The Seven C’s of Effective

Communication
Business Communication-I
 Contents
Completeness
Conciseness
Consideration
Concreteness
Clarity
Courtesy
Correctness
How emphasis on different words in a same
sentence changes the meaning
She is not flying to Karachi tomorrow.

• By emphasizing the ‘she’ it implies that it is someone else that is flying to

Karachi tomorrow.
• The ‘isn’t’ shows that she’s not doing this anymore.
• Emphasizing the ‘flying’ means that she’s not flying, she may be getting there
another way instead.
• ‘To’ this could mean she is flying from or by Karachi not to.
• Emphasis on Karachi shows that it could be a different location, not Karachi.
• Finally, ‘tomorrow’ could mean that it’s actually a different day, not tomorrow.
Completeness
• Cover all the necessary information
• Complete messages bring the desired result without the expense of
additional messages
Guidelines
Provide all the information
Answer all the questions asked
Give something extra, when desirable
Example
• Give me water. • Give me a glass of cold water
from the jug.
Provide all necessary information
 One way to make the message complete is to answer all the Ws; Who,
When, Where, What, Why.
 The question method is useful when you write requests,
announcements or other informative messages
 If ordering supplies, one should mention for whom he/she needs it,
where it is to be sent.
 Answer all the questions asked
 Reaction to incomplete reply is unfavorable
Problems and solution
• The listener may think of hiding a weak spot
• If you have no answer at all, say it clearly
• If you have unfavorable information say it tactfully
• Look for buried question within the paragraph
• Give something extra when desirable
• Sometimes, giving extra information is necessary: Giving a new
customer extra info about the products
Conciseness
• Saying in fewest possible words without sacrificing the other Cs.
• It saves time and expense
• To achieve conciseness, observe the following suggestions:
• Eliminate wordy expressions
• Include only relevant material
• Avoid unnecessary repetition
• Eliminate Wordy Expressions
1. Using single words substitute: at this time- now
2. Omit trite (not fresh), unnecessary expressions
3. Replace wordy conventional statements with concise versions
4. Avoid overusing empty phrases (words that don’t mean anything)
5. Omit ‘which’ and ‘that’ whenever possible
6. Eliminate unnecessary prepositional phrase
Exm: The cooked the food Or the mother in the green pot cooked the food.
7. Limit use of the passive voice
Exm: Dress was pressed by Salma or Salma pressed the dress.
• Include any relevant material
• Omit irrelevant statements and add relevant facts
1. Stick to the purpose of message
2. Delete irrelevant words and rambling sentences (She went to the church and
then went to the market and bought some clothes and came back home)
3. Omit information obvious to the receiver, repeat only if it needs to be
repeated
4. Avoid long introductions, unnecessary explanations, excessive adjectives and
prepositions, pompous words (instead of make happen, use effectuate)
5. Get to the important point tactfully and concisely
• Avoid Unnecessary Repetition
1. Use shorter name if you have mentioned the longer one already
2. Use pronouns or initials rather than repeating long names
3. Cut out all needless repetition of sentences
Consideration
• Considering feelings of your audience
• Try to put yourself in the place of the reader
• Be aware of their desires, problems, emotions
• Adopt ‘You-Attitude’
• Ways to indicate consideration:
• Focus on ‘you’ instead of ‘I’ or ‘We’
• Show audience benefit or interest in the receiver
• Emphasize positive, pleasant facts
• Focus on You instead of I or We
• Overuse can lead to a negative reaction
• How the audience will benefit
• In some cases passive form are necessary to use
• Show audience benefit or interest in the receiver
• Readers react positively when benefits are shown to them
• Benefits must meet the needs of recipients
• Writing to a single person or a larger group, try o personalize the
benefits
• Emphasize positive, pleasant facts
• Stress on what can be done instead of what can’t be done
• Make use of positive words; benefit, help, happy, loyal etc
• People can react positively or negatively o the words with which they
have past connections
Concreteness (being specific rather than
general)
• Being specific and definite with the words and the whole message
• Using denotative words rather than connotative
• When you supply specifics then your message will be interpreted the
way you intended.
• Concrete messages are more textured than vague messages
• Guidelines
• Use specific facts and figures
• Put action into your verbs
• Choose vivid, image building words
• Use specific facts and figures
• Use exact and precise statement
• Use figure instead of words
• Exception to the facts and figures rule:
• When exact figures are unimportant
• Put action into verbs
• Use active rather than passive verbs
• Put action into your verbs rather than noun and infinitive
• Use active voice
• When to use passive voice:
• Where the message is a harsh one in
• When you want to stress the object of the action
• When the doer isn’t important in the sentence
• Put action into verbs not in nouns
• Choose vivid image building words
• Sensory appeals: concrete language evokes sensory response in people
• Mostly used in marketing products
• Comparisons: analogies (comparison bw words) can make an idea
clear
• Figurative language: use figures of speech with caution
• Figurative language : a way of expressing oneself that does
not use a word's strict or realistic meaning usually used to
add creative flourish to written or spoken language or explain a
complicated idea.
• EXM: She talks too much OR She is a chatter box.
Clarity
• Getting the meaning from your head to the head of your reader
accurately
• Choose precise, concrete and familiar words:
• Use familiar words
• Use synonyms instead of Latin terms
• Use short words instead of long ones
• Not use such terms before the person who is not familiar with
• Construct effective sentences and paragraphs: length, unity,
coherence and emphasis
• Length: write short sentences with 17 to 18 words in it
• Variety makes the writing more interesting g
• Unity: Have one main idea and all the other ideas and relate all the
sentences to the idea
• Coherence: words are correctly arranged so that the sentence express
the intended meaning
• Emphasis: the main idea should be placed in the main clause
Courtesy
• Being aware if the perspective and feelings of others
• Be tactful, thoughtful and appreciative
• Exp: Thank you for your time
• Omit Irritating Expressions: why you have ignored
• Omit Questionable Humor: Informal birthday messages to the person
you are not close to
• Choose nondiscriminatory expressions: man for both man and woman
• Exp: Man power: workers, employees, work force
Correctness
• Use right level of language
• Use correct grammar
• Formal writing: scholarly writing
• Informal writing: conversational language is used.
• Substandard language: incorrect words, grammar, faulty
pronunciation etc; stoled, irregardless
Task 2 : Make changes to the below Rejection Letter according to
the 7 Cs of Business Communication

Dear ABC,

I am sorry to say that you have been rejected because your encounter
with us was not good . You are not what we are looking for. We hope
you find yourself a good job in future. Your qualification doesn’t match
our job duties and responsibilities.
Regards
XYZ
Assignment 1
Following all the 7 Cs rules, write an apology email to your customer about the
damaged product that your customer received and complained about.