Business Communications: Part One

Success in business depends on clear writing

Poor quality written communications can reflect badly on your business; whereas learning to be clear and concise will reap dividends.

Peter Drucker, the ever popular management guru, once declared that 60 per cent of all management problems result from poor communication. His message is clear: effective communication is crucial to business.

The truth of this is being recognised the world over by both the public sector and the corporate world.

Toronto City Council, for example, recently hired a consultant to teach its officials how to write more simply. In the U.S.A., food labels are required by law to be written in words everyone can understand. Here in Britain, the government took great pains to ensure its new “Guide to the EU” could be easily grasped by everyone – and even won a Clear English Standard mark for its efforts.

Today’s companies, intent on watching their bottom line, are also looking for ways to make their communications more straightforward and easy to understand.

“With the fast pace of today’s electronic communications, one might think that the value of fundamental writing skills has diminished,” says Joseph M. Tucci, president and CEO of EMC Corporation and chairman of the Business Roundtable’s Education and Workforce Task Force. “[But] actually the need to write clearly and quickly has never been more important than in today's highly competitive, technology-driven global economy.”

Bad for your image

It makes no difference whether the writer is a CEO, sales manager, or customer services representative, poor communications can lead to loss of business.

“If you send out a [communication] that is filled with errors, you’re losing credibility. You send the image that your company is careless,” says Dawn Josephson, president of Cameo Publications, a U.S.-based editorial and publishing services firm.

MIT professor Jane Dunphy, who teaches students how to be better communicators, sees wordiness as another big failing in most business writing.

“A lot of writing is excessively wordy, and not reader-friendly,” she says. “People often think that their writing will sound more professional if they do things that Scott Adams does in Dilbert, such as using the word ‘utilise’ instead of ‘use’. Adams is satirising. But it’s often difficult to convince [people] that simple, straightforward writing is more compelling than dense prose.”

Refresher courses

Just as managers and directors find it useful to take refresher courses in business principles, they might find it equally helpful to revisit the rules of grammar and communication.

“Writing is not merely putting words on a page. It is using words that make sense, that express an idea in the clearest possible way,” says Lynne Agress in Working with Words in Business and Legal Writing. She argues that taking training in communication makes writing sharper and more direct. It helps people cut out unnecessary thoughts and phrases, which can bury a message. Agress cites the following policy statement as a typical example of unwieldy prose:

Many employees are using the fax machine and the Internet for reasons not necessarily pertaining to the normal conduct of business. For this reason, we are limiting the use of the fax machine and access to the Internet to those employees who are conducting business directly related to the carrying out of normal business.

Agress says this level of wordiness is far too common in all aspects of business writing. She points out that the trained writer would slash the 54 words down to 13 by writing the following:

The fax machine and the Internet may be used for company business only.

Applying this “less is more” principle to everything from sales literature and customer relations to technical manuals and proposals is becoming more and more important in the fast-paced world of business. As Peter Drucker says: “As soon as you take one step on the [business] ladder your effectiveness depends on your ability to communicate your thoughts in writing…”

Online Journals

Blogging for business?

Weblogs, or online journals, have become the latest craze on the Internet – but can they double as a marketing tool?

There are endless ways to market a company. But letting your sales people expose their personal thoughts to the world might take the biscuit – for some, at least. But experts are predicting that companies will soon be banking on this idea to sell products and services.

Weblogs, or blogs, are Internet pages created by people to relate their opinions, experiences, and insights. They’ve been around for five or six years. But up until now have been used mainly by enthusiasts and not in a business context.

“A [weblog] is someone’s diary that they've put online,” says Gary Stein, marketing and advertising analyst at Jupiter Research in San Francisco. “[Weblogs] become more or less interesting depending on who it is. They are a way to build personal brands.”

Stein notes that companies are now beginning to view weblogs as a way to build corporate brands. The philosophy behind this is that individuals representing a company can contribute to its overall brand by writing weblogs.

He says analysts at his Internet technology consultancy have created weblogs as a way to share their views of an industry or a company. “This is a way for people to get a flavour for what it is that we do,” he says.

Popularity

The first group to jump on the blog bandwagon in the mid-1990s was, not surprisingly, programmers. Dave Winer, founder of UserLand Software, a leading developer of weblog and content management software, even made weblogs mandatory for the programmers working for him. He publishes his own blog (about blogs) at www.scripting.com.

The blog concept quickly spread to librarians and lawyers – two professional groups who work with information. Weblogs are also making their way into the military, politics, and mass culture. During the war in Afghanistan, the U.S. Army had a popular blog written by Scorpio, later identified as Major Chris Chambers (www.americasarmy.com). A blog from Baghdad hosted by Salam Pax reported on the war situation from an Iraqi point of view. Blogs also played a key part in the recent U.S. presidential elections.

Though no one knows exactly how many blogs currently exist, Jupiter Research estimates that there are 2.4 to 2.9 million blogs today. More than 1,000 new ones are added daily.

For and against

Some however are sceptical about the marketing viability of weblogs. Leading advertising copywriter and marketing expert Robert W. Bly, says: “[Blogs are] a complete waste of time – a pure vanity publication that won’t pay you back even one thin dime for your effort – unlike e-mail and ezines, where my clients document millions of dollars in sales.”

Toby Bloomberg of Bloomberg Marketing disagrees. In his experience, blogging has proved highly profitable.

“I can directly relate my blog to new business opportunities and a new service offering – developing marketing blog strategies,” he says. “I also have developed a rich resource network that is invaluable to me in my work. I have no advertising on my blog, and probably never will, but it brings very definite benefits in terms of marketing.”

>>> Tips for using weblogs as marketing tools:

Pick the most colourful individual within the company to build a weblog

It could be your CEO, product manager, or customer service rep. But they must be a strong character and be entertaining – just like the best sales people are.

Weblogs should remain personal or they lose integrity

Weblogs aren't vehicles for corporate communication. They should bring out and encourage people’s personalities – which, hopefully, will further your sales and marketing goals.

Don’t sell anything via weblogs, and don’t charge users to view them

Weblogs are vehicles for sharing personal thoughts and expertise. But they could contribute to the selling process: in pitches, salespeople could refer prospects to them for more information.

Plain Words’ Promotions

Training courses for all your communications needs

Plain Words is hosting regular public writing courses for business people. Why should you attend? Well, as management guru Peter Drucker says: “As soon as you take one step on the [business] ladder your effectiveness depends on your ability to communicate your thoughts in writing…”

The bottom line is: the more able you are as a writer, the more powerful and effective your written material will be:

• Business reports will have greater impact.
• Sales literature will pull more sales and leads.
• Bids and proposals will seal more contracts.
• Technical documents will be genuinely user-friendly.
• Everyday e-mails, letters and memos will be easily understood (no more going back and forth for clarification).

If you would like to hone up your writing abilities to enhance your status and that of your company, why not attend one or more of the following writing courses?

• 25 Nov 04   Writing Effective Letters and E-mails
• 20 Jan 05   Writing Winning Bids and Proposals
• 27 Jan 05   Report Writing
• 03 Feb 05   Writing for the Web
• 10 Feb 05   Designing & Writing Technical Documents

All courses are held in Newbury, Berkshire, and in other parts of the UK. Simply call us for details on 01635-202013.

Coming soon…

New! Writing a Compelling Business Case

Learn how to develop a good business case, from thinking through the initial concept to the best way to present it. Our new course is being held on 8th March 2005. Call us now on 01635-202013 to book and get further details.

New! Copywriting Essentials

Let us help you to gain powerful, compelling copywriting skills. Get these right and not only do you boost sales, but the word literally flies out about your products and services. This new course is being held on 22nd March 2005. Call us now on 01635-202013 to book and get further details.

Editor Recommends

The Economist Style Guide

Magazines, newspapers, book publishers and professional writers use style guides to make sure their writing conforms to good grammar and usage. One of the very best is issued online by The Economist magazine – and is written in a light and humorous tone. Check it out at: http://www.economist.co.uk/research/StyleGuide

Note: The Economist also offers an expanded hardback version of the Style Guide (cover price £16.99), which comes equally highly recommended.