Page 93 - Today’s Business Communication; A How-to Guide for the Modern Professional

82 TODAY’S BUSINESS COMMUNICATION

Figure 6.6 Emotion-laden email

Do You Make the Effort to Soften the Blow of Bad News?

Delivering bad news is a fact of life in business. We must say no to
requests, fire employees, deny promotions, cut relations with vendors,
deny customer claims, and write many other uncomfortable messages.
In Chapter 4, we provided you with advice on how to write bad news
messages. It is our firm belief that one can deliver bad news without being
bad. Relationships matter.

F4: Filth

Once you are satisfied that your message strikes the appropriate tone, it
is finally time to take a detailed look at spelling, grammar, and mechan-
ics. In this step, we are reviewing our document for fine particulate—in
keeping with our dirty water metaphor. We discussed common writing
errors at great length in Chapter 3. Here we will provide you with tips for
identifying errors like a professional.

Use Word Processing Power
You have access to word processing programs. Use them. Use them care-
fully. In these programs, you can often modify the settings to identify