Maine Creative Services

Writing is hard work. Well, good writing is. As the late, great sportswriter Red Smith put it:

“There’s nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein.”

Samuel Johnson agreed, although he lived a few hundred years earlier.

“What is written without effort is… read without pleasure.”

Finally, there’s E. B. White of New Yorker fame. When he wasn’t at his saltwater farm in Brooklin, Maine, writing Charlotte’s Web or one of his other books, White wrote hundreds of those little column- fillers the New Yorker was so well known for — along with the dry, sarcastic comments that made them so amusing.

Of course, White is probably best known for re-writing his college professor’s old English playbook, The Elements of Style, in which he confessed:

“The best writing is rewriting.”

I guess writing wasn’t easy for him, either.

A copywriter’s job is to inform and explain the features and benefits of your client’s goods or services, to persuade a prospect to buy (or at least to move him/her along to the next step in the sales cycle).

So when we get an appointment with a prospect, it’s not surprising that our tendency is to start talking. About ourselves, our successes, our techniques. Wrong approach.

If you’re a copywriter, designer, consultant, sales or service professional, you’ll be a lot more effective — and close a lot more sales — if you spend more time listening and less time talking.

It’s human nature to start babbling about your talent or your hot new product when you finally get in front of a prospect (even if it’s at a party or some other inappropriate setting). It’s understandable, because you’re excited and enthusiastic. Unfortunately, that’s what gives so many sales types a bad name. Some seem to be completely tone-deaf about how they’re coming off — because they’re coming on too strongly.

A better strategy is to imagine yourself as a doctor or lawyer when you’re with a patient (er, client). These professionals have a quiet confidence in their ability. They don’t brag or toot their own horns. They don’t waste time (or squander credibility) claiming to be the best darned cardiologist (or trial attorney) this side of the Mississippi, or telling the client what a great deal they have for them, if only they act today.

Instead, they ask questions– quietly. They listen to the answers. They probe. Ask follow-up questions. They find out what hurts, and then evaluate options for easing the client’s pain.

Try doing the same with your next prospect. Don’t be quite so quick to whip out your samples or launch into your presentation. Instead, ask them about their goals, their needs. Discover their dreams, their fears. Evaluate whether or not you can help them accomplish them, and if you can, proceed.

Spend less time talking about yourself, your other clients or what a great deal you have for them. Instead, keep the focus on them. Their needs, their desires, their goals.

Be a professional. Ask, don’t tell.

“That man is successful who has lived well,
laughed often, and loved much,
who has gained the respect of the intelligent men
and the love of children;
who has filled his niche and accomplished his task;
who leaves the world better than he found it,
whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem,
or a rescued soul;
who never lacked appreciation of earth’s beauty
or failed to express it;
who looked for the best in others
and gave the best he had.”

Traditional journalism writing uses the so-called “inverted pyramid” format. Basically, that means starting off (i.e., your “lead”) with the most important information, and putting the less important stuff farther down the page. In fact, the best way to get yelled at by an editor is to “bury the lead,” i.e., not leading off with the most important information.

OK, you may be thinking, that’s fine for the New York Times and NBC News. But this is the era of Web sites, IMs and blogs. Is the inverted pyramid still relevant? Does it even matter anymore? Marketing guy Dean Froslie says yes:

“Gurus like Jakob Nielsen and Debbie Weil suggest using an inverted pyramid style for online content. Since web users scan for information, it makes sense to lead with your most important information.”

I agree — usually. But if you can pull it off, having a beginning, middle and ending is a pretty good way to tell a story, too. Just ask Paul Harvey, who uses them all the time in his radio broadcasts.

Maybe that’s not ALL you need, but communications skills sure do grease the rails.

Michael Hyatt of Working Smart says responsiveness is a big part of getting ahead. When someone shoots you an email, he says, respond quickly — even if all you have time to say is, “I got your message. I’ll get back to you on Thursday.”

“So many people I meet are unresponsive. They don’t return their phone calls promptly. They don’t answer their emails quickly. They don’t complete their assignments on time. They promise to do something and never follow through. They have to be reminded, prodded, and nagged. This behavior creates work for everyone else and eats into their own productivity. Sadly, they seem oblivious to it.”

Think about it. If people have to wait for you to get off the dime, it slows them down. Pretty soon , they start resenting you. You’re perceived as an obstacle, instead of a resource. (Or maybe an ass__e instead of an asset.)

The answer: respond (i.e., communicate) in a timely fashion. That means the same day, unless there’s a real reason why not.

This has certainly been my experience. In my five years running my own copywriting business, I can’t tell you how many times I have simply turned in a piece on time — and the client goes all gushy on me. They start raving about about how great it is to work with a writer who respects deadlines, etc. Makes me wonder just what those other guys are doing. As Michael says,

“People love doing business with responsive people. Nothing will advance your career faster than this.”

More at Working Smart.

Due to some serious family emergencies, a crushing workload, and the holidays, this blog kind of fell off the radar screen for a while. I’m back now, and hopefully I’ll do a little better at posting. Thanks for your patience.

Good writing demands clear thinking. In my experience as a journalist, copywriter and technical writer, I’ve learned that it’s impossible to write about something unless you know it inside and out, forward and backward.

I’m not talking about writing stories, screenplays or poetry. I’m talking about business writing — writing to inform, explain, persuade, motivate and/or sell.

Michael Covington of the University of Georgia believes the world is run by people who can communicate, and that clear thinking leads to good writing. Covington has condensed his thoughts into a PowerPoint- style presentation for the web, titled “How To Write More Clearly, Think More Clearly and Learn Complex Material More Easily.”

He points out that a good writer works hard, so that the reader doesn’t have to. Covington explains there are five steps to good writing:

• Planning (deciding what & how to write)
• Drafting (getting it on paper once)
• Revising (getting it on paper better)
• Editing (fixing spelling, grammar, typing)
• Formatting (choosing typefaces, layout, etc.)

If you find it a struggle to communicate what you mean to your colleagues, customers, vendors, staff or superiors, check it out. It might “clear” things up.