business writing | Words For Hire

This is the third post in a series on communications in the digital age. You can read Part I and Part II here and here.

I ran across a statistic at the HBR website that drives home the need for being able to communicate well. According to a recent survey of 120 blue-chip American companies poor writing costs businesses $3 billion a year to correct. This is the result of only two-thirds of employees being able to write well. Is poor communication costing you money? Are you spending time mitigating the fallout from a poorly written email? Are you being perceived as a poor leader because you are unable to convey clear expectations to your team? Have you been passed over for a promotion because of your communication style?

Great communicators rise to the top in corporations. It is a valued skill to be able to articulate ideas, messages and thoughts clearly and succinctly. This translates well in our personal lives as well. How many family disagreements arise from communication failures?

: Image by elycefeliz via Flickr

Communication IQ is comprised of the ability to:
• Clearly convey thoughts and emotions
• Listen actively
• Demonstrate empathy
• Recognize emotions
• Walk the talk
• Use conflict constructively by being solution focused
• Gain respect through ethical and respectful behavior

Source: Effective Communication & Communication IQ | eHow.com

Improving our communication intelligence is not as complex as it may seem. The tips below will help you instantly improve your communication.

Communicate to be understood. You can instantly improve your communication skills by focusing on the listener, rather than broadcasting a message or making a point.
Be attentive to the spaces between the words. We have the ability to say much more than the words we speak or write. If you’re angry, calm down before sending that “professional” email.
Two ears, one mouth. Listen twice as much as you speak and you will boost your communication skills overnight.
Match the message to the medium. Save long, layered messages for real interaction. Use email, text and other short form communication for easy to communicate messages, ideas and updates.
Receive with grace. We can avoid communication conflict by managing our own emotional reactions. Rather than respond in kind to a terse email, leave the emotion out of it and respond with grace. Remember that not everyone is a skilled communicator.

Do you have tips to add to the list above? Have you ever been on the receiving end of poor communication? What was the impact and how was it resolved?

Written by Karen D. Swim

Maman est morte.–Albert Camus, L’Etranger

The first line of a novel has the power to hook you as a reader and entice you to read more. The line may shock you with honesty, tease you with what is to come or set the scene for the story ahead. Some first lines are so brilliantly memorable that they have become more famous than the novel itself, such as:

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. — George Orwell, 1984

It was a dark and stormy night. — Madeleine L’Engle, A Wrinkle in Time

A great first line gets your attention and compels you to read on. It is the come-hither look and whispered breath of longing.

Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. –Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita

It serves as an introduction to character, place or mood.

If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. –J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show. –Charles Dickens, David Copperfield

You do not have to be a literary great to apply this novel approach in business. Every business has a story but that story gets lost in corporate jargon. How often have you opened a marketing brochure or visited a website with a first line that made you lean in eager to read more?

Applying storytelling techniques in business writing is an excellent way to make a great impression and pick up customers. Storytelling adds warmth and humanity to your writing and feels more like a conversation than a pitch. Here are five practical ways that you can leverage the novel approach:

Craft headlines that mirror the first line of a novel. Use them to capture your reader’s attention.
Use “characters” to tell your business story. The character can be you, an employee or a customer.
Think like a reader. If your copy were a book, what would make the reader pick it up from the shelf?
Be descriptive. Providing a reader with just enough detail allows them to form a mental picture and makes them part of the scene. Visual mediums use this technique but it is also possible to do it on paper.
Ditch the corporate jargon. The use of corporate jargon is common but often is a barrier to engaging your reader. It can read like a 10 foot wall that you expect readers to climb to get to the real message. Skip the corporate acronyms and jargon and talk to your readers.

Have you seen any good uses of storytelling in business? Are you using the technique in your own business writing?

Resources:

Kelly Erickson takes this idea a step further in her post on Building Your Business with a Concept.

Joanna Young discusses the use of long words and makes a case for plain, simple language.

If you have ideas to share on Writing Website Content, please offer your comments here.

5 Tips to Instantly Improve Your Communication Skills

A Novel Approach to Picking up Customers

Maman est morte.–Albert Camus, L’Etranger