Principles and Essentials of a Good Business Communication - The Seven Cs

The Seven Cs of Communication:

Ø Completeness 

Ø    Conciseness                
Ø    Consideration   
Ø Concreteness                      
Ø    Correctness
Ø    Clarity
Ø Courtesy

1. Completeness:

  The messages should be complete to bring desirable results. It should include everything the reader needs for the reaction you desire. You must know what information our reader wants or needs you should be able to know the reader’s background viewpoint needs attitudes and emotions.

  In order to attain completeness we should keep three points in mind:

üProvide all necessary information

üAnswer questions asked

üGive something extra, when desirable

  2.  Conciseness:

  Conciseness means" saying what you have to say in the fewest possible words without sacrificing the other qualities.

  Business executives are dead-busy. They don’t have time to go through unnecessarily lengthy messages. The writer is also a loser if he writes wordy messages because it involves more time and money to type and read. To achieve conciseness, we should bear four points in mind

4 points to achieve conciseness:

•  Eliminate wordy expressions 

•  Include only relevant material

• Avoid redundant phrases

• Use one word substitution to bring conciseness

3.   Consideration:

  Literally consideration means" to pay attention to"; or "to give some importance" or "to give some one respect" or "in return for"

  In business communication it means "preparing every message from the reader's point of view".

   we must use ‘You’ much more than the use of ‘I’ or “we.” The word 'you' is magnetic and highly effective in both the oral and written communication.

4.    Concreteness/Cohesiveness:

  It means expressing observations and ideas in specifics rather than using general terms. The business writing should be specific definite, unambiguous and vivid rather than vague and general. Concrete messages are not only well knitted abut also are very interesting.

5.     Clarity:

  "The act of describing or stating something clearly and unambiguously."

 For the purpose of clarity, we can follow these steps:

•Have a clear idea about what you want to say

•Proper punctuation makes the writing clear

•Choose precise, concrete and familiar and short words

•Construct effective sentences and paragraphs

•Prefer short sentence to long ones

•Avoid all ambiguity and vagueness

•Read twice and revise if necessary

  Important characteristics to consider are four: coherence and emphasis, length, unity

6.   Courtesy:

  "Courtesy means the behavior showing respect and politeness to others.” Courtesy    means not only thinking about receiver but also valuing his feelings.

  In business communication, courtesy means concern for others, acting according to their perspective and feelings. Saying "please" and "thank you" are the examples of courtesy.

7.     Correctness:

  "It means accuracy of contents, form of language and expression."

  Correctness usually refers to correct grammar, punctuation and spelling. Sometimes a message may be perfect grammatically and mechanically but still insult or lose a customer. Though mistakes are never intentional yet spoil the image of writer. In order to bring correctness, the following guidelines must be borne in mind.

•Maintain acceptable writing mechanics Use the correct level of language

•Include only facts words and figures

•Maintain acceptable writing mechanics

•There should be proper grammar punctuation spelling and paragraphing

•Use the right level of language.