Task: For this assignment, you will prepare five routine business messages. The messages consist of
Task: For this assignment, you will prepare five routine business messages. The messages consist of
Task: For this assignment, you will prepare five routine business messages. The messages consist of two emails, an instant message, and two letters. Each communication is in response to a separate short case. The cases are described in the pages that follow. …….…. Case A – Positive Message (email) – Customer is at Fault As a customer service agent working for your local cable company, you’ve received the occasional complaint such as the one you’re looking at on your computer monitor. The writer says: I’m fed up with your cable internet service. I’ve had my new computer for about a year and used the slow dial-up ISP service only because the manufacturer included it for free. Then I got your high-speed cable internet service because your advertising promised it was 30 times faster than dial-up. I’ve used it since March, and I’m very disappointed. I’m paying $39.95 a month, plus taxes, but twice in the last month I’ve been unable to connect and service is a lot slower than advertised. What a rip-off! I’m a student and I work part-time. I do a lot of my research for essays and reports over the internet. Not to mention email. I have deadlines to meet. I want you to cancel my service and refund me my last two months’ payments. You know that many people complain that the cable line is shared with neighbours, which might slow down service. But slowdowns are rare with cable and happen with high-speed phone lines too. Cable internet service has a lot of capacity and can provide rapid access to the internet, even though lines are shared. You think the writer is exaggerating and just wants to get his money back because the message is dated April 6, near the end of the school term. Your Task: Send a positive email to the writer indicating that your company will refund the amount he requests. Write to . You’ve been trained to educate consumers about cable internet service. In your email message, get right to the good news—the cheque is on its way. In this case, the customer gave your company no opportunity to address his concerns. Referring to your technical support and giving the customer a free month’s service may cause him to reconsider. Even if he does not, he is unlikely to “bad-mouth” ihome.com to his friends. Case B – Message Requesting Adjustment (email) In 1993, your employer, Pier 1 Imports, sent a buyer to Accra, Ghana, to find local handicrafts. Free-market reforms in Ghana during the 1980s helped ease export procedures, but so far the Ghanaian entrepreneurs who sprang forward to take advantage of the change are having trouble meeting demand from large-quantity buyers such as Pier 1. The shipment that just arrived from Getrade (Ghana) Ltd., one of your best Ghanaian suppliers, is a good example of what’s been going wrong. The P.O. number for this shipment is#2558639-A. Your customers love the bowl-shaped Bolga baskets woven by the Fra-Fra people of northern Ghana; you can’t keep them in stock. This was to be a huge shipment of 3000 Bolga baskets. You requested baskets in the traditional Bolga shape but woven in solid colours, since your customers prefer solid to mixed colours. Getrade was to ship 1000 green, 1000 yellow, and 1000 magenta. You overseas buyer heard that the Body Shop ordered similar baskets with traditional mixed-colour patterns and a flatter shape. You sympathize with Ladi Nylander, chair and managing director of Getrade, who is trying hard to adapt to the specific tastes of his North American buyers. He’s hiring local artisans to carve, shape, and weave all sorts of items – often from designs provided by Pier 1. Personally, you can understand how Getrade got confused. But you know Pier 1 can’t sell the 3000 mixed-colour, flat Bolga baskets that you’ve been shipped. …….…. Your Task: As assistant buyer, it’s your job to compose the email message alerting Getrade to the mix-up. You decide that if you want the mistake corrected, you’d better direct your message to Nylander at . If you’re lucky, it may be simply that the Body Shop’s order got mixed up with yours. The e-mail message should start with a warm greeting to someone who is from a high context culture. After that, describe what has occurred. Make a request for specific action, and request more information as needed. End on a positive note to maintain the business relationship. You should offer to ship the order to the correct purchaser.Case C – Message Requesting an Adjustment (Letter) You finally saw the couch you need: the colour is perfect, the length just right, and the style ideal for your furnishings. With the scratch-and-save card, you bought it at a 40-percent discount, bringing the the price to a mere $600.00, plus delivery and taxes. The salesperson who served you said that for an extra $10.00 you can have “deluxe delivery”. With deluxe delivery, the couch will be taken out of its box and put into place. In addition, the cardboard and your old couch will be removed. You wouldn’t have to arrange removal on your own. “Deluxe delivery” sounded great, and the price was right. You decided to pay for it. The day of delivery, your couch arrived wrapped in plastic. The deliverymen dropped it in the middle of your living room, and started to leave, with their hands out for a tip. You reminded them about “deluxe delivery”. They removed the plastic covering, took your old, sagging couch to the garage after you asked them twice, saying they didn’t remove couches from the owner’s property. They left grumbling. You could have done everything with the help of your partner, and saved the $10.00. That afternoon, you called customer service at House of Couches seeking a refund of the $10.00 you paid for “deluxe delivery”. The representative refused to honour your request, saying that the deliverers fulfilled the “deluxe delivery” conditions. Your Task: You feel that the salesperson lied to you and that the customer service representative was rude. You decide to write to the owner of House of Couches, Fritz Wegman, to seek satisfaction. His address is: House of Couches, 222 Broad Street, Regina, Saskatchewan, S1P 1Y2 Letters are more likely to garner positive results if the letters are clear, concise, and devoid of negative emotion. The letter should start with the facts and a direct request for the refund. The middle of the letter should provide any additional details that support the request. The closing should be polite, confident, and specific. …….…. Case D – Bad News Message (instant message) – Direct Approach If she’d asked you a week ago, Lewinda Johnson might have been granted her request to attend a conference on the use of blogging for business, which is being held in Boston next month. Instead, Johnson waited until you were stuck in the meeting, and she needs you response within the hour. She’ll have to take no for an answer. With travel budgets under tight restrictions, you would need at least three days to send her request up the chain of command. Furthermore, Johnson hasn’t given you sufficient justification for her attendance at the conference, since she is already familiar with blogging. Your Task: Write a 60 to 75 – word instant message to Lewinda Johnson declining her request. Use the direct approach, but work an explanation into your refusal (short notice). Don’t blame and don’t apologize. Explain further, then close with encouragement for a future opportunity. Use the direct approach, but work an explanation into your refusal (short notice and why that is a problem). Don’t blame and don’t apologize. Explain further, and then close with encouragement for a future opportunity.
Case E – Bad News Message (Letter) – Indirect Approach You’re the marketing manager for Stanton, one of the premier suppliers of DJ equipment (turntables, amplifiers, speakers, mixers, and related accessories). Your company’s latest creation, the FinalScratch system, has been flying of retailer’s shelves. Both professional and amateur DJs love the way that FinalScratch gives them the feel of working with vinyl records by letting them control digital music files from any analog turntable or CD player, while giving them access to the endless possibilities of digital music technology. (For more information about the product, go to .) Sales are strong everywhere except in Music99 stores, a retail chain in the Ontario-Quebec region. You suspect the cause: The owners of this chain refused to let their salespeople attend the free product training you offered when FinalScratch was introduced, claiming their people were smart enough to train themselves. To explore the situation, you head out from Stanton headquarters in Markham, Ontario, on an undercover shopping mission. After visiting five Music99 locations, you’re appalled by what you encounter. The salespeople in these stores clearly don’t understand the FinalScratch concept, so they either give potential customers bad information about it or steer them to products from your competitors. No wonder sales are so bad at this chain. Your Task: You’re tempted to pull your products out of this chain immediately, but based on your experience in this market, you know how difficult and expensive it is to recruit new retailers. However, this situation can’t go on; you’re losing thousands of dollars of potential business every week. Write a letter to Gil Atami, the CEO of Music99 (1108 Sherbrook St. East, Montreal, Quebec H2L 1M2), expressing your disappointment in what you observed and explaining that the Music99 sales staff will need to agree to attend product training or else your company’s management team will consider terminating the business partnership. You’ve met Mr. Atami in person once and talked on the phone several times, and you know him well enough to know that he will not be pleased by this ultimatum. Music99 does a good job selling other Stanton products—and he’ll probably be furious to learn that you were “spying” on his sales staff.
This message will be unwelcome at the very least and probably unexpected, so an indirect approach is called for. The ultimatum needs to be clear and unequivocal, but it can be expressed in calm, professional language. Don’t apologize for “spying” on the retailer even though the reader is likely to be angry because of it; you did nothing illegal or unethical and were only protecting your large investment in the product. …….….
