How To Make Your Boss READ Your Report Thoroughly (The Audience)

Now we are in the second lesson about writing a business document. Do you still remember the first one??? You have to remember that because you will get lost in this lesson if you don’t….

Audience….you might wondering why do I need to address the audience specifically in a business document??? It is not a presentation or public speaking when I need to stand in front of the public?? So, why should I ?? If you are reading the first lesson then you will get the answer right away….pssttt…..it is in the end of the lesson…

Now, let’s focus on the real thing,,, what do you want with the audience and how do you get it. The first answer is in your plan of course …assuming you understand the first lesson….Then the problem you have now is how. How to achieve it? First, you need to capture their attention. Do you really want your hard work stuck in the middle of your managers piles of documents?? Goodbye promotion..... 

That is why, you have to grab their attention to be noticed. Capturing their attention is not an easy task but it is not impossible.

Getting to the point quickly can make the audience turn their heads straight to your document.  Stating the main point of the document first will grab their attention faster than fancy jargons. Imagine how your boss reacts when he or she reads an increasing 50% in sales simultaneously for three years or 40% production efficiency through new method. They won’t think of any other thing besides your document. So after catching their attention, you need to maintain their focus by writing valuable things related to the issue.

Valuable information or analysis will grasp the whole attention of your audience. Please make sure that after the most valuable information is stated, there are more values to come. The straightforward documents with many important values will engage the audience.  You surely can do this two steps by writing down the most important things – what do you want to say, and all the values you want to emphasize in this document…. but please do remember to left the odd things out.

I think this is all for today,,, the next session is still about audience….just wait for it!!!

written by ClaudyaLita

Writing Business Documents

Hi, our fellow readers…..long time no see….
Today I am going to address the problem that haunted not only an MBA student but also a professional.

Writing A Business Document!!

Do you often think that writing business documents is very agonizing? Is it difficult to tell your point directly without getting lost in a lot of explanations?? No worries lads, today MBA League is giving you the secret to write a clear and straightforward business documents. This is the first lesson, so you have to stay tune for the very next update……now let’s start our journey ……
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The first thing you need to know before writing a business document is what are you trying to say and the audience of the document…..most of us do not think the audience is pretty important, that is where we are wrong…Furthermore, It is pretty easy to know what we are trying to say, heck you are writing it for a reason, but it is difficult to find the essence of the writing itself.

The essence of the writing is the meaning behind those words, is it to inform, to motivate or to persuade…These three are very different in any sense, so you need to take care of your word of choice, tone and formality based on that. Let’s say don’t just give the product detail specification if you want to persuade people to buy it, you do not want to only inform them but to persuade them. For that reason, you need to plan your business documents carefully to prevent sending a wrong message.

There are four basic aspects that you guys need to grasp before writing a business document, the plan, audience, message, and word choice. Let’s talk about the plan first. Plan is not what you want to fulfill because of your responsibility, like assignment or job task, but what you want to accomplish through this document. That is why content is very important. The content is not only what belongs to the document but also what does not belong to it. A lot of MBA students forget the latter and get confused when they are trapped in the middle of the chaos they made themselves.

Basically, knowing what does not belong to the documents will make the paper more straightforward and clear. There will not be ambiguity or double meaning in it. So, knowing the content is the first thing that you need to do before planning to write a business document. The next thing you have to do is trying to meet the audience expectation through this document. If they want a thorough analysis or detailed specification just give it to them. Please remember that the document is not for you, it is for the audience. The document is a bridge for you to accomplish your purpose…

That is our lesson for today…see you tomorrow for the next lesson …the audience ; )      

ClaudyaLita