6 C Principles in Effective Business Writing

Business communication is one of the most important factors in scaling up your personal growth. Whether you are working in a corporate company or doing freelancing business, it is essential to write emails in a good English without grammar mistakes. Though it is difficult to catch up with native English speakers, practicing can bring a good result in your written communication. In this article, we will explain the popular 6 C principles to keep your business communication effective.

1. Correct

The first principle is to use the correct grammar in your business communication. Sometimes, you may need to write emails to your boss or clients. Therefore, it is necessary to check your grammar especially when you are not confident after finishing your email. Email clients like Outlook helps you to check the spelling and basic grammar mistakes before sending emails. However, you may not get it prefect when using other applications like Gmail. The best option is to check your content for grammar mistakes using third-party grammar tools. Though this may take time at start, you will become an expert and do not need this over time.

Other important aspect in using correct grammar is to use active voice and avoid passive sentences. Here is an example of incorrect and correct sentences for you to practice better.

Incorrect	Correct
Many senior people was impacted with the introduction of new pension system.	The new pension system affects all senior people.

2. Clear

Next principle is to make the communication clear without wandering around the subject topic. You have to express the meaning clearly so that readers can easily understand. Using familiar words, heading, simple sentences and structured paragraph can help in make your emails clear.

Incorrect	Correct
Our company has a very long history with more than 50 thousand employees and 5 branches.	Founder 10 years ago, our company has five branches and more than fifty thousands employees.

3. Concise

The third principle is to name your written communication concise. You can avoid using expressive words to make it simple. Below are some of the examples of using concise words instead of wordy expressions.

Incorrect	Correct
Due to the fact that	Because
For the purpose of	For

4. Concrete

The important part of your communication is to concretely express the content. In addition, you also need to make time and dates concrete instead of writing approximately.

Incorrect	Correct
In near future	By 2:30 p.m. Friday 10 April 2022
Increase in significant percentage	A 5% increase

5. Complete

Besides writing emails, the other important task many of us do is to schedule a meeting. As an owner or moderator, you may be well aware of the topic for the discussion. However, we often overlook the situation of all participants and forget to provide all necessary details for the meeting. The problem here is that some busy participants may need preparation time before arriving to meetings scheduled for specific purpose. Missing details like the topic of the discussion, physical or on-call meeting, time and meeting rooms will affect the objective. Therefore, always review the details before sending meeting invitations and emails and confirm the details are complete.

Incorrect	Correct
The meeting is on Friday, make sure to come.	There will be a meeting on 3:30 p.m. 10 Friday 2022 in 12th floor conference room #4. We will discuss about our new sales campaign program.

We always give respect to bosses when writing emails but treat our peers and colleagues with low respect. Sometime, people also end up arguing with client who actually sponsor the entire project or task. Always remember, you are only a small part of the entire organization or a discussion. Other colleagues opinions are equally important like yours, especially the clients. So, give respect to the people regardless of their position. Though, sometimes you may not get a proper response, avoid showing arrogance or using inappropriate words in the communication. This will spoil your relationship and affect your career when management staffs notice your behavior.

Incorrect	Correct
The refund can’t be given as it’s against our policy.	Perhaps you overlooked our policy statement about the limited time for refunds.

Wrapping It Up

Effective business writing is an art. Initially, you may struggle to learn that art. However, you can become an expert in short time by using the above-mentioned 6 C principles.