1. Tone in Business Communications

2. Tone Reflects your attitude toward the subject and reader It is the feeling or impression your document leaves It is a product of your style

3. Style Reflects your mood as a writer and the choices you make Shown through words, sentence structure, use of pronouns Choices you make create the tone

4. Tone you desire Courteous Forthright Friendly Helpful Informal Informative Personal Polite Sincere Warm

5. Focus on the Positive Positive wording Produces the response you desire Persuades the reader Creates goodwill Negative wording Creates resistance

6. Avoid Negative Words Do not Refuse Stop Unfortunately No Failure Unable to Cannot Mistake Problem Error Damage

7. Soften Negative Information Stress what something IS rather than IS NOT Emphasize what the firm or product CAN and WILL DO rather than what it CANNOT Open with ACTION rather than APOLOGY or EXPLANATION Avoid words which convey UNPLEASANT FACTS

8. Compare the examples below Negative We cannot ship in lots of less than 12. Positive To keep down packaging costs and to help customers save on shipping costs, we ship in lots of 12 or more

9. Reemphasize the positive Embedded position Place good news in positions of high emphasis  At the beginning and ending of paragraphs, letters, or sentences Place bad news in secondary positions  In the center of paragraphs, letters, sentences

10. Reemphasize the positive Effective use of space Give more space to good news Give less space to bad news

11. Choose Appropriate Paper, Typeface and Format Choose quality paper Don’t use a rigid or informal typeface Design your document with a clean, open look Generous margins Short paragraphs Headings Lists Lots of white space

12. Use pronouns to establish a personal human tone Of all the pronouns possible, YOU is the most important Be aware of your readers and address them directly

13. Use conversational language Pretend you are actually talking to your reader Read your document out loud Are you comfortable saying these words? Would you talk this way in person?