Crafting a persuasive message is an important business skill, even if you're not working in the advertising department. You might have great ideas, but if you can't convince your boss to give them a try, your ideas will never get implemented. make a persuasive message. First, you'll need to come up with something to be persuasive about. There are many possibilities. You could be asking the boss for a new piece of equipment. You could be supporting a candidate for political office. Perhaps you could have a product or service to sell. You can pick any of the three scenarios above, or come up with one of your own. Once you've done that, please identify who needs to receive your persuasive message. You'll want to make sure to tailor your message to whoever is receiving it. For example, if you have a product to sell, who are your potential customers? New parents probably aren't the best market for imported cigars, but they'll be open to a deal on diapers. Once you have a receiver in mind, think about how he or she might benefit by accepting your persuasion. For example, how would your boss benefit by getting you a new computer? She won't care that it has a super-fast processor and comes in a Star Wars-inspired case. The benefit to your boss is that the new computer will help you be more productive. Or, in another example, how will new parents benefit from your diaper delivery service? I'd certainly consider freedom from washing dirty diapers a benefit, wouldn't you? So now we have something to be persuasive about, someone to receive the persuasive message, and a benefit that will improve the receiver's life. That's almost everything we need to get started. Let's add two more elements. First, you need to get the reader's attention. This is often the most difficult thing to accomplish, especially if you're writing to someone who doesn't know you. The lecture offered several suggestions, including using a "What if..." question or borrowing a famous quotation. Feel free to get creative! For the diaper service, an effective opening line might be, "Never wash another dirty diaper!" And finally, your message should close with a call to action. You've been trying to persuade the reader to do something, so go ahead and ask him to follow through--to make a phone call, visit a website, vote for your candidate, or approve your new computer. Once you've thought through all of those elements, you're ready to start composing your persuasive message. For this exercise, please make a letter or memo 2 pages of words long that attempts to persuade the reader to take some action. Make sure your work shows that you've considered who you're addressing and how they'll benefit from your proposal.