Positive Replies: Good News and Neutral Messages
Positive Replies: Good News and Neutral Messages
Positive Replies: Good News and Neutral Messages
Hurley
Eng 209/WI
Hurley
For Favorable Responses to Claims and Adjustment Requests 1. Immediately state your willingness to honor the reader's claim, without negative comment. Accept your reader's account as entirely accurate unless good business reasons demand a different interpretation of some points. Thank the reader for taking the time to write. 2. In the body, explain how you will remedy the problem. Minimize or, if possible, omit any disagreements with your reader's interpretation of events. If appropriate, provide an objective, non-vindictive, impersonal explanation. Apologize only under extreme circumstances. Maintain a supportive tone through such phrases as "Thank you for;' "May we ask," Please let us know;" and "We are glad to work with you." Admit your firm's faults carefully. Avoid shifting the blame to others, implying general company inefficiency, and making unrealistic promises about the future. Be careful when handling the customer's role in producing the problem. 3. In the closing, remind the reader how you have honored the claim and clarify any actions that your reader must take. Encourage the customer to look favorably on your company or the product in question. Encourage the customer to continue buying other goods from you but avoid seeming greedy. Clarify any actions that your reader must take.
Appreciation to reader Clear statement of action desired; easy action (offer of further help, enclosed forms or envelope); Willingness to help further Forward look to future use of goods and services, Good wishes, compliment or request
Begin your letters effectively. Do not start letters with "I" or "We." End with a specific polite closure. Avoid "contact" when "call me" or "email me" are more precise. Credits Writing Routine, Good News, and Goodwill Messages PowerPoint presentation by Courtland Bovee, John Thill, and Barbara Schatzman, Business Communication Today Bovee and Thill, Business Communication Today M.E. Guffey, Essentials of Business Communication Kitty Locker, Business and Administrative Communication Leslie Munro Eng 209 Booklet