Peter
Drucker, the father of the science of office management,
says "As soon as you take one step up the career ladder
your effectiveness depends on your ability to communicate
your thoughts in writing and in speaking." In other
words, if you want to be noticed within or outside your
organization, you have to be able to express yourself-clearly
and concisely.
However,
many companies don't realize that this advice is as true
today as it was ten years ago.
For
example, a senior executive recently told me, "No one
in my company writes anymore. We just send e-Mails."
Interesting thought. But totally naive. E-mails may have
reduced the need for paper, snail mail and limbo time (the
time a message spends in transit) but they still require
the sender to convey his thoughts clearly and concisely,
using the rules for good business writing.
In
addition, e-mails are not as easy to write as some would
think. In a recent consulting job, I found the employees
were sending such sloppy e-Mails they frequently had to
send two or three messages to interpret their first transmission-a
complete waste of time.
And
writing short e-mail messages is often harder than writing
longer documents. As Rudyard Kipling once wrote, "Sorry
this is such a long letter, but I didn't have time to write
a short one."
Your
Writing Creates an Image
The
company's and the writer's image are two more reasons for
good writing skills. When a reader scans a document he subconsciously
builds a picture of the writer. The writer can project the
image of a conscientious, energetic professional, or the
image of a bored bureaucrat marking time with an antiquated
company.
Quite
recently, a manager asked me to work with one of her new
salespeople. After reading copies of the correspondence
the salesman was sending to his customers, I pictured a
man in his late fifties, probably with gray hair and blessed
with old-world good manners. In actual fact, the salesman
was just out of university. It turned out that the young
man had been taking home all of his correspondence to write
under the guidance of his father. The cheerful, straight
forward and almost flip manner the salesman used on the
phone and in face-to-face situations was in direct contrast
to the old-fashioned, stilted correspondence he was submitting.
Both customers and colleagues were confused by the opposing
communication styles.
Good
Writing Attracts Customers
Good
writing is a way of combating today's high cost of face-to-face
sales calls. The president of a plumbing supply company
recently told me that it doesn't pay to send his sales staff
out on the road visiting smaller customers or to have them
spend a day on the phone making long distance calls. He
has found it more profitable for his staff to build relationships
with some customers by faxing or mailing them well-crafted
letters and flyers.
And
a salesman's correspondence doesn't always have to be of
a sales nature. Smart salespeople use the writing process
to keep their names in front of a customer on a regular
basis. George Rummage, former director of Direct Mail Advertising,
said "A good letter can be you calling on a customer
again and again."
Every
person within an organization is in customer relations,
but this message has not yet gotten through to all employees.
I have seen situations where salespeople do back flips to
get an account and then lose it because of the poor correspondence
sent out by other departments within their companies.
Check
your own Business Writing
I
have heard people say, "I don't need help with my writing.
I've never had any complaints." Well, if you are a
manager chances are your staff are not going to tell you
that your memos require time and energy to interpret. If
you haven't taken a business writing course in the past
five years, chances are your writing is in need of a tune-up.
Business
writing has changed dramatically, as have readers. Years
ago to be able to write was the sign of nobility and wealth.
And to receive a letter was something special. Even up to
the 1970s, writers sought to impress readers with their
literary skills, and readers still took the time to thoroughly
read their mail. In today's workplace, readers are too busy
to spend vast amounts of time deciphering messages from
long-winded letters and reports. Today's writer must write
to inform, seek immediate action and create goodwill-in
as short as space as possible.
Progressive
companies carry out regular analyses of the correspondence
and reports produced by their employees to ensure that the
image and service level projected is consistent with the
one they wish to convey. The analysis usually includes an
examination of randomly-chosen letters, memos, reports,
proposals, form letters and boiler-plated material and may
also involve interviews with staff and clients.
