Basic Business Communications
Nick Mercuro, Austin Moore, John Skinner
What are the Basic Elements of
Professional Writing?
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Know the Purpose and Scope of Your Document
Respond in a Professional and Timely Manner
Identify/Write to Your Audience
Understand the Needs of Your Reader
Organize and Structure Your Document
Identify the Benefits to the Reader
Be Concise
Substantiate your Claims/Clarify Inquiries
Proofread
Be Professional /Use Proper Grammar and Spelling
Know the Purpose and Scope of Your
Document
 Before you begin writing, know the purpose for
which you are writing and what you want your
document to accomplish.
 Keep your primary objective in mind (you could even
type it at the top of your document and refer to it
throughout the writing process and then delete it.
 Never ramble or get off point.
Respond in a Professional and Timely
Manner
 You are a professional and
it is expected that you are
up-to-date on all tasks and
respond to an issue as
soon as possible.
 It would make no sense
waiting to address and
issue or make a statement
fifty days after the
incident.
Identify/Write to Your Audience
 It is important to know who you are writing to so you can
establish the correct writing tone.
 If you are writing with the intent of selling a product or service
to someone or promoting a cause, you may want to ask
yourself...
-What age are my intended readers?
-What’s their background?
-Where do they live?
-What stage of life are they in?
-What are their INTERESTS?
-What is important to them?
Understand the Need of Your Reader
 Understand what the reader needs or wants from you
so you can anticipate and answer questions through
your email.
 Address potential arguments!
Organize and Structure Your
Document
 Follow the correct writing format and certain styles of
writing whether it be a memo, letter, e-mail, resume,
report, advertisement, project summary, or other
form communication.
Identify the Benefits to the Reader
 Make sure when writing that you explain to the
reader how they are benefiting from your
information.
 It wouldn’t make sense if you wrote a letter and it
served no purpose to the reader.
Be Concise
 Make sure that your writing is tight and on point.
 Do not get off topic or ramble.
 State your thesis and prove your point in as few
words as possible to sure you get your point across.
Substantiate your Claims/Clarify
Inquiries
 Make sure what your are saying s accurate and that there
are no discrepancies.
 You lose all credibility if your facts are false.
 Make sure that your facts and information so that there are
no confusions.
Proofread
 Check your work and make sure
there are no spelling or
grammatical errors.
 You lose credibility if you are
incorrect.
 Have some else proofread your
work if you are worried you
didn’t catch all your mistakes.
What are the main types of business
Communications?
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Letter
Memorandum
E-Mail
Report
Letter
 A business letter is usually a letter from one company
to another, or between such organizations and their
customers, clients, and other external parties.
 Letters are used for external communication
Format of letter
Report
 Business reports are a type of assignment in which you analyze a
situation (either a real situation or a case study) and apply business
theories to produce a range of suggestions for improvement.
 Business reports are typically assigned to enable you to:
 Examine available and potential solutions to a problem, situation, or
issue.
 Apply business and management theory to a practical situation.
 Demonstrate your analytical, reasoning, and evaluation skills in
identifying and weighing-up possible solutions and outcomes.
 Reach conclusions about a problem or issue.
 Provide recommendations for future action.
 Show concise and clear communication skills.
Memorandum
 Also called memo
 It is a note or document that helps with memory by
recording events or observations
 Used for internal communication
General Format
 Heading: containing the info from where the memo is
coming from and who it is going to.
 Subject: brief description on what the memo is about.
 Body: contains the valuable information on what you
need to remember
Various types
 Memo of understanding: describes a bilateral or
multilateral agreement between two or more parties
 Memo of agreement: a document between parties to
cooperate on an agreed on an agreed upon project.
 Memo of association: governs the relationship
between the company and the outside