Fat is disgusting — especially in your memos, sales letters, or any other kind of business writing. Here’s how you can tone up your business writing instantly: Just trim the fat. Prune any words that are unnecessary. They weaken your writing and dilute your message. Good writing is lean and strong. It gets right to […]
Yearly Archives: 2006
Three reasons why your e-mails are misunderstood
E-mail is a great, even essential, way to attract customers and communicate with employees, vendors and partners. But as I said in yesterday’s post e-mail can be dangerous when you’re angry, upset or even just trying to be funny. Why? E-mail is simply not very good at conveying the emotions behind your message — so […]
Angry e-mails? Put them in your notebook instead.
Don’t write e-mails when you’re angry, suggests AOL Consumer Adviser Regina Lewis (link). Count to ten and clear your head before firing off an angry response. This is especially true when dealing with customers, but it can be just as risky with coworkers and bosses. That’s a great policy, but it doesn’t really help you […]
Business jargon baffles and alienates
Needless jargon in the workplace baffles and alienates your employees, according to a new study. It even makes some employees think you’re trying to hide something. A survey of Scottish workers found that more than half were fed up with bosses using management jargon. Two-thirds preferred no jargon at all. Link. I often rant about […]
D*lbert and obscenity
Dilbert creator Scott Adams has a blog, of course. I mean, who doesn’t? But unlike most blogs, his is both funny and thought-provoking. The other day Adams mused about the most obscene letter in the alphabet. He figures it must be the asterisk, “since it appears in almost every naughty word you see in print.” […]
Toss the buzzwords into the buzzsaw
As a freelance copywriter for tech and corporate clients (and a former technical writer), I have found a LOT of resistance to clean, simple “shirtsleeve English”. Too many corporate types seem to fear that clear language and everyday words will somehow reduce the value of their ideas or offerings. Quite the contrary. Keep it simple, […]
How to multiply the effectiveness of your presentation or brochure
What would you say if you had only two minutes of your customer’s time? What would you show if your sales presentation could only be three minutes long? What would you talk about if the big new customer you’ve just spent weeks getting in to see refused to sit through your PowerPoint presentation? What if […]