Effective Communication with Customers - Essay Example

Business Writing Editing Major end-of memo 2 pages single-spaced) My initial experience in writinga business letters and memorandum was faced with a number of challenges. The main challenge was that I was unable to communicate effectively using a business letter. I committed a number of mistakes such as accepting responsibility of complaints made by clients while I was unable to devise a compensation plan. However, the comments of my tutor and peers have improved my writing skills. Reflecting on my initial memo, I can confidently note that I have recorded tremendous improvement on the memo. The memo has developed to address the essential aspects of effective communication with customers (Kuiper 116). I have been able to first address the problem of a complaining customer by stating the commitment of the company to satisfy his needs and preventing such incidents from happening in the near future. The memo has also developed to include messages aimed at repairing the confidence of the customer. This has been achieved by assurance the customer that the company was making commitments to fix the problem in the shortest time possible. I have also been able to reduce the amount of words by focusing on making the memo precise and straight to the point. I learnt a couple of lessons from my initial writing experience. The main lesson is that good writing requires practice and commitment in order to perfect the writing skills. I came to learn that I was overlooking basic writing skills such as mastery of the English language because in most cases, I was finding it very difficult to make sentence constructions. I was also having problems with making recommendations. However, my peers proof read my first memo and offered some helpful tips on how I could offer recommendations using the most appropriate approach. I engaged in a series of research studies on business writing and within a week I was surprised to have all the required information to write a good business letter and memorandum. I managed to overcome my weak areas by following the comments of my tutor and conducting research on effective business writing techniques (Kuiper 120). I gained a number of insights with regards to business writing. For instance, I was able to address a complaint letter by addressing the claim of the customer and later on repairing his confidence. I promised the customer that our organization was going to provide assistance and that we valued his concerns. The assignment also helped me identify and appreciate the need to have my peers and tutor go through my writing so as to ensure that errors are identified and corrected at an early stage. My peers and tutor read over my work and made comments on the mistakes they had identified in my writings. The teacher played a very significant role in improving my writing skills by identifying mistakes and suggesting ways of correcting them. I would like to improve my business writing in future by focusing more on the reader. I will be considering what the reader wants to hear before writing any business letter or proposal. This will involve a complete focus on the relevant information that will satisfy the needs of the reader rather than addressing my personal needs (Kuiper 140). 2. Samples of your work (“before and after”) with reflections: Persuasive Message Memo To: Roger Lee roger.lee@rotstein.com From: Mike Jones mike.jones@educatesolution.ca Subject: Re: Training Session Appointment—YourUni We apologize for the inconvenience caused by the training session appointment with our trainer Angela Flight on August 20th. We received your email and immediately contacted Ms. Flight regarding the issue. However, we discovered that there was a mismatch with the dates of appointment with our trainer. Company records indicated that your appointment was scheduled for 27th instead of 21st of August. However, we sincerely apologize for all the inconvenience we have caused your institution. We have made arrangements with our trainer that we book for 27th of August as indicated by our company records. Kindly confirm if the appointment is okay with your and send us a reply. Our contacts are appointment@educatesolution.ca or call +1 (416) 345 3456. The two contacts will assist you in giving us a confirmation message regarding the new appointment. We look forward to your response. Sincerely, Mike Jones Account manager, Educate Solutions Revision strategy: My revision strategy involved the use of teacher comments on the original letter that I had written. I received a number of feedbacks from about three peer students who made suggestions regarding weak areas that required improvements. Feedback from different students made me create a different view of the right letter that was precise and to the point. The revised copy incorporates the feedback that I received from the original letter. According to a recent study by ABC University, over 75% of people think their knowledge studied from undergraduate will be outdated in about 5 years. Over 65% of graduates report that the jobs they are doing now are different from the disciplines they studied at school. 54% of employers feel that their employees need to upgrade their knowledge in order to better perform their current job. Moreover, the study also shows that 25 % of job types are brand new jobs and have never existed in the past 7 years. Currently U of ABC provides $600 cash discount for U of ABC undergraduates to take courses at the School of Continuing Study. However, the fact is that $600 is less than the tuition fee of one course credit. And the small amount of discount discouraged students to register in the program, which is not consistent with the principle of higher education. Kindly consider increasing the amount of discount so as to encourage more students to register courses in the school. The following is my recommendation: Increase the free credits offered by SCS for undergraduate students. The incremental opportunity would definitely support students’ career growth in the future. As we all know, people need to keep on upgrading their skills even after they graduate from the University. For example, accounting professional principle will be changed or adjusted to be more suitable for our society every year. Thus, people need to keep learning so that they can maintain their professional destination. Consequently, if University of ABC offers more continuing study credits for the graduated students, it can better help people to be successful in their careers. The increase in the amount of free credits should be distributed among all the courses within the school. This will ensure that students will be in a position to register a number of different courses without limitations hence improving their interests and satisfying their needs. Generally, people will choose to learn something related to their future job at university. In order to get a good mark, people will focus on their courses and actually didn’t have too much time to learn other things. Thus, when they graduated, they would prefer to take some courses which they like, even though it may not relate to their job. The future benefits and opportunities will attract more students to enrol in University of ABC, which could compensate the cost of the free credits. As we mention above, increasing free continuing study credits will support people’s future career growth and expand their interests. In other words, University of ABC becomes more competitive than other universities because we offer students valuable benefit. Therefore, people are more willing to choose to study in University of ABC. The free credits will act as incentives that will encourage specialization among students hence improving their skills and knowledge. They will be in a good position to compete for employment opportunities in the job market. Revision Strategy: I was mindful of the reader when revising this memo. My intention of writing this memo was to persuade the school principal to consider increasing credit discounts on courses at school. I was supposed to convince her to accept my idea of increasing the credit discounts that were being offered at school. I made sure that I incorporated the advantages of my recommendations with the idea. Bad news letter Original letter: Dear Agnes Wanming Lee: We regret to inform you that your application for the position of junior accounts manager has been unsuccessful. It was a very difficult decision for us. Our hiring committee was split on whether to give equal consideration to both external applicants and internal applicants who have worked here for many years. After much disagreement among our various committee members, who represent different areas of our firm, it was concluded that we would face serious employee retention problems if we didn’t hire from within. Consequently, we offered a promotion to the current junior assistant accounts manager. The final acceptance of our offer was delayed, hence the lateness of our notification to you. However, I would like to note that you have an excellent resume but we were forced to hire applicants who had higher qualifications than you. We wish you success in your future endeavors. With sincere regrets, Bill Kim Senior Manager, Account Services Numerisk Corporation Revised copy: Dear Agnes Wanming Lee: Thank you for your application for the position of junior accounts manager in our company. However, we regret to inform you that we could not offer you the position because your skills and qualifications do not meet our selection criteria. Our company selects and hires the best qualified candidates among the applicants. We would also like to appreciate your efforts in making considerations to work with our company. We wish you success in your future endeavors. With sincere regrets, Bill Kim Senior Manager, Account Services Numerisk Corporation Revision Strategy: I ensured that the revised copy of the letter was brief and to the point. A bad news letter does not require much information because its contents are not pleasing to the reader. The initial letter contained a comprehensive analysis of what transpired before the organization decided to turn down the application. However, this was not the right thing because the applicant may feel offended. Writing the letter straight to the point with little explanations is the best way to convey bad news. Business Research Report: Outsourcing at RIMS I have learnt that researching and writing business reports involves the analysis and study of company performance and service delivery. Research studies involve the search of specific information about the performance of an organization especially its strategies. For instance, the research study on RIMS was aimed analyzing the outsourcing processes involved in the company. The process of researching majorly relies on company sources such as press releases and financial statements. In the case of business writing, it mainly involves making responses regarding service delivery (Kuiper 100). This is achieved through the writing of letters and memos. Introduction Considerable amount of research investigates the strategic, technological and economic benefits of business outsourcing, including reduced operation costs, better technological competence and remarkable competitive edge (Miller 2011). Many studies have investigated the factors that either facilitate or impede the use of outsourcing. “Various factors play an important role in determining outsourcing utilization, including business and cost structures, internal competence, transaction costs, knowledge gained from vendors, cost advantages of vendors”, and spatial distance (Bharadwaj 169–196). To date, the majority of research on outsourcing has emphasized internal antecedents within specific firms. In contrast, limited attention has been paid to the changes in industry dynamics on the use of outsourcing in technology and research oriented firms, and the underdeveloped literature has revealed mixed results (Mawston 2010). For example, research says that the industry concentration can have a positive, neutral, or negative effect on outsourcing usage (Flosi 2011). There is still a need for additional research to enhance our understanding of this area, companies like RIM must direct considerations into this area. In the subsequent sections of this report, I present an in depth analysis of the key strengths and opportunities for RIM, a high-tech Canadian company with extensive IT products and services (Palmer 2009). In particular, I investigate whether the company may move towards outsourcing as a viable option for business growth and sustainability. Industry Effects on IT Outsourcing While empirical evidence suggests that industrial environment plays crucial role in determining a firm’s strategic decision, less research examines the impact that industry environments have on outsourcing utilization. Moreover, the literature indicates that the notion of industry environments has been conceptualized in a variety of ways across studies. Some have focused on product characteristics (goods versus services), whereas others have delved into the importance of IT in a given industry. For facilitating and comparing the research on the subject, we may organize studies according to the approaches they take on in the context of industry environment conceptualizations. These studies can be grouped into three fundamental approaches for the conceptualization of industry environments. The first group of studies divides industries into two classifications—manufacturing and service (Leiblein and Miller 839–859). The basis behind this classification is that service firms cannot employ IT outsourcing on a level compared to manufacturing firms (The Economic Times 2011). However, this view is not empirically supported. Increasing number of companies in the service sector have opted outsourcing for one reason or another. In the next section, I discover how RIM’s global expansion sends it into a dominant position for outsourcing. Revised copy Business Research Report: Outsourcing at RIMS Introduction Considerable amount of research investigates the strategic, technological and economic benefits of business outsourcing. The benefits include reduced operation costs, better technological competence and remarkable competitive edge (Miller 2011). A good number of research studies have investigated the factors that either facilitate or impede the use of outsourcing. “Various factors play an important role in determining outsourcing utilization, including business and cost structures, internal competence, transaction costs, knowledge gained from vendors, cost advantages of vendors”, and spatial distance (Bharadwaj 169–196). To date, the majority of research on outsourcing has emphasized internal antecedents within specific firms. However, limited attention has been paid to changes in industry dynamics on the use of outsourcing in technology and research oriented firms, and the underdeveloped literature has revealed mixed results (Mawston 2010). For example, research says that the industry concentration can have a positive, neutral, or negative effect on outsourcing usage (Flosi 2011). There is still a need for additional research to enhance our understanding of this area; companies like RIM must develop direct considerations in this area. In the subsequent sections of this report, I present an in depth analysis of the key strengths and opportunities for RIM, a high-tech Canadian company with extensive IT products and services (Palmer 2009). In particular, I investigate on whether the company may move towards outsourcing as a viable option for business growth and sustainability or take an alternative business strategy. Industry Effects on IT Outsourcing While empirical evidence suggests that industrial environment plays crucial role in determining a firm’s strategic decision, less research examines the impact of industry environments on outsourcing utilization. Moreover, the literature indicates that the notion of industry environments has been conceptualized in a variety of ways across studies. Some have focused on product characteristics (goods versus services), whereas others have delved into the importance of IT in a given industry. For facilitating and comparing the research on the subject, we may organize studies according to the approaches they take on the context of industry environment conceptualizations. These studies can be grouped into three fundamental approaches for the conceptualization of industry environments. The first group of studies divides industries into two classifications—manufacturing and service (Leiblein and Miller 839–859). The basis behind this classification is that service firms cannot employ IT outsourcing on a level compared to manufacturing firms (The Economic Times 2011). However, this view is not empirically supported. Increasing number of companies in the service sector have opted outsourcing for one reason or another. In the next section, I discover how RIM’s global expansion sends it into a dominant position for outsourcing. Works Cited Kuiper, Shirley. Contemporary Business Report Writing. Chicago: Cengage Learning, 2009. Read More