In today’s ultra-competitive business environment, the ability to communicate is integral to success. The bottom line is, you are what you communicate.
Poor presentations leave poor and lasting impressions about the quality of your business. Attention to detail will keep your firm’s image polished.
According to a recent Business Week article, Hard Rock Caf & #233; CEO Jim Berk understands this. The detail-oriented Berk, a former educator in our own L.A. Unified School District, corrects all executive memos and correspondence before they leave the company.
The unfortunate truth is that for most people, writing is a chore. Perhaps Pulitzer Prize winner/sportswriter Red Smith summed it up best when he said, “Writing is easy. You just sit down at the typewriter and open a vein.”
If we agree, then, that good writing is an essential business tool but that most of us dislike doing it, how do you write brochures with impact, correspondence that gets results, reports and memos that leave no room for ambiguity and persuasive proposals?
In a sentence, write for your reader and be concise.
Admittedly, this is easier said than done. So after you’ve wasted a little time worrying and procrastinating about that next writing project, consider these tips that may help you get beyond that blank computer screen:
Write from your reader’s perspective. You appeal to your reader’s needs by describing how your product, services or idea benefit him or her.
Compare these two approaches:
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Describing the product or concept in terms the reader can relate to on a personal level is much more likely to pique the reader’s interest and elicit a response.
The first approach, written from the writer’s perspective, forces readers to create their own connections between themselves and your message.
Before embarking on any writing project, formulate your key point. Write it out in three sentences or less. This will keep you focused on your message. By being selective about what you say, you avoid loose, disorganized writing and keep ancillary issues from detracting from your subject.
If you’re having trouble getting started, jot down any words that come to mind so that you get your ideas on paper. Take the ideas you’ve jotted down and turn them into sentences. Chances are, you’ve just sketched out your first draft.
Use everyday language (fix instead of rectify, try instead of endeavor). As Winston Churchill said, “Short words are the best.”
Overall, keep it simple. Write in short, easy-to-understand sentences. Your reader will appreciate not having to work hard to get your message. One idea per sentence is a good rule of thumb.
For finding just the right word, nothing beats a thesaurus. This tool is a gem for helping you say precisely what you mean, in the time it takes to flip a few pages or keystroke to your toolbar.
Keep the tone professional yet personal by using “I” and “you.” “I have enclosed the guidelines you requested” is less archaic and reads better than “Enclosed herewith are the requested guidelines.”
And use active language. This makes shorter sentences with more impact. You do this by putting the “doer” (who or what) at the beginning of the sentence. Active: The marketing genius tested the waters. Passive: The waters were tested by the marketing genius.
Organize your document by letting your reader know up front why you are writing to him or her. Your first paragraph should identify the purpose of your communication. Use the body to expand on your message.
Close with a statement of what you expect from your reader, e.g., “Please call me to renew your order.” It is always a good idea to get distance from your writing. If you can, step away from your writing project, go back to what you’ve written later and re-read your document. You will be able to see right away whether it needs revising or editing.
Having a colleague review your work can be invaluable. Others often catch mistakes that we miss over and over again when we review our own work.
Business people are busy people, with little time to spend distilling information from the masses of material they read daily. Your output must be clear, concise and powerful.
Write accurately and succeed. Like any other skill, writing can be honed by following a few basic rules. And it is a craft well worth investing in. Communications that fail to deliver a focused message are a liability. By making your communications readable, you avoid the cost of errors while building your image.
Judith Gordon is president of Write it Right, a Los Angeles-based consultancy focused on effective business communications.
Entrepreneur’s Notebook is a regular column contributed by EC2, The Annenberg Incubator Project, a center for multimedia and electronic communications at the University of Southern California. Contact Dan Rabinovitch at (213) 743-2344 with feedback and topic suggestions. Point your Web browser to http://www.ec2.edu/EC2/sba to get past issues of Entrepreneur’s Notebook.
