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BUSINESS COMMUNICATION 11th edition

byRaymond V. Lesikar

Lecture - 9Writing Persuasive Message

Syed Far Abid Hossain

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What is Persuasion? Each month our mailboxes seem to contain a growing number of

persuasion messages.

- A political candidate wanting our vote,

- a non-for-profit organization requesting donations,

- a business firm trying to market its goods/services,

all these are examples of many types of persuasive messages.

continued ……..

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What is Persuasion? – continued …….

Persuasion is the process of influencing - attitudes,

- beliefs,

- values, or

- behaviors.

Persuasion motivates people to change. Persuasion is a key element in sales contacts that try to convince prospects to purchase company products.

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Persuasive Goals1. Adoption: Messages of adoption -

try to persuade readers to start doing something.

* Adoption is the spirit of most sales letters.

Example: American Express - sends letters to

prospective cardholders urging them to apply

for various cards.

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Persuasive Goals

2. Continuance: Messages of continuance support the continuation of a

behavior. For instance, Business Week magazine - sends letters to current

subscribers trying to convince them to renew

subscriptions.

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Persuasive Goals – continued …….3. Discontinuance: Collection letters frequently use persuasive messages

to encourage credit customers to make payment on bad accounts.

4. Deterrence: Messages of deterrence (prevention)- try to prevent an action from taking place.

**Example: when important clients consider - moving their accounts to a different

company. A deterrence letter might be

written to convince the clients that the move is

a mistake.

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Persuasive Appeals Persuasive messages appeal to the reader’s - * sense of reasoning, * establish the credibility of the

document, and * suggest an emotional response from the reader.

Persuading through reasoning: Persuasive documents – try to convince readers to accept a particular point

of view through the logical presentation of evidence.

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Persuasive Appeals – continued ……. Persuading through credibility:

Three types of credibility influence whether messages succeed or fail:

(I) Initial credibility: what the reader already knows is particularly important in sales letter.

(ii) Derived credibility: credibility created during the message is influenced by –

- the logic of the presentation, - the strength of the evidence and

- the emotional appeal.

(iii) Terminal credibility: credibility created when readers evaluate the writer, company, and product, after reading the message.

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Persuasive Appeals – continued …….

Persuading with emotion: If logical arguments sometimes fail, emotions often have the power

to motivate people to respond and act.

** Words like free, new, and special tend to be power words,

they are frequently used to enhance persuasiveness.

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Sales Letters Types of sales letters:1. Direct-mail Messages: Direct-mail sales letters allow businesses to send personalized letters to

Customers. (specially selected from mailing lists of target-market

customers)

2. Retail-sales announcements: Retailers commonly use sales letters to announce

such events as specialized sales. Example: A department store, may use a sales letter to alert customers to price reductions on

mattresses.

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Sales Letters – continued ….. The fundamental goal of the typical sales letter is

to move the reader through the four steps of – - Attention (A),

- Interest (I), - Desire (D), and

- Action (A).

Use the AIDA concept and then to close the sale.

Lecture - 10Writing Persuasive MessageSyed Far Abid Hossain

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Developing a Sales Letter Strategy1. Sales Goals: Define the purpose. Are you trying to - - make a sale? - encourage an

inquiry? - prompt a store

visit? or - promote

goodwill?2. Audience: Sales letters are mailed to individuals and

organizations with shared characteristics. When the people to whom you are writing share common

traits, you can personalize your message and increase the likelihood that they will respond.

3. Product: All successful sales strategies depend on - a through knowledge of the product and,

on understanding why people are likely

to buy it. * Because benefits create a product-customer connection.

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Organizing a Sales Letter A successful sales letter must take a prospective customer through each of these four steps.

First, Gain the attention of the reader,

Second, Creating interest.

Third, Translating Interest Into Desire:

Finally, Encourage the readers to take action.

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Organizing a Sales Letter – continued …… Attention Gaining: You must find a way to capture and hold attention

so that your recipient will continue to read your letter.

You can use– startling headlines, ask questions, provide testimonials from credible sources,

relate striking incidents or statistics, make readers feel unique or special, and identify needs.

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Organizing a Sales Letter - continued …… Creating Interest: Interest is created in two ways:

by presenting claims that emphasize benefits over features

by making emotional as well as logical appeals. Translating Interest Into Desire:

interest is largely an intellectual response, desire is basically an emotional reaction that propels people to action. desire and motivation are closely connected. to move readers from the interest to the desire stage,

the persuasive letter writer must present specific facts & statistics.

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Organizing a Sales Letter - continued ……

Encouraging the reader to take action: Readers must be convinced,

not only to take specific steps to purchase the product but to act quickly.

Experienced sales professionals realize that -

unless most readers respond immediately,

they are unlikely to respond at all.

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Collection Letters A sale is not complete unless money has been collected,

many companies create their own debt-collection programs

to ensure that they will be repaid in full for all credit sales.

The collection letters have a dual purpose:• try to persuade debtors to pay the money they owe, and

encourage continued business.

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Collection Letters – continued …..

Collection letters should be – persuasive rather than threatening,

Constructive rather than accusatory, and

Empathetic rather than cold.

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Collection Series Letters Four types of persuasive appeals used - to

collect outstanding debts: Reminder letters Inquiry letters Aggressive collection notices Last-resort letters

Every letter in the collection series should state –

three pieces of information: •the amount owed, •the length of time the bill has been overdue, and

•the specific action the customer should take to remedy the situation.

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Reminder Letters If no payment is received following an end-of-month billing,

the next month’s billing typically includes a reminder of the unpaid bill and a late-payment fee.

After sending out a monthly statement informing to the customer of the outstanding debt, most companies wait a few weeks for a reply. If none comes – a reminder letter is sent to inform the customer

that payment has not been received.

There is no request for money in the letter, just a reminder that the account is overdue.

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Inquiry Letters The next step is- to determine what is preventing the customers

from making the required payment.

The tone in the inquiry letter should be friendly as you question customers about-

whether they have forgotten to pay or whether you can help in any way.

For example, you might offer to work out a new payment plan.

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Aggressive Collection Notices This letter is firmer and more insistent than the inquiry letter. Include one of the following appeals in your

letter: Fairness: An appeal to fairness emphasizes – that the customer is already using your company’s goods and

services and that it is only fair that you receive payment in return.

Sympathy: When you appeal to sympathy, you make the point— that payment is crucial to your own operations and that payments put you, the creditor, in a difficult

position.

Self-interest: This appeal emphasizes - * the consequences of continued

nonpayment. * Future credit problems are mentioned.

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Last-resort Letters This letter informs customers that –

unless the money is received by a specific date, your company will begin taking action.

The tone of the last-resort letter should – express a reluctance to take these actions but a determination to do so if the customer does not pay

within a stated time limit --- usually no more than 10 days.

To reinforce the seriousness of your message- have a senior executive sign the letter and consider sending it by certified mail, return receipt requested.