Chapter 10
Persuasive and Sales
Messages
Guffey, Rhodes, Rogin
Business Communication: Process and Product
2nd Brief Canadian Edition
Copyright © 2007 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited
Applying the 3-x-3 Writing
Process
• Analyzing purpose
What do you want the receiver to do or think?
• Anticipating reaction
Does the receiver need to be persuaded?
• Adapting to the audience
How can you adapt your message to appeal to this
receiver?
Business Communication: Process and Product, 2nd Brief Canadian Edition
Ch. 10, Slide 2
Applying the 3-x-3 Writing
Process
• Researching data
What information do you need?
Where can you locate it?
• Organizing data
What strategy is best – direct or indirect?
Business Communication: Process and Product, 2nd Brief Canadian Edition
Ch. 10, Slide 3
Components of a Persuasive
Message
• Gain attention
• Build interest
• Reduce resistance
• Motivate action
Business Communication: Process and Product, 2nd Brief Canadian Edition
Ch. 10, Slide 4
Making Persuasive
Requests
Business Communication: Process and Product, 2nd Brief Canadian Edition
Ch. 10, Slide 5
Gaining Attention
• In requesting favours, begin with a
compliment, unexpected fact,
stimulating question, reader benefit,
summary of the problem, or candid
plea for help.
• For claims, consider opening with a
review of action you have taken to
resolve the problem.
Business Communication: Process and Product, 2nd Brief Canadian Edition
Ch. 10, Slide 6
Building Interest
• Prove the accuracy and merit of your
request with facts, figures, expert
opinion, examples, and details.
• Avoid sounding high-pressured,
angry, or emotional.
• Suggest direct and indirect benefits
for the receiver (sometimes this
could work in the reduce resistance
section –RM).
Business Communication: Process and Product, 2nd Brief Canadian Edition
Ch. 10, Slide 7
Building Interest
• Direct Benefit: If you accept our
invitation to speak, you will have an
audience of 50 potential customers
for your products.
• Indirect Benefit: Your appearance
would prove your professionalism
and make us grateful for your
willingness to give something back
to our field.
Business Communication: Process and Product, 2nd Brief Canadian Edition
Ch. 10, Slide 8
Reducing Resistance
• Identify possible obstacles; offer
counter arguments.
• Demonstrate your credibility by
being knowledgeable.
• In requesting favours or making
recommendations, show how the
receiver or others will benefit.
(What you put here will depend on the
type of objection you are addressingCh. 10, Slide 9
RM)
Business Communication: Process and Product, 2nd Brief Canadian Edition
Reducing Resistance
• Example: Although your gift to the
Neonatal Centre is not tax
deductible, it would help us purchase
an Intensive Care Ventilator that
would be put to use immediately in
caring for critically ill and premature
newborn infants.
Business Communication: Process and Product, 2nd Brief Canadian Edition
Ch. 10, Slide 10
Motivating Action
• Ask for specific action confidently.
• Include an end date, if appropriate.
• Repeat a key benefit (this is
important to keep up the momentum
of the “pitch”)
• Include an end date.
• Example: Our audience is eager to learn more from your
experience. Please respond by April 30, so we can
advertise the event in our newsletter
Business Communication: Process and Product, 2nd Brief Canadian Edition
Ch. 10, Slide 11
Ineffective Persuasive
Invitation
Activity 10.1
“Before” Version
Business Communication: Process and Product, 2nd Brief Canadian Edition
Ch. 10, Slide 12
Persuasive Invitation: “Before” Version
Dear Dr. Thomas:
Because you’re a local Guelph author, we thought it might
not be too much trouble for you to speak at our U of G
banquet May 5.
Some of us business students here at Guelph University
admired your book Beyond Race and Gender, which
appeared last spring and became such a hit across the
nation. One of our professors said you were now the
nation’s diversity management guru. What exactly did you
mean when you said that Canada is no longer a blend of
two cultures – that it’s now a “smorgasbord of multicultural
expectations”?
Business Communication: Process and Product, 2nd Brief Canadian Edition
Ch. 10, Slide 13
Persuasive Invitation: “Before” Version
Because we have no funds for honoraria, we have to rely on
local speakers. The Reverend James R. Jones and Vice
Mayor Rebecca A. Timmons were speakers in the past. Our
banquets usually begin at 6:30 with a social hour, followed
by dinner at 7:30 and the speaker from 8:30 until 9 or 9:15.
We can arrange transportation for you and your wife, if you
need it.
We realize that you must be very busy, but we hope you’ll
agree. Please let our advisor, Professor Alexa North, have
the favour of an early response.
Sincerely yours,
Business Communication: Process and Product, 2nd Brief Canadian Edition
Ch. 10, Slide 14
Critical Thinking Questions
1. What is the purpose of the previous letter?
2. How do you think the reader would react to the
message?
3. What could be used to attract the attention of
the reader in the opening? Write an appropriate
opening.
4. What information could be used to build
interest in the body?
5. What are some of the arguments the receiver
might offer to resist the invitation? Could any
counter arguments be offered?
Business Communication: Process and Product, 2nd Brief Canadian Edition
Ch. 10, Slide 15
Critical Thinking Questions
6. What could you use to motivate the reader to
accept?
7. Should an end date be used in the closing?
What information could be added to the closing
to make it easier for the receiver to respond?
Write an appropriate closing.
Business Communication: Process and Product, 2nd Brief Canadian Edition
Ch. 10, Slide 16
Improved Persuasive
Invitation
Activity 10.1
“After” Version
Business Communication: Process and Product, 2nd Brief Canadian Edition
Ch. 10, Slide 17
Persuasive Invitation: “After” Version
Offers a compliment to
Dear Dr. Thomas:
reader
Your book Beyond Race and Gender stimulated provocative discussion
across the nation and on our campus when it appeared last spring.
Builds
interest
Continues
to build
interest
Business students at University of Guelph now consider you the
nation’s diversity management guru. As students at an expanding
campus near a metropolitan area, we’re keenly aware of diversity
issues. In your words, “Canada is no longer a blend of two cultures –it’s
now a smorgasbord of multicultural expectations”.
We certainly admire your work and would like to hear more about the
future workforce and how managers can maximize the contribution of
all employees. That’s why the Guelph Association of Business
Students would like you to be our keynote speaker at the U of G
banquet May 5.
Now that we’ve complimented him and
built interest we can ask the reader to
speak
Business Communication: Process and Product, 2nd Brief Canadian Edition
Ch. 10, Slide 18
Persuasive Invitation: “After” Version
Although we can’t offer you an honorarium, we can
promise you a fine dinner at the U of G Faculty Club and an
eager and appreciative audience of over 100 business
students and faculty. Speakers in the past have included the
Reverend James R. Jones and Vice Mayor Rebecca A.
Timmons. We can also offer you a table to display your
books
Here we are meeting possible objections
by describing direct benefits (honorarium,
book table), and indirect benefits
(appreciative students, and that he’s in
good company—other local celebrities hae
spoken here too.
The evening includes a social hour at 6:30, dinner at 7:30,
and your remarks from 8:30 until 9 or 9:15. So that you
Business Communication: Process and Product, 2nd Brief Canadian Edition
Ch. 10, Slide 19
Persuasive Invitation: “After” Version
won’t have to worry about transportation or parking, we will arrange a
limousine for you and your guest. Offers more direct benefits, and makes
arrangements. It is already assuming that
the reader will agree
Please make this our most memorable banquet yet. Just call our
adviser, Professor Alexa North, at 356-9910 before April 1 to accept
Writer ends with a “bang” not a
this invitation.
“whimper” ( the writer is still continuing
to motivate as he/she “calls the reader to
action” )
Sincerely yours,
Business Communication: Process and Product, 2nd Brief Canadian Edition
Ch. 10, Slide 20
Writing Complaint Letters
Business Communication: Process and Product, 2nd Brief Canadian Edition
Ch. 10, Slide 21
How to Write a Good
Complaint Letter
• Begin with a compliment, point of
agreement, statement of the problem,
or brief review of the action you have
taken to resolve the problem.
• Provide identifying data.
• Prove that your claim is valid;
explain why the receiver is
responsible.
Business Communication: Process and Product, 2nd Brief Canadian Edition
Ch. 10, Slide 22
How to Write a Good
Complaint Letter
• Enclose copies of documents
supporting your claim.
• Appeal to the receiver’s fairness,
ethical and legal responsibilities, and
desire for customer satisfaction.
• Describe your feelings and your
disappointment.
Business Communication: Process and Product, 2nd Brief Canadian Edition
Ch. 10, Slide 23
How to Write a Good
Complaint Letter
• Avoid sounding angry, emotional, or
irrational. Close by telling exactly
what you want done.
Business Communication: Process and Product, 2nd Brief Canadian Edition
Ch. 10, Slide 24
Planning and Composing Sales
Messages
Business Communication: Process and Product, 2nd Brief Canadian Edition
Ch. 10, Slide 25
Gaining Attention
• Offer something valuable, promise a
significant result, or describe a
product feature.
• Present a testimonial, make a
startling statement, or show the
reader in an action setting.
Business Communication: Process and Product, 2nd Brief Canadian Edition
Ch. 10, Slide 26
Gaining Attention
• Example: How much is sex costing
your company? An incident of sexual
harassment can cost millions of
dollars unless preventive measures
are taken.
Business Communication: Process and Product, 2nd Brief Canadian Edition
Ch. 10, Slide 27
Gaining Attention
• Describe a problem.
Six of our computers were recently
infected with the “Hacker” virus, and we
lost at least 25 work hours trying to repair
the problem.
• Present an unexpected statement.
If you checked carefully, you’d probably
find that 20 percent of your customers
account for 80 percent of your profits.
Business Communication: Process and Product, 2nd Brief Canadian Edition
Ch. 10, Slide 28
Building Interest
• Describe the product in terms of
what it does for the reader.
• Show how the product or service
saves or makes money, reduces
effort, improves health, produces
pleasure, or boosts status.
Business Communication: Process and Product, 2nd Brief Canadian Edition
Ch. 10, Slide 29
Building Interest
• Example: Our computer-based
training program teaches your
employees what behaviour is
acceptable and unacceptable, while
showing you steps that can be taken
to reduce the risk of employer
liability.
Business Communication: Process and Product, 2nd Brief Canadian Edition
Ch. 10, Slide 30
Building Interest
• Suggest reader benefits.
Now you can immediately protect all your
computers from the latest viruses with our
online anti-virus program.
• Pay a compliment.
Because no one generates as much
audience enthusiasm as you do in your
presentations, we are asking you to speak
....
Business Communication: Process and Product, 2nd Brief Canadian Edition
Ch. 10, Slide 31
Building Interest
• Supply facts and figures.
Currently 30 000 known computer viruses
are in existence, and the number
increases by 300 to 400 each month.
• Give examples.
One company lost valuable data and had
no recent backup disks to replace infected
files.
Business Communication: Process and Product, 2nd Brief Canadian Edition
Ch. 10, Slide 32
Building Interest
• Cite expert opinion.
“Hostile code can hit without warning,”
says virus specialist Dr. Tony Timm, “so
companies must have a virus antidote or
they risk all their operations.”
• Provide specific details.
In a test comparing six of the leading antivirus programs, our program was flawless
in virus detection, easy to use, and low in
ownership cost.
Business Communication: Process and Product, 2nd Brief Canadian Edition
Ch. 10, Slide 33
Building Interest
• Mention direct benefits.
Our anti-virus program can protect you
from subtle corruptions of data that may
go unnoticed for months.
• Mention indirect benefits.
Your company continues to be a
pacesetter in the health care industry by
setting an example for other organizations
who are bewildered by the growing
number of viruses.
Business Communication: Process and Product, 2nd Brief Canadian Edition
Ch. 10, Slide 34
Reducing Resistance
• Counter reluctance with testimonials,
money-back guarantees, attractive
warranties, trial offers, or free
samples.
• Build credibility with results of
performance tests, polls, or awards.
Business Communication: Process and Product, 2nd Brief Canadian Edition
Ch. 10, Slide 35
Reducing Resistance
• Example: This important investment
in sexual harassment prevention
comes with a money-back guarantee.
If you are not satisfied, your entire
training costs are returned.
Business Communication: Process and Product, 2nd Brief Canadian Edition
Ch. 10, Slide 36
Motivating Action
• Close with repetition of the central
selling point and clear instructions
for an easy action to be taken.
• Prompt the reader to act immediately
with a gift, incentive, limited offer, or
deadline.
• Put the strongest motivator in a
postscript.
Business Communication: Process and Product, 2nd Brief Canadian Edition
Ch. 10, Slide 37
Motivating Action
• Example: Sign up now and you
receive a free 60-day trial. Call, fax,
or e-mail us today to receive a free
demo disk. You can’t lose!
Business Communication: Process and Product, 2nd Brief Canadian Edition
Ch. 10, Slide 38
Persuasive Press Releases
• Open with attention-getting lead
or summary of important facts.
• Include answers to who, what,
when, where, why, how.
• Appeal to audience of target
media.
• Present most important
information early.
• Make the release visually
appealing.
• Look and sound credible.
Business Communication: Process and Product, 2nd Brief Canadian Edition
Ch. 10, Slide 39
End
Business Communication: Process and Product, 2nd Brief Canadian Edition
Ch. 10, Slide 40