| Course | BU 245 Business Communication |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 4 |
| Paper type | Persuasive message |
| Length | About 1,030 words, 5 pages |
| Format | Business memo with analysis, APA 7 references |
| School | Herzing University |
| Program | BS in Business Management |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for BU 245 Unit 4
Memorandum
To: Ellen Brandt, Owner
From: Dana Whitfield, Operations Coordinator
Date: February 4, 2026
Re: Truck 2: a lease decision needed by February 13 to protect spring deliveries
Truck 2 has now caused three of our four late routes since November, and the two grocery chains whose contracts renew in April both asked about our on-time record in January. I recommend we replace it with a leased truck, and I need your decision by February 13 so a new truck can be in service before March.
The case in numbers: Truck 2 is a 2012 box truck with about 214,000 miles. Its repair bills for 2025 came to $9,840, an average of $820 a month, according to our maintenance log. It failed on the road or at the dock three times in the last 12 months, and the January 13 failure alone cost a $289 rental and a $212 credit to Harbor Street Market, plus the time I spent on 11 phone calls to stores.
The dealer's lease quote for a comparable new truck is $1,150 a month for 60 months, including scheduled maintenance. That is $330 a month more than Truck 2's average repair bill last year, before counting rentals, credits or the cost of a lost account. If Truck 2's repairs continue at last year's rate, the lease adds about $4,000 a year to our costs. If one grocery chain moves its April contract elsewhere because of late deliveries, we lose far more than that.
You may be wondering whether we should wait until after the busy summer season to commit. The difficulty is that the April renewals come before summer, and Truck 2 will keep running the south route through the coldest remaining weeks. A lease also avoids tying up cash: the quote requires no down payment, and Truck 2's estimated trade value of about $9,000 could be kept as a reserve.
Please let me know by Friday, February 13, whether I should ask the dealer to prepare the lease. I have attached the maintenance log, the lease quote and the two chains' January emails, and I can walk you through them in 15 minutes any morning this week.
Analysis: Why the Memo Is Built This Way
This memo asks the owner of Lakeshore Bread Company, a composite Milwaukee bakery with four delivery trucks, to approve leasing a replacement for its oldest truck. The request is significant for a small company, and the owner did not ask for it, so the memo must persuade. Each paragraph's choices are explained in turn below.
Opening With What the Reader Cares About
The memo does not begin with "I would like to propose leasing a new truck." That sentence states what the writer wants, and the reader's first thought would be the cost. Instead, it begins with two facts the owner already cares about: Truck 2 caused most of the recent late routes, and the two largest customers whose contracts renew in April have asked about on-time performance. Conger (1998) argued that effective persuaders find common ground first, framing their idea around goals the audience already holds. For the owner, protecting the April contracts is that goal, so the truck becomes a means of reaching it.
The recommendation and the deadline follow in the same paragraph. The owner should not have to read to the end to learn what is being asked, and placing the date early signals that the decision cannot drift.
Evidence Attached to Every Claim
Each figure in the memo is tied to a source the owner can check: the maintenance log for repair costs and failures, the rental receipt and the customer credit for the January 13 incident, the dealer's quote for the lease and the customers' own emails for their questions about reliability. A persuasive message that says a truck is "unreliable" and "expensive to maintain" asks the reader to trust the writer; one that says it failed three times and cost $9,840 in a year lets the reader verify the case. Cialdini (2001) describes several principles that make requests more persuasive, among them authority, and in an internal memo authority comes less from the writer's title than from evidence the reader recognizes as reliable.
The Benefit in the Reader's Terms
The comparison is written from the owner's point of view: what the lease adds to monthly costs, what the repairs already cost and what losing a customer would cost. It does not claim the lease saves money, because it does not. Stating honestly that the lease costs about $4,000 a year more than last year's repairs makes the rest of the memo more credible. The benefit the owner gains is protection of revenue and fewer mornings like January 13, and that benefit is stated in dollars where possible.
Answering the Objection First
The fourth paragraph raises the owner's most likely objection, waiting until after the summer, in her own words, and answers it with two facts: the contract renewals come first, and the lease needs no down payment. Conger (1998) noted that persuaders who anticipate objections and address them openly are seen as more credible than those who present only the favorable side. Leaving the objection for the owner to raise would give her a reason to postpone the decision.
One Action and a Date
The closing asks for one thing, a yes or no on preparing the lease, by one date, February 13. It offers the supporting documents and a short meeting, which makes saying yes easier without adding a second request. Persuasive messages often end with a vague hope that the reader will consider the idea. That kind of ending leaves the decision unscheduled. The specific deadline here is tied to a real constraint, delivery before March, so it does not read as pressure invented by the writer.
Tone and Length
The memo is about 400 words, short enough to read in two minutes, with the detail moved to attachments. Its tone is direct and respectful, appropriate for an employee writing to the owner, and it avoids exaggeration such as calling the truck a disaster. The federal plain language guidance recommends that writers address readers directly and put the most important information first (Digital.gov, n.d.), both of which the memo does.
References
Cialdini, R. B. (2001). Harnessing the science of persuasion. Harvard Business Review, 79(9), 72-79.
Conger, J. A. (1998). The necessary art of persuasion. Harvard Business Review, 76(3), 84-95.
Digital.gov. (n.d.). Plain language guide series. U.S. General Services Administration. https://digital.gov/guides/plain-language
Reading the BU 245 Unit 4 instructions
A persuasion assignment sits at the center of this unit: one message aimed at one reader, to take an action, such as approving a purchase, adopting a change or joining an effort, and in many sections to explain your strategy. Expect to identify the reader's interests, open with something they care about, support claims with evidence, address likely objections and end with a clear request. Instructors often ask for figures with sources rather than general claims. The message is usually a memo or email to someone with authority. An accompanying analysis should connect choices to persuasion principles from the course, with citations in APA 7.
How this BU 245 Unit 4 example is built
The memo is printed as sent: a header, a subject line naming the decision and deadline, and five short paragraphs. It opens with the late routes and the April renewals, then gives the case in numbers, each tied to a record. The comparison paragraph states the lease's added cost honestly and weighs it against losing a contract. The fourth paragraph raises the owner's likely wish to wait and answers it. The close asks for one decision by one date and offers documents and a short meeting. The analysis then explains, section by section, why the memo opens where it does, how evidence builds credibility, why the benefit is framed in the owner's terms and why the objection is handled first.
Reading the BU 245 Unit 4 rubric
The rubric for persuasive messages usually weighs understanding of the audience, strength of evidence, handling of objections, the call to action and the analysis. Audience understanding earns full points when the opening addresses the reader's goals rather than the writer's. Evidence is judged by specific, sourced figures, and instructors notice when a writer admits a weakness instead of hiding it. Objection handling rewards messages that raise the reader's likely concern before the reader does. The call to action scores best when it asks for one thing by a stated date. The analysis should tie each choice to a principle, as the sample does with common ground, credibility and anticipating objections.
BU 245 Unit 4 help before you submit
A common Unit 4 mistake is opening with I would like to propose, which puts the writer's goal ahead of the reader's. Another is relying on adjectives such as unreliable or costly instead of numbers with sources. Students often overstate the benefit, claiming savings that do not exist, which damages credibility once the reader checks. Many messages ignore the obvious objection and leave the reader to raise it. Closings often ask the reader to consider the idea without a date, so the decision never gets scheduled. Finally, keep the message short and move supporting detail to attachments; a persuasive memo that runs several pages asks too much of a busy reader.
Get a BU 245 Unit 4 example written to your instructions
Attach the Unit 4 instructions and the BU 245 rubric, with the scenario and the reader your section names. We write a custom example produced as a real memo, opening on the reader's interest, sourcing each figure, answering the strongest objection and closing on one dated action. First custom sample free, returned in 24 to 48 hours.
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BU 245 Unit 4 questions, answered
Where do the figures in a persuasive message come from?
From published material you cite, or from the scenario if the assignment supplies numbers. Where neither is available, argue without figures rather than inventing them: a specific description of what goes wrong now persuades better than a fabricated percentage, and a marker who tests a made-up statistic finds the whole message unreliable. Say clearly when a quantity is an estimate.
How hard should the request push?
Firmly and small. The action you ask for should be the next step rather than the whole decision, which usually means a meeting, a trial, or approval to gather quotes. Pressure tactics, deadlines the writer has no authority to set, and warnings about consequences tend to lose the reader and lose marks. Confidence comes from evidence and a clear ask, not from urgency.
Does the message need headings?
It depends on length and on what the instructions require. A short memo generally reads better as paragraphs, while anything running past a page benefits from headings a reader can scan. If you use them, make each one say something rather than label a part, and keep the sequence the same as the argument so a reader skimming still meets the objection.
Where can I find a free BU 245 Unit 4 sample paper?
The BU 245 Unit 4 persuasive memo, with its full analysis, is posted above and free to read. For a persuasive message aimed at your own reader and request, share the assignment and a custom example will be written for you at no cost, commonly within two days.
Can the BU 245 Unit 4 memo admit a weakness?
It should when the weakness is real. The sample states that the lease costs about $4,000 a year more than recent repairs, then shows why the risk to the April contracts outweighs it. Readers trust a case more when it does not hide the numbers they would find anyway.