Consideration is another important feature essential for business communication.

In business, cordial relationships have to be maintained overcoming obstacles that are incidentally or deliberately caused. Understanding the other person, his views and mental attitude is important to make your communication have the quality of consideration. In an oral communication Situation, at a face-to-face meeting, one is expected to cultivate an empathizing response. Enquiring, advising responses are not good to promote cordiality. This factor of empathy needs to be incorporated in written communication also. When you empathize with someone, you are adopting a You attitude. When you adopt this You attitude, you are able to appreciate the other persons situation and modify your communication style with consideration. Look at this Oral communication situation. A tells B that he is not able to concentrate on his studies. Bs response can be any one of the following: A: I am not able to concentrate on my studies. Responses Bl: Why is it so? B2: You should try harder. B3: I know how difficult it is to concentrate on studies, given the situation you are in. Bls response is searching response. His response reveals his curiosity. B2s response is advising response. He is advising from a superior position. B3s response is empathizing response. He is an understanding person. An empathizing response leads to better understanding and acts as a step forward in problem solving. The same You attitude should be incorporated in written communication. It gives the letter a pleasant and positive overtone. Look at the two following announcements given by a bank on the same subject. 1. We are happy to announce that transaction can be made even after 3.00 PM till 5.00 PM at the tellercounter. 2. You will be (or customers will be) able to do transactions after office hours, at the Teller counter till 5.00 PM. The second announcement prioritizes customer benefit and so is more considerate. But using you cannot be always receiver sensitive. Letters putting the blame on the receiver can have a negative impact. Look at the following statements. Cable TV Operator 1: You have failed to pay the dues for the month of July for your cable connection. Cable TV Operator! : The dues for cable TV connection for the month of July remain unpaid. The second one is more considerate and the first one is insensitive.

In business communication, receiver / reader benefit appeals to the reader and so results in promoting business and building goodwill. Consideration also means emphasizing positive and pleasant facts. You can say. Goods in bad condition and without the bill will not be exchanged Goods in good condition accompanied by bills can be exchanged. Both sentences mean the same but the second one is more positive and assertive. Very few customers will make attempts to exchange goods without the bill. It will be better to say Travelling allowance will be paid for travels extending beyond 10 KMs than to say No travelling allowance will be paid for distances less than 10 KMs. Compare the following pairs of sentences. In each pair, the second one is more considerate than the first one which is slightly insensitive. 1. It is not possible for us to extend locker facility to you since you do not have a fixed / term deposit in our bank. Extending locker facility will be attended to as soon as we receive an investment in FD/TD from you. 2. You are wrong. Our perceptions appear to be different. 3. The car left by you for service cannot be delivered before the end of the month. The car given to us for service will be delivered after thorough service by the end of the month.