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Using Bullet Points and Lists

Attendees's Comments

"Your class was an enormous success. I learned a great deal and the quality of the writing has improved substantially among those who attended."

Business Writing: Writing E-mails, Memos, and Letters that Work

This class is designed to make business writing easier and more effective for the busy professional. Are your letters too long? Do you spend too much time writing simple memos? Does the task of answering a complaint letter seem daunting?

Topics include:

  • Organizing memos and letters
  • Using bullet points effectively
  • Creating "reader-friendly" documents
  • Choosing the correct pattern of development
  • Shaping your response to letters with impact
  • Producing professional e-mail

Participants will benefit by learning:

  • Six principles of good memo writing
  • Five steps for achieving clarity and brevity
  • The format for a standard business letter
  • How to achieve results by selecting the right tone
  • Ways to manage incoming and outgoing e-mail

Seminar tips:

  • Organize your memos like a newspaper reporter. Your most important point should be made in the first paragraph.
  • Use symbols instead of numbers to set off your bullet points. Numbers suggest priority or sequence; symbols are egalitarian and suggest items equal in importance.
  • The average length of a sentence in a business document should be between 15-20 words.

Additional E-mail Seminar Available

Effective Communications through Enhanced Customer Service

This course is a half-day seminar designed to improve customer service skills of personnel who communicate with clients by telephone and e-mail.

Telephone Component:

  1. A Flash of the Obvious - Introduction
    Customer wants and needs - an experiential exercise
  2. Common Customer Complaints
    Words and phrases that irritate customers
  3. How Do You Sound
    Telephone voice self evaluation
  4. A Way with Words
    Developing "can-do speak"
    Re-phrasing exercise
  5. Meeting Challenges
    Dealing with upset, angry, dissatisfied, misinformed, demanding or surly customers
  6. Addressing Problems (opportunities)
    Seven progressive steps to problem resolution
  7. Why Customers Become Irate
    Experiential discovery exercise
  8. The Importance of Listening
    How to hear what is not said and confirm what was heard
  9. Voice Mail and General Tele-standards
    Departmental greetings
    Desk telephone greetings
  10. Telephone Image
    Experiential exercise of re-stating common telephone responses

E-mail Component:

Six Principles of Effective E-mails

An overview

  1. The Organization of an E-mail:
    How to organize your information so it's "reader-friendly"
  2. Ways to be E-mail Savvy:
    How to respond to customers with sensitivity and political correctness
  3. Following E-mail Etiquette:
    How to avoid committing an e-mail faux pas
  4. The Elements of an E-mail Message:
    How to make the most of an e-mail's three components
  5. How to Edit your E-mails:
    How to evaluate your e-mail's content and organization to achieve a professional appearance
  6. Using a Spell Checker Program:
    What can Spell Check do-and what can't it do

Seminar Tips:

  • Read your e-mail more than once, and be sensitive to the possibility of various interpretations.
  • When talking to a customer, avoid thinking of what to say next while the other is speaking.
  • State your main idea at the beginning of your e-mail-readers want to know what you are writing about as soon as they start to read.
  • Don't assume you know what the customer is going to say and let your attention lapse.
  • Keep your e-mails narrow in scope-follow the adage, "One e-mail/one topic.

To Schedule this Training

For groups of three or more participants

Cypress Media Group presents this seminar as an on-site offering at your work location or at an off-site location of your choice. We can customize this training program to suit your precise training needs.

For economic reasons, this seminar is only offered to groups of roughly three or more people with the same training needs. If you have a group with similar training needs, please call us at 770-640-9918 or e-mail info@cypressmedia.net to discuss your interest.

For fewer than three participants

We do not offer this course as an open enrollment public offering for individuals. If you have fewer than three participants who are interested in this course, the cost will be the same as for a larger group. Please call us at 770-640-9918 or e-mail info@cypressmedia.net to discuss your interest. Individuals may also want to consider the following online training options:

Online learning options for individuals

Select each link below to review information on online learning offerings related to the topics on this page. If you are interested in purchasing the tutorial, select 'Go to checkout' - the tutorials you reviewed will be in your basket.

Writing Software Available

We recommend that writers use the StyleWriter editing software. StyleWriter will show you how to edit your writing like a pro. You can order a 30-day trial of this remarkable program on the Software for Writers CD. You'll also get four free programs for writers, including a great Dictionary and Thesaurus and six free writing guides on the CD. Click for more information.