Session 4 (July 14/18) Persuasive and Negative Messages

Negative Messages

Information conveyed is negative
Audience’s reaction is negative
Message does not benefit them
Usually they experience disappointment or anger
Types of Bad-News Messages
Channel Choice for Bad News: Showing Tact

Purposes
Primary
To give audience negative news
To have audience read, understand, and accept message
To maintain as much goodwill as possible

Secondary
To build good image of communicator
To build good image of communicator’s organization
To avoid future messages on same subject

Want audience to feel
They have been taken serious
Your decision is fair and reasonable
If they were in your situation, they would make the same decision

Organizing Negative Messages: Clients and Customers
You need to be clear, but you also need to maintain goodwill.
Compromises or alternatives can help you achieve both goals.

When you have a reason that the audience will understand and accept, give the reason before the refusal
Give the negative information, just once
Present an alternative or compromise
End with positive forward-looking statement

Using the Inductive Approach to Build Goodwill
Why give the reason first??
Reasons are easier to understand if given before bad news
Reasons might be ignored when bad news is given first
Disappointment in bad news might interfere with ability to understand reasons

Organizing Negative Messages: Superiors
Describe problem clearly
Tell how it happened
Describe the options for fixing it
Recommend a solution and ask for action
Organizing Negative Messages: Peers and Subordinates
Describe problem objectively, clearly
Present an alternative or compromise
Ask for input or action, if you can
May suggest helpful solutions
Audience may accept outcomes better

Context is Crucial in Messages
Do you and audience have good bond?
Does organization treat people well?
Has audience been warned about possible negatives?
Has audience accepted criteria for decision?
Do follow-ups build goodwill?

Parts of Negative Messages
Subject lines
Buffers
Reasons
Refusals
Alternatives
Endings

Parts: Subject Lines
Put the topic, not the specific negative
Use negative subject lines when the audience—
May ignore message
Needs information to act
Keep in mind not everyone reads all their messages
Be cautious of neutral subject lines

Parts: Buffers
Buffer—neutral or positive statement that delays the negative
Guidelines for Composing Reasons
Clear, convincing reasons precede refusal
Prepare audience for refusal
Help audience accept refusal
Provide a smooth transition from opening paragraph
Include concise discussion that is logical to reader
Show reader benefits and consideration
Avoid using company policy as reason
Wording the Bad-News Statement
Position bad news strategically
Put refusal in ¶ with reason to deemphasize
Make it crystal clear
Use passive voice, general terms, and abstract nouns
Use positive language to accentuate anything good
Imply refusal, but only if the receiver can still understand the message
Perfecting Refusal Statement

Parts: Alternatives and Endings
Offers way to get what audience wants
Shows you care about audience’s needs
Returns audience’s psychological freedom
Allows you to end on positive note
Best endings look to future
Avoid insincere endings:
Please let us know if we can be of further help.

Techniques for Closing Positively
De-emphasize the negative
Unify the message
Include a positive, forward-looking idea
Reference pleasant idea from discussion
Use resale or sales promotion
Express willingness to help in another way

Tone in Negative Messages
Tone—implied attitude of the author toward the audience and subject
Show you took request seriously
Use positive emphasis and you-attitude
Think about visual appearance
Consider timing of message

Sharing Negative Organizational News
Convey the bad news as soon as possible
Give a complete, rational explanation
Show empathy and respond to feelings
Follow up

Delivering Persuasive Messages
Chapter 8

Purposes
Primary
To have audience act or change beliefs
Secondary
To build good image of the communicator
To build good image of communicator’s organization
To cement a good relationship
To overcome any objections
To reduce or eliminate future messages

Before Composing a Persuasive Message, Know . . .
Choosing a Persuasive Strategy
What do you want people to do?
What objections will audience have?
How strong a case can you make?
What kind of persuasion is best for organization and culture?

Building Credibility
Be factual—don’t exaggerate
Be specific—if you say X is better, show in detail how it is better
Be reliable—if project will take longer or cost more than estimated, tell audience immediately

Why Threats Don’t Persuade
Don’t produce permanent change
May not produce desired action
May make people abandon action
Produce tension
People dislike/avoid one who threatens
Can provoke counter-aggression

Types of Persuasive Messages
Three Persuasive Patterns of Organization
Direct Request
Problem-solving
Sales

Organizing Direct Requests
Ask immediately for the information or service you want
Give audience all the information they need to act on your request
Ask for the action you want

Organizing Problem-Solving Messages
Catch audience’s interest
Define shared problem
Explain solution to problem
Show that advantages outweigh negatives
Summarize additional benefits
Ask for action you want

Tone in Persuasive Messages
Be courteous
Give solid reasons for requests
Make requests clear
Give enough information for audience to act

Sales and Fund-Raising Purposes
Primary
To motivate audience to act (send donation, order a product)
Secondary
To build good image of communicator’s organization
To strengthen commitment of audiences who act
To make audiences who do not act more likely to act next time

Introducing the Product, Service, or Idea
Be cohesive
Make attention-getter lead naturally to introduction
Be action-oriented
Place the product in receivers’ hands and allow them to use it
Stress a central selling point
Link attention-getter to discussion of distinctive feature

Organizing Sales/Fund-Raising Messages: Opener
Makes audience want to read entire message

Types
Questions
Narration, stories, anecdotes
Startling statements
Quotations

Sets up transition to letter body

Perfecting the Opening Statement
Organizing Sales/Fund-Raising Messages: Body
Answers audience’s questions
Overcomes audience’s objections
Involves audience emotionally
Content usually includes
Information any audience can use
Stories about history of product/organization
Stories about people who use product
Audience benefits

Organizing Sales/Fund-Raising Messages: Action Close
Tells readers what to do
Makes action sound easy
Offers readers reason to act now
Ends with positive picture

Using a Postscript
Writing Style
Make text interesting
Use psychological description: vivid word pictures
Make message sound like a letter, not an ad
Presenting and Interpreting Factual Evidence
Do not just say it, show it
Present data to back up the central selling point
Compare a new product with something familiar
Be objective, avoiding exaggerations and subjective claims

Ways to Convince Customers
Motivating Action
Make the action clear and simple to complete
Restate the reward for action; relate to central selling point
Provide incentive for quick action
Ask confidently for action
Perfecting the Call to Action

Blog topic: Describe (in general) that you believe to be the single most important communication success factor (business or otherwise).