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Файл:Business writing for economists and managers = Деловая корреспонденция для экономистов и менеджеров. Учебно-методическое пособие
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CHAPTER 3
Product Descriptions
Starting out
Ех. 3.1. Read the following information:
A product description is the copy used to describe product features, problems it
solves, and other benefits to help generate sales.
Ех. 3.2. Are the product descriptions good or bad?
A
Sure to be one of your favourites, our Onzie graphic pants are a year-round stunner. Blending art
and fashion, the unique placement-printing process for our Graphic Legging is one of kind! As one
of our top Onzie leggings, these graphic pants are custom made and are truly a statement price. See
our Size Guide for more information. Available sizes: X/S, S/M, M/L.
• inseam on size S/M (in inches): 28.5;
• hand or machine wash cold;
• tumble or hang dry;
• made in USA.
B
The NCAA Men’s and High Schools Boys Official KAP7 Size 5 HydroGrip Water Polo Ball has
quickly become the go-to choice for amateur and elite water polo players alike. KAP7 has tapped
into years of experience, proprietary technology, and the highest quality materials to develop the
HydroGrip Ball. It is the best and longest lasting ball in the world. The HydroGrip has been designed to meet guidelines for local, national, and global specifications.
Features:
• the Official NCAA Men’s Water Polo Game Ball;
• NCAA, NFHS, CWPA, American Water Polo and USA Water Polo APPROVED;
• water reactant grip for control;
• hand buffed for added grip;
• precision wound nylon carcass;
• colour options to represent your team with pride.
Practice
Ех. 3.3. Which recommendations to describe products are the best?
1. Determine the best format to describe your product.
2. Avoid goals to measure the success of product descriptions.
3. Make your product description copy long.
4. Make your product description easy to read.
5. Use storytelling to your advantage.
6. Do not boast.
7. Do not be afraid to be unique.
42
Ех. 3.4. Crafting a compelling product description requires utilising the Who,
What, Where, When, Why, and How method. Match components of the method (1–6)
and their descriptions (a–f):
1. Who is the product for?
2. What are the product’s basic details?
3. Where would someone use this product?
4. When should someone use this product?
5. Why is this product useful or better than its competitors’?
6. How does the product work?
a) It is a must-have especially if you are selling anything with moving parts
or electronics.
b) It is meant for indoor or outdoor use, for your car or your home.
c) It is meant to be used during a certain time of day, seasonally, or for a spe-
cific type of occasion.
d) The target audience can be a gender, age group, lifestyle demographic, or
some other defined group of people.
e) This can be anything from quality to value to features — really think about
the benefits that will speak to customers.
f) This includes attributes such as dimensions, materials, product features, and
functions.
Ех. 3.5. Read the short product descriptions and answer the questions:
A
AKG C12VR Large Diaphragm Tube Condenser Microphone
• Classic 1-inch (25 mm) condenser tube performance of the original AKG C 12
• Multiple patterns (nine total) remotely controlled with silent switching
• Uses the original 6072 vacuum tube
• Uses the original 1950s dual diaphragm design for sound that has the same warmth, clarity
and presence of the original
• Internal microphone switching for pre-attenuation of -10, -20dB and boost of +10dB to ac-
commodate all studio requirements
• External (in control unit) two-position bass cut / roll-off
B
Bianca Toothpaste
Wake up with Bianca! Bianca Toothpaste is made of a refreshing mixture of peppermint and eucalyptus, leaving your mouth clean, fresh and ready to start the day.
1. What does the text in A focus on?
2. How are technical product descriptions presented in A?
3. What is typical of product descriptions for cosmetic products in B?
43
Ех. 3.6. Read the extract from a leaflet and say what is being advertised:
This is our newest model and it is our most compact yet. It is only 2.5 centimetres thick and
weighs only 2.12 kilograms, making it perfect for the travelling business person. In spite of its size,
it still keeps its attractive and stylish design and remains highly functional, with all the features you
have to come to love in our products.
It remains user-friendly, with our unique touch operating system and it has all the practical
functionality you would expect from our products, including wi-fi, Bluetooth, and a huge 1TB
hard drive.
The OP245Y is our most attractive, but most economical product yet.
Ех. 3.7. Read the leaflet from ex. 3.6 and answer the questions:
1. Why is the product good for travelling business people?
2. Is the product nice to look at?
3. Is the size of the product a problem?
4. Does the writer think that the reader has used previous models?
5. Is the product easy to use?
Ех. 3.8. Look at the leaflet from ex. 3.6 and complete the table with information
about the product:
What is the product?
Features
Functions
Ех. 3.9. Match adjectives 1–6 from the leaflet from ex. 3.6 to definitions a–f:
1) compact;
2) user-friendly;
3) unique;
4) practical;
5) economical;
6) stylish.
a) high quality in appearance / design;
b) suitable, effective;
c) easy to use;
d) small and neat;
e) costs less time or money than usual;
f) not like anything else.
Ех. 3.10. Write a promotional leaflet for the product. Use the following information:
What is the product?
Features
Functions
E45, camera for travellers
Compact, lightweight, userfriendly, easy to navigate, attractive, stylish
Taking pictures, unique menu
system
Review
Ех. 3.11. Find true statements about crafting product descriptions:
1. Think about the who, what, where, when, why, and how before writing.
2. Determine the best format to describe your products: bullet points, storytell-
ing, visuals, videos.
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3. Choose goals to measure success of product descriptions.
4. Make your product description copy short.
5. Provide all possible details for technical products.
Minutes
Starting out
Ех. 3.12. Look at the agendas and choose the correct explanation:
Agenda
Date:
31 January
Time:
1.30 pm
Venue:
Main conference room
1 Matters arising
2 Erskine to present new quotations for building new canteen
3 Stuart to propose changes to staff newsletter
4 AOB
Meeting agenda — Finance department efficiency drive
Date:
23 August
Time:
11.45–13.15
Venue:
Room 127
1 Minutes of last meeting
2 Chasing up late payers
3 Covering for absent colleagues
4 Reducing office waste
5 AOB
1. Agenda is a list of items to be discussed at a formal meeting.
2. Agenda is a summarised record of the proceedings at a meeting.
3. Agenda is an official memo recommending a course of action.
Ех. 3.13. What do you know about agendas? Find only true statements:
1. The participants get the agenda when they arrive at the meeting.
2. The agenda tells you what the meeting is about.
3. You do not know who is attending the meeting when you look at the agenda.
4. The items on the agenda tell you what will happen in the meeting.
5. The agenda should start with difficult items.
6. You should make a written record of the meeting.
7. Action minutes do not tell you who is responsible for which task.
Ех. 3.14. Read the following recommendations about agendas:
1. Put important topics near the beginning.
2. Ensure the points are clear.
3. Do not put more items on the agenda that can be discussed.
4. Distribute before the meeting.
45
Ех. 3.15. Read the following information about meetings:
The minutes of meetings are written records of what was said or decided
(‘action points’). One person is usually in charge of writing and typing the minutes
and sending them to everyone that attended the meeting (and also to people who were
not able to be at the meeting) within 24 hours. Minutes can be sent as documents
or emails.
It is recommended that the person responsible for the minutes should:
1. Keep them short and to the point.
2. Record when a member of the group is asked to perform a task.
3. Keep a note of all action points agreed and who is responsible.
4. Make notes in the meeting.
5. Write the minutes soon after the meeting.
Ех. 3.16. How should you organise notes on a meeting? Study the notes and
decide where you should include the following components:
Meeting to discuss Staff social event, A
25th June 20…
Present: BD, PJ, GW, KT B
1 Suggestions for events C
We brainstormed the following ideas:
picnic
adventure day
boat trip
We decided to ask staff which event they prefer.
2 Date for the event
We agreed that the event should be on Saturday October 4th.
3 Budget
Management has given us a budget of €1,300 for the event. We could also ask staff to buy tickets
for guests to increase the money that we have for food and drink.
Actions: D
BD to research costs.
PJ to design an information document for staff.
GW to arrange a staff meeting to choose an event.
Deadline: 6th July E
Next meeting: 11.20 am 8th July, KT’s office F
1) action points and people responsible;
2) agenda points and decisions;
3) date or time for completing actions;
4) details of next meeting;
5) people who attended;
6) subject and date.
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Practice
Ех. 3.17. Read about the meeting situations 1–4 and answer questions a–c:
1. Hyperion Productions office staff are meeting in a café to discuss their Christmas
lunch.
2. Skanska has just completed a major construction project. They are holding a one-
off project review meeting today.
3. Life in Colours is a printing company. The finance department are holding their
fortnightly update meeting.
4. At BitStore, two senior executives are meeting this afternoon to discuss which
of four interviewees they will appoint as sales manager.
a) How formal will each meeting be?
b) What is the purpose of each meeting?
c) Which meetings require minutes? Why?
Ех. 3.18. Read the minutes of a management committee at Head Office and say
what a Head Office, b Mirratec decided:
Minutes of the Management Committee Meeting, 22 November
Attendees: Jan Navratil, MD; Ines Caba, Production; Christopher Taberley, Finance
Bychawa Community Centre. JN reported that the plan had been favourably received at Head Office.
Even so, there were concerns about the size of the investment and the project’s impact on productivity.
But he stressed that group management were aware of the need for good relations with local communities, and would support Mirratec’s decision. Consequently, JN felt that they should go ahead.
IC agreed that it was important to improve public relations, but he emphasised the risks involved
for production, for example, absenteeism and quality issues. She claimed that the project could become an excuse to take time off work, especially during the construction phase in the summer.
CT reminded the meeting that only a small number of employees would be concerned. Obviously department managers would have to organise cover for any absences. In other words, production
should not be affected. Furthermore, managers of other departments were very happy with the
product on the whole. In brief, he suggested that the benefits in developing team spirit were clearly
far greater than any potential risk to productivity.
Finally, it was agreed that the project should be approved.
Ех. 3.19. Complete spaces 1–7 in the minutes with the labels a–g:
Meeting minutes
Date: 31 August Time: 17.30
1 ……: Room 419
2 ……: Alejandro Demara (AD)
3 ……: Mariana Escudero (ME), Bruno Lomas (BL), Gonzalo Pacana (GP)
4 ……
5 ……
6 ……
1 New staff
AD announced the appointment of Sofia Triano as head
of accounts payable.
2 Office layout
BL expressed concern about the open-plan arrangement.
We identified two main problems: telephone noise and
lack of meeting rooms. ME proposed screens or full partitions. We agreed that AD will investigate the price of
screens and BL will get quotations on full partitions.
AD and BL
14 September
47
3 Expenses claims
GP requested that all staff complete expense claim
forms on time. We accepted that the form could be
simpler. GP will prepare a new form by next meeting.
GP
14 September
4 Appraisals
We decided that the current appraisal system is not
working, and we concluded that six-monthly appraisals
would be better. ME to look into the practicalities of
this.
ME
18 September
7 ……: 14 September 13.15
a) Item
b) Action
c) Next Meeting
d) Venue
e) Attendees
f) Discussion
g) Chair
Ех. 3.20. Answer these questions about the minutes in ex. 3.19:
1. What do you notice about how names are presented?
2. What is the purpose of the Action column?
3. Which verbs in the minutes tell you what happened?
4. Which verbs in the minutes tell you what actions are planned?
Ех. 3.21. Match useful phrases (a–j) for meetings to the topics (1–6):
1. Giving the subject.
2. Saying who attended.
3. Summarising the chairperson’s introduction.
4. Reporting discussion.
5. Reporting decisions.
6. Reporting action points and deadlines.
7. Giving details of the next meeting.
a) Action: Chris to check sales figures.
b) Meeting to discuss …
c) Naomi will speak to … before the 22nd.
d) Present: …
e) Ms Z expressed approval and added …
f) We brainstormed …
g) We decided that …
h) Mr Y disagreed and argued …
i) Ms X opened the meeting with the following points …
j) Mr N will send a report to the Finance Committee within the next few days.
k) Next meeting: 4 pm, 21st November, Room 7
l) Deadline: 26th December
48
Ех. 3.22. Read the agenda and minutes and answer the questions:
1. Who chaired this meeting and who will chair the next one?
2. What two points on the ‘Minutes of the last meeting’ were discussed
in the meeting?
3. What do HTC and MPH have to do before the next meeting?
4. What items were physically looked at?
5. What does AOB stand for? Was the suggestion approved?
A
Agenda — Sales team meeting
From:
Ethan Taylor
Date:
Monday 1st October at 10.30 am
Venue:
Floor 4, Room 16
1 Welcome and apologies
2 Minutes of the last meeting
3 Actions taken
4 New product briefing
5 Brochure cover approval
6 AOB
7 Date, time and place of next meeting
B
Minutes — Sales team meeting
Date:
10.30 am Monday 1st October
Chair:
Chris Taylor
Present:
BR, HTC, OP, RM, PS, MPH, JK
Absent:
KS, AD
The minutes of the last meeting were approved.
Actions taken
BR has found a new web designer for our website.
RM has started working on the database.
New products
a digital alarm clock with night light
a high resolution digital audio player
Action: MPH to send team compliments to the product development team.
Brochure
HTC has developed next season’s brochure, which looks great. The team were shown three covers.
Cover no. 2 was chosen.
Action: HTC to increase typeface and make the colour less strong.
Any other business
JK suggested the team re-organise the diary so we know when staff are out of the office. This was
agreed.
Action: JK to circulate diary for planned staff absences to be recorded.
Date, time and place of next meeting
9.30 am Tuesday 3rd November. Floor 4, Room 23.
Next meeting’s Chair
Kieran Nguyen
49
Ех. 3.23. Summarise these extracts from the meeting using appropriate verbs
from the box:
congratulate discuss explain reject suggest confirm
1. ME: Basically, there are two options: either we install screens or full parti-
tions. Of course, screens would be cheaper, but, on the other hand, full partitions
would probably be much more effective. … We discussed the pros and cons
of screens or full partitions.
2. AD: So, to summarise, we all agree then that we don’t want to keep the exist-
ing open-plan arrangement, OK?
3. AD: Well done, Sofia. You’ve really done a great job in accounts receivable.
4. GP: The reasons why the current appraisal system is not working are that
the interviews take too long and they only happen once a year.
5. GP: I’ve spoken to all the department heads and I can assure you that they all
think the current expense claim form is too complicated.
6. BL: Why don’t we get three quotations for screens and three for partitions?
Ех. 3.24. Match the decisions 1–6 with the action plans a–f, using an appropriate
action verb from the box:
chase up contact arrange draw up organise evaluate
1. AD suggested celebrating Sofia’s promotion. He will … organise
2. We decided to consult department heads on the new appraisal scheme. AD will …
3. ME proposed getting examples of screens and partitions so she will …
4. It was agreed that external advice on running appraisal interviews would be useful.
BL will …
5. We concluded that a more detailed cost breakdown is necessary. GP to …
6. It was noted that only one quotation has been received to date. GP to …
a) a visit to the suppliers’ showroom.
b) the other two suppliers.
c) an after-work drink in the local pub for the accounts department.
d) the best proposals and report back at the next meeting.
e) a specialised management consultancy.
f) a draft questionnaire before our next meeting.
Ех. 3.25. Look at the notes taken from the follow-up meeting with Eskirne, Lana,
and Stuart. Write up full minutes:
Agenda
Date:
5 February
Time:
12.00
Venue:
Main conference room
1 Matters arising
2 Lana to present report on hot desking and make a proposal
3 Erskine to present schedule for canteen building work
4 Stuart to make proposal for quarterly newsletter
Team to approve
5 Lana to report on party
50
1. —
2. Hot desking very unpopular. Staff demotivated. Not really necessary. Problem
can be solved by smaller desks for everyone. Some extra cost involved.
3. Put up temporary tent for canteen 20 February. Problem — small distance
to walk in open. Clear out fittings of canteen 21–25 February. Building work 26 February — 11 March. Open new canteen 16 March.
4. Quarterly newsletter — pros — less time-consuming. More news to report so
more interesting. Less cost. Cons — not so up-to-date. Proposal — quarterly newsletter. Team approved this.
5. New canteen opens 16 March. Enough buffet time if problems occur. Party
in new canteen.
Review
Ех. 3.26. Check what you know about minutes. Find true statements and correct
the false ones:
1. At every business meeting someone is assigned to take the minutes.
2. This person notes down all the important points made at the meeting and later
writes up a clear summary of what was said and decided.
3. The ‘action’ column is not important since it does not show who is supposed
to do what by when.
4. It is generally agreed that the minutes should be sent within 48 hours to all
the participants and anyone else affected by the content.
5. Minutes are sent to make sure that things discussed at meetings actually
get done.
6. The initials of the person responsible for carrying out any action are normally
required.
7. Minutes usually begin with the summary and opinions exchanged.
8. The style of language is informal.
9. Sentences should be short, clear, concise, and easy to read.
10. It is important to summarise only the most important points, not include
everything that was said.
Ех. 3.27. Entitle the columns (A–D) in the action minutes:
Subject:
New office equipment
Date:
10 April 20…
Participants:
JS, KG, EdeG, CBM, DG
A B C
D
1 Change computer
supplier
Agreed
Present supplier too expensive
CBM to check companies
by 15/5
2 New chairs
Agreed
Staff have back problems
JS to buy by 15/5
3 Take out walls
Not agreed
Difficult to work: too much
noise from colleagues
None
4 Install coffee bar on
6th floor
Agreed
Improve communication
and atmosphere
DG to check costs by
15/5
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