Efficient Writting

Efficient Writing

Please do not waste my time

Presented by:

Javier Bernad

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Speak & Span

Barrancos 42, 28290 Las Matas, Madrid

+34 91 630 11 91; +34 609 234 393

www.speakandspan.com

IN-CLASS EXERCISES

1. Which information should go first in this memo?

Bumstead Tool Company opened a credit card account with us on July 15, 2000. In October 2014 they began falling behind in payments. After the usual collection letters, we put the company on our delinquent list and cancelled their credit. At that time they owed $1,572.09. I phoned Mr. H. D. Bumstead, company president, on April 2, and he promised to send us the full amount within 30 days. I also requested that the company return our three credit cards.

That was 30 days ago. We have received the credit cards but no money.

This customer shows no willingness to cooperate. The Retail Credit Bureau reports they are unable to pay other bills. I recommend that this account be turned over to our legal department for further action.

Mr. Bumstead was formerly sales manager of The Western Tool Company. They have been a good customer of ours for many years. He formed Bumstead Tool Company July 1, 1998.

2. If you were to write a document on the following premises, what questions should be answered within the document? What are the advantages, disadvantages, and objections? Are there alternatives?

You are to write a memo to the dean of IE Business School, recommending that all courses be moved to a new site north of Madrid, surrounded by 20 acres of forest and with no facilities other than those located within the campus. On-site facilities would include two licensed restaurants, three cafeterias, a sports center, two libraries, a dorm, and a student shop. Real estate costs are €2 million, 20% below the market average. Building and conditioning costs amount to €12 million. At planned enrolment levels, break-even would be achieved in year 8. Research has proven that students prefer to attend classes in an enclosed campus, but dislike the fact that it would be outside the city. The relocation option has been discussed in the past but there was never an alternative as advantageous as this one.

3. The following memo has been written without a false start, and with no logical flow. Do a false start, design the objective-conclusion-key points-next steps flow, and write it over:

We think we should relaunch the Winnie the Pooh franchise. The character has been getting old and we need to revive it in order to maintain our current sales levels, which are down 25% vs last year.

We have tested the idea in Japan during March 2015, following the success of Sanrio’s Hello Kitty repositioning there to teenagers. It looks like a clear win, with 90% of women in the sample showing a like / would buy rating.