Business Writing For Dummies. Natalie Canavor

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to see what emerges. The planning I recommend is a step-by-step process that leads to good decisions about what to say and how to say it. It’s a process that will never fail you, no matter how big (or small) the writing challenge. And it’s quite simple to adopt – in fact, you may achieve surprisingly quick results. You may also find that after applying this process, you enjoy writing much more.

      This strategic approach has no relation to how you learned to write in school, unless you had an atypical teacher who was attuned to writing for results. Start by tossing out any preconceived ideas about your inability to write, because in my experience, everyone can learn to write better.

      When you have a message or document to write, expect your time to be divided equally between these tasks:

      ❯❯ Planning

      ❯❯ Drafting

      ❯❯ Editing

      

Spend one-third of your time deciding what to say (planning), one-third to writing your first draft (drafting), and finally, one-third to sharpening what you wrote (editing).

      You probably wonder if this system helps you write faster or slower. For most people it’s a time shift. When you take a write-first-then-think approach, you probably get lost in the middle, then stare at your important messages for a while with vague questions about whether they could read better or be more persuasive. Planned messages are easy to organize, and the effectiveness is built in because you’ve already customized the content to your goal and reader.

      

What about the editing time at the end? If you don’t review your messages at all before sending them, you are doing yourself a disservice. A professional writer with decades of writing experience would never send a business communication – even a simple-looking email – without careful review and improvements. Nor should you. The stakes are too high. You need to be your best in everything you write.

      The real issue is less about time and more about results. Planned messages bring you what you want much more often. Try the strategy I recommend and see what happens. My money is on more success. Also, this approach quickly becomes a habit and more – it becomes a problem solver. Practice it every day with routine messaging, and you’ll be ready to field big challenges with confidence.

      Fine-Tuning Your Plan: Your Goals and Audience

      A well-crafted message is based on two key aspects: your goal and your audience. The following section shows you how to get to know both intimately.

Defining your goal

      Your first priority is to know exactly what you want to happen when the person you’re writing to reads what you’ve written. Determining this is far less obvious than it sounds.

      Consider a cover letter for your résumé. Seen as a formal but unimportant necessity toward your ultimate goal – to get a job – a cover letter can just say:

      Dear Mr. Blank, Here is my résumé. – Jack Slade

      Intuitively you probably know that this isn’t sufficient. But analyze what you want to accomplish and you can see clearly why it falls short. Your cover letter must:

      ❯❯ Connect you with the recipient so that you become a person instead of another set of documents.

      ❯❯ Make you stand out from the competition in a positive way.

      ❯❯ Persuade the recipient that your résumé is worth reading.

      ❯❯ Show that you understand the job and the company.

      ❯❯ Set up the person to review your qualifications with a favorable mind-set.

      You also need the cover letter to demonstrate your personal qualifications, especially the ability to communicate well. If you see that accomplishing your big goal, getting a shot at the job, depends on this set of more specific goals, it’s obvious why a one-line perfunctory message won’t do well against the competition.

      A cover letter for a formal business proposal has its own big goal: help convince an individual or an institution to finance your new product, for example. To do this, the cover letter’s role is to connect with the prospective buyer, entice him to actually read at least part of the document, predispose him to like what he sees, present your company as better than the competition, and show off good communication skills.

      How about the proposal itself? If you break down this goal into a more specific subset, you realize ideally the proposal must demonstrate:

      ❯❯ The financial viability of what you plan to produce

      ❯❯ A minimal investment risk and high profit potential

      ❯❯ Your own excellent qualifications and track record

      ❯❯ Outstanding backup by an experienced team

      ❯❯ Special expertise in the field

      ❯❯ In-depth knowledge of the marketplace, competition, business environment, and so on

      

Spelling out your goals is extremely useful because the process keeps you aligned with the big picture while giving you instant guidelines for effective content. Because of good planning on the front end, you’re already moving toward how to accomplish what you want.

      To reap the benefit of goal definition, you must take time to look past the surface. Write every message with a clear set of goals. If you don’t know your goals, don’t write at all.

      Try This: Invariably one of your goals is to present yourself in writing as professional, competent, knowledgeable, creative, empathetic, and so on, but don’t let me tell you who you are or want to be! Create a list of the personal and professional qualities you want other people to perceive in you. Then remember, every time you write, be that person. Ask yourself how that individual handles the tough stuff. Your answers may amaze you. This technique isn’t mystical, just a way of accessing your own knowledge base and intuition. You may be able to channel this winning persona into your in-person experiences, too.

Defining your audience

      You’ve no doubt noticed that people are genuinely different in countless ways: what they value, their motivations, how they like to spend their time, their attitude toward work and success, how they communicate and make decisions, and much more. One ramification of these variables is that they read and react to your messages in different and sometimes unexpected ways.

      

As part of your planning you need to anticipate people’s reactions to both your content and writing style. The key to successfully predicting your reader’s response is to address everything you write to someone specific, rather than an anonymous, faceless “anyone.”

      When you meet someone in person and want to persuade her to your viewpoint, you automatically adapt to her reactions as you go along. You respond to a host of clues. Beyond interruptions, comments, and questions, you also perceive facial expression, body language, tone of voice, nervous mannerisms, and many other indicators.

      

Obviously, a written message lacks all in-person clues. For your message to succeed,

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