Business Communications Final Exam Study Guide New Chapters Portion CHAPTER 9 PERSUASIVE MESSAGE Credibility is very important with this era of mistrust and skepticism Persuasion is implying you are communicating with someone that doesn t think or feel the same way you do about something Applying AIM planning process to persuasive messages Understand your Audience Understand methods of Influence o Reciprocation returning favors o Consistency once people make an explicit commitment they tend to follow through or honor that commitment staying consistent with statements made o Social Proof People determine what is right correct or desirable by seeing what others do o Liking People are more likely to be persuaded by people who they like o Authority People follow authority figures o Scarcity If people think there s limited availability of something they want or need they act faster to get it Persuade through Emotions and Reason Set up Structure and Components Gain attention rhetorical question interesting face statistic Raise a need make the reader need to read this explain something Deliver a solution explain how you can fill the missing something Provide a rationale think about your audience and how straight forward you should be or rationale you should be Show appreciation validate your readers by showing you appreciate Give counterpoints optional risky causes me vs you to object to testimonial they re missing their views their ideas Call to action conclusion asking reader to take a specific step toward accepting idea not pressuring though but explicit step stated Direct Begin with main idea or argument and provide supporting reasons Explicit Nothing is implied statement contains full and unambiguous meaning Both of these help reader understand message and show respect for their time these are most business writing message formats Indirect Provide rationale for request before stating specific request Implicit Sometimes the reader needs to read between the lines as the request or rationale is only implied This is how persuasive messages are written Guidelines for tone of message Apply the personal touch Use action oriented lively language Write with confidence Offer choice Show positivity Persuasive message voices benefits You voice use in external persuasive messages to emphasize reader We voice use in internal persuasive messages to emphasize shared work goals I voice use in all persuasive messages sparingly Impersonal voice use in persuasive messages to emphasize objectivity and neutrality Statements to avoid Trust me Unbelievable Your call is important to us Too good to be true We give you guaranteed results Excuses Our hands are tied Explanations I can explain Fear tactics Act now or you ll miss this opportunity Internal Persuasive Message more focused on promoting ideas more direct and explicit based on logical appeals External Persuasive Message more focused on promoting products and services more indirect and implicit based on emotional appeals Mass Sales Messages sent to large group of consumers and intended to market a particular product or service often forms of email online ads or sales letters raise company s brand awareness even if products aren t bought instantly Construction of message Gain attention Generate interest Build desire Call to action Contain a central sales theme most common is sales price Reviewing Persuasive Messages Get feedback and reread imagine you re the reader Apply the FAIR test Facts Access Impacts Respect be careful of manipulation CHAPTER 14 PLANNING PRESENTATIONS Audience analyze them in terms of message benefits learning styles and communicator styles Identify your Audiences Benefits Existing knowledge Concerns Decision makers Appeals Communicator Style Learning style Think about who are the key decision makers in the group you re presenting to target them Feelers appreciate ability to discuss business relationships benefits to work teams and colleagues and loyalty to customers and clients connect with use of we language attracted to holistic approach to business benefits logic that includes more than the bottom line measure of performance Thinkers appreciate ability to provide all the facts avoid rushing to judgment about conclusions pride themselves on a non emotional approach to decision making turned off by irrelevant appeals to emotions emotionally connected to precise language well designed and conceptualized charts models have ability to handle tough questions Intuitors appreciate ability to present visionary ideas connect to out of the box thinking emphasis on strategic initiatives want to feel a part of something bigger than themselves respond to discussing concepts first and facts last Learning styles Visual 40 percent of population learn from illustrations simple diagrams showing relationship and key ideas enjoy gestures and metaphors text based slides don t work but image rich ones do Auditory roughly 40 percent of population loud clear voices believe emotion is best conveyed through voice Kinesthetic about 20 percent of population need to participate to focus attention on your message and best learn need group activities hands on activities or breaks at least every 20 mins Components of Presentation Preview 10 15 percent of time Attention getter Positioning statement Overview takeaway messages View 85 90 percent of time 3 different takeaway messages Review 5 percent of time Recap Call to action Develop a positioning statement frames your message in appealing terms to your audience members and demonstrates clear and valuable benefits to them concise as possible one or two sentences PREP method Position Reasons Examples Position Developing effective slide presentations good visuals can increase communication effectiveness and persuasiveness by 50 75 of what people learn come from visual Slide designs for ease of presenter and reader Limit amount of info less than 10 words per line and 5 6 lines reader should be able to grasp info in 10 15 seconds Use at least 24 font size for titles 18 for body text Focus on and highlight key info bold italics etc Use plenty of white space for borders and between items and text on slide it provides an uncluttered appearance Use high contrast backgrounds and colors for dark text use light Use compelling images in moderation not too many and make sure quality backgrounds is good Develop simple charts and diagrams Get professional design help when possible Applying Storyline approach to
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