Business Communication B.Com.

– Part II

Steps/ Process of Preparing Effective Business Communication

Even with the most advanced office technology, the need for careful preparation of either written or oral messages
demands effort.

To communicate effectively, consider the following steps before you write your message:

1. Identify and Determine the Purpose

You communicate to produce a result. You wish something to occur as a result of your words. Your first step
when planning your communication is to determine your specific purpose. The objective of your message is
almost always twofold: the reason for the message itself and the creation of goodwill. Furthermore, you
must know why should you write and what should be written therefore.

a. To Inform or To Instruct
Clarifying, secure understanding, explaining a process of an idea is core to Inform or to
Instruct. A teacher, most often, is making a speech to inform. As a result, listeners have a
better comprehension of an issue, an idea, a process, a procedure.

b. To Persuade
Gaining willing acceptance of an idea is core to persuasion. Your goal is that after you
have finished your presentation, listeners will accept your proposal, your claim, your thesis;
you hope they will do as you ask them to do.

c. To Entertain
Social occasions such as promotion parties, retirement, or anniversaries are characteristic
of this kind of speaking.

2. Analyze the Audience and Occasion

Whether one writes or speaks, the message must be adapted to the audience. Analyzing your audience is
important for more reasons than simply determining the content and approach of your message. Much of
your writing, however, will be directed to people you have never met. When communicating for the first
time with a foreign company, you cannot be too cautious. Take time to become knowledgeable about
the basic communication principles of the country to which you are writing. Also, consider the educational
level, attitudes and probable values of the person you are communicating to. Finally, consider your
message and decide whether your listeners or readers will react positively or negatively, with interest or
disinterest.

And about occasions, if your talk is within your organization, you will have some idea about whom and how
many people will be in the audience.

3. Choose the Main Idea for the Message

It is obvious that you will not possess all information relating to your central theme. With you have purpose
and audience in your mind, the next step is to choose the ideas for your message accordingly. For
example, if you are writing an unsolicited or a complex message, begin by noting down ideas as they
come to you, as a result of brainstorming, and then choose among those ideas that are best suited for your
receiver.

4. Collect Data to Support the Idea

After you have chosen to include among the best suited ideas in your message, you must determine the
specific details, facts, figures, etc. to support your ideas chosen to make the communication more
emphatic and forceful.

5. Select the Right Medium

Just as technology continues to multiply the number of media options at your disposal, it continues to
provide new communication channels. A medium is the form of a message amongst oral, written, visual,
and electronic media. While, channel is the system used to deliver the message amongst phone/
conference calls, fax, e-mail, blogs, IM, website, etc.

6. Organize the Data for the Message

The order in which you present your ideas is as important as the ideas themselves. Disorganized, rambling
messages often seem careless, confusing, unclear and unimportant to the reader. Before you write the
draft, outline your message and then organize them sequentially.

A good message has three parts: i. An Introduction (an aim or purpose, and lay out the direction of the
speech), ii. Specific Details, iii. Conclusion

Steps/ Process of Preparing Effective Business Communication Compiled by: NOOR UL HUDA Page 1 of 2
Business Communication B.Com. – Part II

7. Draft the Message

When you have completed the five planning steps and considered your openings and closing, you are
ready for your first draft. Your first draft is often the most difficult to write. The important thing is to get the
most important information you want included in your message.

8. Revise the Message

The next step is to polish the document. Some of the world’s best writers believe their strength lies in revising
and editing. They confirm again and again that revision is the key to good writing. After you finish the first
draft of your message, you must evaluate its content, organization and style. Next, if you included
unnecessary material, delete it. And if you need additional information, add it. Change, Move, Delete and
Add as much information as you need to create an effective message.

9. Edit the Message

Editing your message involves:

a. checking all paragraphs for good topic sentences,

b. examining sentences for sound structure, and
c. watching language for correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation
10. Proofread the Message
When you have edited your message and found it to be effective, you are ready for final proofreading.
Sometimes you will proofread your document several times to be sure that you have not missed any errors.
Even minor mistakes, such as typographical errors, can reduce the effectiveness of your message and
undermine you credibility.

11. Create Visual Aids

Some presentations do not require visuals but some presentations do. The most important is answering the
question: “Would a visual add an understanding and any support to your message?”

12. Rehearse the Talk

Two purposes underlie rehearsals: ii. You will become more comfortable with your material, and ii. You can
still revise within you material where necessary. When rehearsing, stand and deliver your talk out loud.

Steps/ Process of Preparing Effective Business Communication Compiled by: NOOR UL HUDA Page 2 of 2