COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION WRITING BUSINESS DOCUMENTS

COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION §WRITING BUSINESS DOCUMENTS §MEMORANDUM

Writing Business Documents �Letters and memos are the 2 most common forms of business communication between organizations and individuals. �Examples of using this form of communication include; PLACEMENT OF ORDERS, COMPLAINT ABOUT A PRODUCT, ENQUIRIES ABOUT A PRODUCT, CALLING FOR A MEETING etc. �Therefore, business documents are essential in the business world. �A well written letter can help you to win new business and develop your relationship with clients. �Simplicity, brevity, accuracy and conciseness are some of the characteristics of a good document.

LAYOUT OF BUSINESS LETTER �The letterhead Normally the letterhead identifies the name of the company, address, telephone, fax number and email address. Some companies also include a reference and telephone extension. • The letter reference Each letter usually has two reference entries to facilitate filing and to ensure quick and easy future reference. e. g. Your ref. : Our ref. :

�The date It comes after the inside address or letterhead. It is on one line and should contain the day of the months in digits, the name of the month spelled in full and the year written as four digits. e. g. British style: 5 October 2012 American style: October 5, 2012 • The inside address ( receiver’s address ) This indicates the name of the receiver or his/her job title or his/her designation and address. Whenever possible, address the letter to a specific reader. e. g. The Personnel Manager Sarawak Shell Berhad 98000 Miri

�The attention line It is used when the letter is addressed directly to a company, and we wish to direct the letter to a specific person or position to facilitate processing or answering. Type the person’s name or job title below the inside address. e. g. Attention: The Sales Manager • Salutations/Greetings Salutations should agree with the receiver’s name. e. g. Address Mr. Jorge Cruise Chief E xecutive Officer Cruise Fitness Group 24000 Kuala Lumpur Salutation Dear Mr. Cruise

Tips: Use “Ms” when you do not know the marital status of a Female recipient. Use “Dear Sir”, “Dear Madam”, when you do not know the addressee’s name. Use “Dear Sir/Madam” when you do not know the gender of the addressee. Use “Dear Sirs” when addressing a company. • The Subject Line The subject line appears after the salutation and its aim is to inform the receiver the purpose of the letter. It is normally underlined unless if it is written in upper case letters. e. g. Request for product Brochure

�The body In business letter, the content should be brief yet it covers all the essential points. You should get to the point, arrange the subject matter in a logical sequence, use short sentences and start a new paragraph for each sub-division of the subject. • Courtesy close This section normally contains phrases or sentences which act as a prelude to complimentary close. e. g. It is an honour to receive a personal reply from you concerning this matter.

�Complimentary close This section closes the letter and it should match the salutations. The rule is to use “Yours faithfully” when your salutation is “Dear Sir” or “Dear Madam”. Use “Yours sincerely” when your salutation is “Dear Mr. Abdullah” or “Dear Ms. Rafidah”. • Signature, identification and designation The writer’s name is typed below the signature, followed by the writer’s position in the company. • The enclosure notation is used to indicate to the receiver that additional papers are enclosed with the letter. It can be written in a number of ways: e. g. Enclosure Enc. 2 (if more than 1 item is enclosed, the number of items should be indicated)

• Carbon copy notation The carbon copy notation or “c. c” is used to indicate to the reader that copy or copies of the letter have been sent to other recipients. e. g. c. c The Head of Department

Our ref: SS/dd/12 (3) Diving Shop Sdn. Berhad 110 Jalan Besar 08909 Kuala Terengganu 23 May 2020 MODERN ELECTRICALS PTE LTD 333 Silver Road Geylang Baru Singapore Dear Sirs DEEP SEA DIVING WATCHES ( Subject heading ) We are interested in the Sea Sega deep-sea diving watch, which you had on display at the Watch 2020 Expo last week. ( Introductory statement) We would be grateful if you could give us a quotation for 150 units of the model. Please also let us know your terms of Payment and how quickly you can dispatch the goods. ( Body ) As we are of the largest importers of diving products in the country, we are trying to increase our range of products. As Such, we are looking for products of quality and fashionable. ( Summarizes the outcomes) We look forward to hearing from you soon. ( Closing courtesies ) Yours faithfully …………… Tan Aik Huang Product Officer ( Complimentary close ) Enc. Cc Mr. A. Ganesan

TYPES OF LETTERS �Letter of Enquiry - is prepared to request for samples, catalogues of some information from an organization. It is one of the most common letters written by both individuals and companies to find out about process, availability of goods, delivery dates, terms of payments, etc. The order for setting out information for a letter of enquiry is shown below ; a. Identify the enquiry in the subject line b. Open with the enquire and a short background of the problem/situation (if necessary) c. Indicate how the receiver is to respond d. Close in a courteous and friendly manner

SAMPLE LETTER Newark Pte Ltd 342 jalan Haji Noor Jakarta Indonesia 22 August 2020 Mr. Yeoh Kaw Seng Sales Manager Rattan Furniture Pte. Ltd. 66 Jalan Sengat Singapore Dear Mr. Yeoh ENQUIRY ON COMPUTER CHAIRS We have just bought two personal computers and in need of suitable chair as our secretaries are Complaining that their current chairs are not suitable since they have to keep turning from the keyboard to the printer. We understand that there is a suitable chair made by your company called PC chair. Could you please let us have a brochure and any other brochures with details of chairs that you can recommend. Please give us a quotation for two chairs of each model that you recommend. We look forward to receiving a reply from you. Yours sincerely --------Rudi Hartono Manager

• Letter of Complaint -Mistakes may occur in day-to-day business and these give cause for complaint. There might have been a misunderstanding about the goods supplied, late delivery, damaged products, missing orders etc.

SAMPLE LETTER Ng Ca Ca 123 Taman Hijau 58299 Johor Bahru Johor 2 September 2020 The Manager Orange Bank Berhad 999 Jalan Kupang 68000 Johor Bahru Johor Dear Sir/Madam ACCOUNT NO. 234567 -090 I refer to the above savings account, which I have had with your branch since 2000. As you will notice from your records, I opened direct debiting facilities on the 21 of August last year to Pay my mortgage installments of RM 940. 00 per month. This amount was to have been transferred to the Building Society on the 2 nd of each month. However, on two occasions – in March and June of this year-the Building Society informed me that payment had not been made until the 10 th and 12 th of the month, respectively. Furthermore, the Building Society has been touch to say that this month’s installment has yet to be transferred. There always adequate in my account to cover these payments and I do not understand why there should be any hold-up. I should be grateful to have your assurance that payment will henceforth be effected as originally agreed. Yours faithfully --------Ng Ca Ca

�Letter of Adjustment - It is particularly necessary to exercise tact in handling complaints. A disappointed customer cannot be put off with just an apology – he wants explicit explaination, such as when he will receive the replacement, how mistake happened and when it will be remedied, what the customer is to do with the goods or if it can be repaired quickly. - The writing of adjustment letters requires a special technique because such letters should be written without anger.

SAMPLE LETTER Assistant Manager Orange Bank berhad 999 Jalan Kupang 68000 Johor Bahru Johor 22 September 2020 Ng Ca Ca 123 Taman Hijau 58299 Johor Bahru Johor Dear Ms. Ng ACCOUNT NO. 234567 -090 Thank you for your letter dated 2 nd September 2020 in which you pointed out to us some problems, which you have encountered with transfer of funds from the above account to Building Society. During the first week of March, when you had the first problems with the transfer of funds to your Building Society account, we were renewing our computers and, as a result, many transactions were held up. I am enclosing a copy of a letter which we sent to all our customers explaining the situation. The other instances of late payment have occurred as a result of changes in the office staff. We apologize and give our assurance that we shall do all we can to prevent a recurrence. Should you require band further clarification, please do not hesitate to contact us. Yours sincerely --------M. Y George Assistant Manager

MEMO & E-MAIL �Memo �Internal business communication �Less formal and shorter than letters �E-mail �Gradually replacing memos for internal communication �May be used selectively for external communication

�Memos and E-mail may be used to communicate : - upward to superiors - downward to subordinates - laterally to peers - diagonally to other members of a network

Advantages of Memos and E-Mail �The same message can be addressed to several individuals Examples to address memos properly : Specific Individuals Groups To : Ali Abu To: Public Affairs Manager Nancy Foo Kumari �Less formal than letters and require less time to compose �Written messages make a more lasting impression than oral messages.

�Format The standard format used by most organization basically has : ü The heading ü The body • The heading Consists of : ü The name of organization ü The heading MEMORANDUM or MEMO ü TO: the receiver ü FROM: the sender ü Date: ü Subject line:

�The body of the memo is where the message is written. It is structured which means that it is often written in short numbered paragraphs. The objective is to present the reader with an objective and a factual description of the topic. The tone of the message is toward informality. (A memo has no complimentary closure i. e. “Yours sincerely” or “Yours faithfully”)

TYPES OF MEMO • • • ü ü • • Acknowledgement -is used to acknowledge someone’s action or to let them know you received material they sent. Announcements -is to inform employees about decisions made, action taken, job changes, new hires, resignations, births, weddings etc. Apology Focus on the action taken, not damage done by your error. Tell the recipient what you have done to rectify the situation. Explain briefly how the mistake happened and apologize. Assure the reader that you value his or her goodwill. Tell the reader how you will guard against future mistake. Confirmation -is among the most important types of memo that you will write. It provides a written often detailed record of arrangements or agreements made verbally. Confirmation can refer to a past, present or future event. Farewell -are in order for a resignation, retirement, transfer, promotion or any other situation in which an employee is leaving your department or the company. Hiring -is how you introduce a newly hired employee to the company can have a considerable impact on the way the individual is perceived by others. Most new hire memos, however, will be straight forward presentations of the individual’s qualification and responsibilities. Order and Instructions -when you write an order or a set of instructions, the content of the message is the same; something needs to be done and the reader is the one to do it.

SAMPLE OF MEMO TYSON INDUSTRIES SDN BHD MEMO To: From: Date: Subject: All Staff Shah Rizal Mohd Yusof, Administrative Officer 17 June 2020 The use of new copying machine heading The office has just purchased a new photocopying machine. All staff are welcome to use it. Please keep the following procedures when using the machine: § Use the machine for office documents only. § Use the machine for no longer than 30 minutes at a time. § Allow the machine to cool for at least a few minutes. body

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CASE STUDY 5 : The office management has decided to re-carpet the office next weekend. As the Office Manager, you have been instructed by Managing Director to remind all staff about the plan. Write a memo to all employees reminding them about the re-carpeting in entire office. Among the items to be included in the memo are : ( a ) make sure all boxes, wastebaskets, chairs and other lightweight items are moved out into the hallway; ( b ) clear off desk tops and tell staff where to put them. In addition to the above items, include two other items for the staff to do before they leave the office next Friday.