“7 C’S OF COMMUNICATION”
7 C’S OF COMMUNICATION
Completeness
Conciseness
Concreteness
Clarity
Correctness
Courtesy
Consideration
1. COMPLETENESS
Message is complete when it contains all facts
the reader or listener needs for the reaction you
desire.
Communication senders need to assess their
message through the eyes of the receivers to be
sure they have included all relevant information.
HOW TO ACHIEVE COMPLETENESS
Provide all necessary information
Answer all questions asked
Give something extra, when desirable
PROVIDE ALL NECESSARY INFORMATION
Provide all information the reader needs for
understanding
Answer the five ‘W’ questions:
Who
What
When
Where
why
Any other essentials as “How”?
Five ‘W’ is especially useful for requests,
announcements, or other informative messages.
EXAMPLES
To order merchandise, make clear what you
want, when you need it, to who and where it is to
be sent, and how payment will be made.
To reserve a hotel banquet room, specify the
accommodation needed(what), location(where),
sponsoring organization(who), date and
time(when), event(why), and other necessary
details(how).
ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS ASKED
Answer all stated and implied questions
A colleague or customer’s reaction to an
incomplete reply is likely to be unfavorable. The
customer may think the respondent is careless or
is purposely trying to conceal a weak spot.
Omissions cast suspicions
EXAMPLE
A software distributor, when replying to a
dealer’s letter, answered only four of seven
questions. Because the original questions were
unnumbered and somewhat buried in five long
paragraphs, the respondent apparently
overlooked or disregarded three of them. The
reply, incomplete and unfriendly, caused the
distributor to lose the business and goodwill of a
potential customer.
GIVE SOMETHING EXTRA WHEN
DESIRABLE
Use your good judgment in offering additional
material if the sender’s message was incomplete.
Incomplete Question: Please fax me in return the
departures from Singapore to Hong Kong on the
8th.
In responding to the above you would have to “give
something extra” as to times of day, airlines flying
route, costs, and departure ad arrival times.
2. CONCISENESS
Conciseness is saying what you have to say in
fewest possible words without sacrificing other C
qualities. A concise message is complete without
being wordy.
HOW TO ACHIEVE CONCISENESS
Eliminate Wordy Expressions
Include Only Relevant Material
Avoid Unnecessary Repetition
ELIMINATE WORDY EXPRESSIONS
Use Single-word Substitutes
Wordy: At this time
Concise: Now
Wordy: Due to the fact
Concise: Because
Wordy: Have need for
Concise: Need
Omit Unnecessary Expressions
Wordy: Please be advised that your admission
statement was received.
Concise: Your admission statement has been
received.
Replace Wordy Conventional Statements
with Concise Versions:
Wordy: Please find attached the list you
requested
Concise: The list you requested is attached
AVOID OVERUSING EMPTY PHRASES
Wordy: There are four rules that should be
observed.
Concise: Four rules must be observed
INCLUDE ONLY RELEVANT MATERIAL
Stick to the purpose of the message
Delete irrelevant words
Omit information obvious to the receiver
Avoid long introductions and unnecessary
explanations
Wordy: We hereby wish to let you know that our
company is pleased with the confidence you have
reposed in us.
Concise: We appreciate your confidence.
AVOID UNNECESSARY REPETITION
Unnecessary repetition leads to dullness
Use shorter name after you have mentioned the
long one once. Instead of the “North Central
Company,” use “North Central”.
Use pronouns or initials rather than repeat long
names. Instead of citing “American Association of
Technical Analysts” again and again, use “it” or
“they” or AATA
EXAMPLE
Wordy: Will you ship up this time, anytime
during the month of October would be fine, or
even November if you are rushed (November
would suit us just as well, in fact a little bit
better) 300 of the regular 3 by 15 inches blue
armbands with white sewn letters in the center.
Thank you in advance by sending this along to us
by parcel post and not express, as express is too
expensive.
Concise: Please ship parcel post, before the end
of November, 300 regular 3 by 15 inch blue felt
armbands with white sewn letters in the centers.
3. CONCRETENESS
Communicating concretely means being specific,
definite and vivid rather than vague and general.
Use denotative words (dictionary based, direct)
rather than connotative words (ideas, notions
suggested by or associated with a word”.
HOW TO ACHIEVE CONCRETENESS
Use specific facts and figures
Put action in your verbs
USE SPECIFIC FACTS AND FIGURES
Using an exact, precise statement or a figure in
place of general word to make your message more
concrete.
Vague: Student GMAT scores are higher.
Concrete: In 1996 the GMAT scores averaged
600; by 1997 they had raisen to 610.
PUT ACTION IN YOUR VERBS
Verbs can activate other word and help make
sentence alive, more vigorous.
Use active voice rather than passive
Passive: The tests were administrated by the
professors. (subject receives the action)
Active: Professors administered the tests.(subject
performs the action)
4. CLARITY
Getting the meaning from your head into the
head of your reader – accurately –is the purpose
of clarity.
WAYS TO INDICATE CLARITY
Choose precise, concrete and familiar words.
Construct effective sentences and paragraphs.
CHOOSE PRECISE, CONCRETE AND
FAMILIAR WORDS
Clarity is achieved in part through a balance
between precise language and familiar words.
Precise language means selecting exactly the
right word to convey meaning.
Familiar language comprises words of one’s
personal selection, familiar to the audience and
appropriate for the situation.
CONT’D
At the core of clarity is the sentence.
Grammatical statement when clearly expressed
moves thoughts within a paragraph.
Important characteristics to consider while
making effective sentences and paragraphs are;
Length
Unity
Coherence
Emphasis
LENGTH
Short sentences are preferred.
Suggested average sentence length should be 17-
20 words or it could be from 3- 30 words or so.
But more than 40 words sentence should be
rewritten to reduce length.
UNITY
Keep one main idea and other ideas must be
related to the main idea.
Wrong: I like Jim, and the Eiffel Tower is in
Paris.
Correct: Mr. James is in his late sixties. His
hands tremble when he eats.
COHERENCE
Words are correctly arranged so that ideas
correctly convey the intended meaning.
UNCLEAR: Being an excellent lawyer, I am sure
you can help us.
Being a rich person, I am sure you will
help me.
CLEAR: As you are an excellent lawyer, I am
sure you can help us.
EMPHASIS
The quality that gives force to important parts of
sentences and paragraphs is emphasis.
Writer needs to understand what should be
emphasized.
EXAMPLE
Little Emphasis: The airplane finally
approached the speed of sound, and it became
very difficult to control.
Better Emphasis: As it finally approached the
speed of sound, the airplane became very difficult
to control.
OTHER WAYS TO SHOW EMPHASIS
Use of ;
Headings
Tabulations
Pie charts
Graphs
Underlining
Italics
Colored fonts etc…
5. CORRECTNESS
Use of proper grammar, punctuation and
spellings.
Some message though grammatically and
mechanically complete and perfect may insult or
lose a customer .
HOW TO ACHIEVE CORRECTNESS
Use the right level of language.
Check accuracy of figures, facts and words.
Maintain acceptable writing mechanics.
USE THE RIGHT LEVEL OF LANGUAGE
Decide if the writing style for the particular
document is formal or informal
CHECK ACCURACY OF FIGURES, FACTS AND
WORDS.
Data and information should be correct, check
and double check the accuracy of facts and
figures.
Verify statistical data.
Double check your totals.
Avoid guessing at laws that have an impact on
you, the sender and the receiver.
Have someone else read your message if the topic
involves data.
Determine whether a “fact” has changed over
time.
MAINTAIN ACCEPTABLE WRITING
MECHANICS
Message should be correct grammatically.
Computers provide spell and grammar check to
make editing easy.
Every message should be carefully written.
6. COURTESY
Courtesy means not only aware of others
perspective but feelings.
Courtesy stems from a sincere “you-attitude”
Show respect and concern for others .
Consider your audience.
HOW TO ACHIEVE COURTESY
Be sincerely tactful, thoughtful and appreciative.
Use expressions that show respect.
Choose non-discriminatory expressions.
BE SINCERELY TACTFUL,THOUGHTFUL
AN APPRECIATIVE
Be tactful keeping in mind audience culture,
feelings and respect.
Avoid being blunt or abrupt as negative feelings
arise from personal negative attitude or when a
person does not know the culture of a country …
EXAMPLES
TACTLESS, BLUNT MORE TACTFUL
Stupid letter; I can’t It’s my
understand any of it. understanding that I
did not get what you
mean.
Clearly, you did not Sometimes my
read my latest fax. wording is not
precise; let me try
again.
THOUGHTFULNESS AND
APPRECIATION
Be polite and courteous when communicating
with your audience as it help building goodwill.
Goodwill is worth thousands for an organization
which can be achieved by sending cordial,
courteous messages of appreciation.
USE EXPRESSIONS THAT SHOW RESPECT
No reader wants to receive messages that offend.
OFFENSIVE: Hey man, what’s this I hear about
your wedding? You didn’t tell any of us about it.
Give my regards to the lady and wish her the
best.
COURTEOUS: Warm congratulations on your
wedding! Well, you certainly took us by surprise.
In fact, just a few of us suspected you were taking
off to get married. But even though we didn’t
hear about it until later. We wish you the best.
CHOOSE NONDISCRIMINATORY
EXPRESSION
Nondiscriminatory language reflects equal
treatment of people regardless of gender, race,
ethnic origin and physical features.
EXAMPLE In the past, ‘man’ was used to denote
not only male persons but also humanity at large.
Today, many people connect ‘man’ with a ‘male
human being’. Thus, English language use
alternative expressions for man that are neuter
in form.
EXAMPLE
Questionable More Desirable
Freshman Entering students, first year
students
Manpower Workers, employees, work force.
Man Made Manufactured, constructed, built
7. CONSIDERATION
Keeping receiver in mind
Putting yourself in their place
Seeing from readers point of view
WAYS TO ACHIEVE CONSIDERATION
Focus on “you” instead of “I” and “we”
Show audience benefit or interest in the
receiver
Emphasize positive, pleasant facts
FOCUS ON “YOU” INSTEAD OF “I” AND
“WE”
To create considerate, audience-oriented
messages, focus on how receivers will benefit,
what they will receive, and what they want or
need to know.
EXAMPLE
We-Attitude: I am delighted to announce that we
will be extending our hours to make shopping more
convenient.
You-Attitude: You will be able to shop evenings
with the extended hours.
SHOW AUDIENCE BENEFIT OR
INTEREST IN THE RECEIVER
Show how your receivers will benefit from the
message.
Benefits must meet recipient needs, address their
concern and offer them rewards, means they
must be perceived as benefits by the receivers.
Tell legitimate benefits of your policy and
products and put yourself in receiver’s place to
assess their perspectives.
EXAMPLE
Only inserting word “you” does not ensure “You
attitude” As;
“You will be glad to know that we now have a
walkup window open 7-9am and 3-8pm every
weekday” Some readers wonder, “so what?” So, it
should be like; “You can now take care of your
banking needs at our new Walk-up Window. It is
open with a capable teller to serve you 7-9am and
3-8pm, Monday through Friday”
EMPHASIZE POSITIVE, PLEASANT
FACTS
A third way to show consideration for your
receiver is to accent the positive. This means
stressing what can be done instead of what
cannot be done, and focusing on words your
recipient can consider favorably.
Negative-Unpleasant: It is impossible to open
an account for you today.
Positive-Pleasant: As soon as your signature
card reaches us, we will gladly open an account
for you.
CHECKLIST FOR CONSIDERATION
See your material from your readers point of
view.
“You” is more desirable than “I” and “We”.
Readers like to see benefits. Be sure benefits are
a prominent part of the message.
Use positive words; readers will react more
favorably.
Effective Business Communication
Seventh Edition
Herta A Murphy, Herbert W and Jane P Thomas
