Business writing training – five reasons why your business writing might not be hitting the mark.
According to research by the University of Southern California we have roughly 100,000 words beamed at us. Add a growing number of images to that onslaught and you can see why it’s so important that your written business communication is sharper than ever.
That’s why more and more organisations are coming to us for our business writing courses. They want to learn how to write quickly and effectively in a way that grabs attention and gets results, whether it’s a report, a note of a meeting or an email.
Business writing workshops
We provide the participants on our business writing workshops with a variety of structures, templates and checklists. They can then put these tools into practice immediately.
Given that we tend to learn from our mistakes, here are five reasons why people find that their business writing fails.
1. They don’t think about the audience.
Very few of us start writing something thinking “I don’t care about the reader here.” But how many writers really focus on their audience’s hopes, fears and needs? How many really take the time to put themselves in the shoes of the people who, they hope, will read what they’re writing?
Identifying the messages that will resonate with your readers is essential. Don’t assume that what interests you will interest them or that what you care about will motivate the people that you’re talking to.
You need to think about language too. We recently ran one of our business writing courses for tech companies in which we challenged the participants to think about how they would explain technical concepts to a non-technical audience.
We sometimes advise those taking part in our business writing courses to write two versions of the same communication aimed at two different groups. This means that they can really focus on relevant key messages for each group.
2. They begin with the background.
Whenever you start writing, work on the principle that nobody cares. It sounds harsh but unless you’re telling someone that they’ve won the lottery, or they’ve got a fatal disease you’re going to have to work hard to grab their attention.
Very often in emails, reports and other written communication people start with the background and then come to the conclusion. Our writing coaches have a journalistic background, and during our business writing courses they tell participants: “Don’t start at the beginning. Start with what’s most important.”
Imagine that someone comes into a meeting and starts telling you about the history of the building that you’re in. They talk about the history of the site when the current building was constructed, how it’s been refurbished and who’s been based there over the years before finally telling you something else about the building – it’s on fire and so you’d better leave now.
I’m guessing that you’d want to hear the fire bit first.
It’s a tongue-in-cheek example but we use it in our business writing training to make the point. We then help our participants to define their most pertinent key message so that they can express it concisely and powerfully – and get it up front in their writing. The background comes after this key point.
We offer templates that help set out this important structure.
3. They don’t include stories and examples
Stories, case studies and even simple anecdotes do three things – they grab the attention of your audience, they explain your point and they prove it. They also make your messages more memorable. Researchers at the Stanford Graduate School of Business have discovered that a story is up to twenty-two times more memorable than facts alone.
Meanwhile, research from the University of Liverpool suggests that up to 65 per cent of all conversations consist of stories. So, stories work in effective communication.
You don’t have to give your audience War & Peace. However, as we explain in our business writing workshops, identifying relevant stories, telling them in a simple and concise way and then extracting the learning points from them will super-charge your business writing.
4. They make it too long.
I’m watching the word count carefully as I type away here. We provide editing courses as part of our business writing training and it’s always good to see participants actually enjoy the editing process. Stripping away unnecessary words and phrases and deleting information that isn’t directly relevant is amazingly satisfying, they find.
As we tell people in our business writing workshops, good writing isn’t about adding everything you want, it’s about removing everything you can. Kill your darlings, as they say.
This is particularly true, we find, in our email writing courses where grabbing attention, being concise and providing a clear call to action is essential.
5. They don’t include a clear call to action.
Let’s talk about that clear call to action. How often do you read an email or a work document and how often have you sat through a presentation and thought, that’s interesting but so what?
Grabbing the attention of your audience, holding it and then informing them is important but if they don’t have the knowledge or the inclination to do anything as a result of what you’ve told them then, frankly, it’s a waste of time.
Business writing training.
In our business training sessions, we look at how, with every piece of writing you can include a clear and compelling call to action. Do you want your reader to sign up for something? Buy something? Do something? Not do something? Do you want them to lobby on your behalf or simply come and have a conversation with you?
Whatever the aim of your writing, this is no time for subtlety – you need to hit people hard with a call to action.
How can you persuade them to take that action? In our writing workshops for companies, we share a range of persuasion techniques based on psychological research. However, very simply, fear and hope are great motivators.
You can frighten people slightly about what will happen if they don’t do something or if they carry on doing something. And you can give them hope for a better future if they do what you’re asking them to do.
We have plenty of other examples of ways to persuade as well as templates, checklists and structures that will enable you and your colleagues to write more quickly, easily and, most importantly of all, effectively.
Business writing training courses for your organisation.
Come and talk to us about how our bespoke business writing courses can help your organisation to communicate more successfully. (Notice that strong call to action?). You can follow us on LinkedIn here.
