why the writer is requesting this action and the effect it will have on the reader. A memo should be one to four paragraphs long.

9. Writing Memos in MS Word • MS Word has a memo template that you may use if you prefer. To use a template: • Click on the office button (top-left corner) • Click on New. • Scroll down and select Memos. • Select the memo template you prefer. • Make sure it is a template that has only the to, from, date, subject lines.

10. Standard Letter Format • All letters share a similar format. • They are constructed in basic parts and may be written in block or modified block style. • For this class, we will write letters in block style.

11. Letter Format 800 College Dr. Heading: your return address. You may use Foothill Henderson, NV 89002 High School’s address. September 15, 2012 Dateline: Date the letter was written. (double space) . Mr. John Stewart Inside address: Title, first name, last name, company title, and President, XYZ Company address of person to whom you are writing. 100 Las Vegas Boulevard Las Vegas, NV 89102 (double space) Dear Mr. Stewart: Salutation: Name of person you want to read your letter. Include title and last name. End with a colon. (double space) The body of the letter is usually three to five paragraphs long. The body is single-spaced and double- spaced between each paragraph. Paragraphs are not indented. (double space) Sincerely, Closing: There are several types of closings, but for this class, you will use “Sincerely.” Include four spaces (returns) after the closing ensure room for your signature. Your Name Signature line: Your typed name and title if you have one. Title

12. Report Format (This is an example of the title) Report Title in Arial Bold 12-pt font (This is an example of Heading 1) The text on this slide is an example of what your report should look like. Your report will have a title and sections and subsections set up under different heading levels. The main sections of your report will go under heading 1 and subsections will go under headings 2 and 3. For your text use Times New Roman, 12-pt font. The title of your report will be centered at the top of the page, as shown here. Use a bold, sans-serif, 12-point, font such as Arial. Also use title case (capitalize beginning of each word except for conjunctions and short prepositions) for all headings. Report Headings (This is an Example of Heading 1) Most of the text in your report will appear in first-level sections under heading 1. Use the same bold, sans-serif, 12-pt font that you used for the report title, except now make it flush-left. If your information needs to be broken up into smaller subsections, you will use Heading 2 and 3 formats, as shown below. Heading 2 (This is an Example of Heading 2) Sometimes you may want to add a second-level subsection under heading 1. Use the same bold, sans-serif font you used in heading 1, except now italicize it. Heading 3 (This is an example of Heading 3). If you need third-level subsections under second-level sections, use the same font as your text, except bold it and place a period after your heading The text appears on the same line as heading 3.

13. Report Format (cont.) Main Report Information Introduction Generally, a report needs an introduction.  You will explain the problem and show the reader why the report is being made. You need to give terms of reference if you did not include these in the title section, and explain how the details of the following report are arranged.   Body This is the main section of the report. The previous sections needed to be written in plain English, but this section can include jargon from your industry. There needs to be several sections, with each having a subtitle.  Information is usually arranged in order of importance with the most important information coming first. If you wish, a “Discussion” section can be included to go over your findings and their significance.  Conclusion This is where everything comes together. Keep this section free of jargon as most people will read the Summary and Conclusion.        Recommendations This is what needs to be done. In plain English, explain your recommendations, putting them in order of priority.

14. Serif and Sans-Serif Fonts This is a serif font. Notice the smalldecorative projections (serifs) at the end of each stroke. This is a sans-serif font. Sans is a French word for “without.” A sans-serif font has no projecting features at the end of the strokes. Headings = sans-serif font (Arial Bold) Text = serif font (Times New Roman)