Business Writing Tips

Question: Why is writing a business document so tough for most of us?

Answer: We rarely think of our reader, we're not sure why we're writing, and we've never really had business writing training.

Many of us apply the same ideas we used in school when given a 500-word essay to write. Remember those?  Do you also remember reaching for the thesaurus and dictionary, looking for long words and phrases that you hoped the teacher would find impressive?

In those days, our point was often to get a good grade by "fooling" the teacher into thinking what we'd written had merit.  It hardly ever worked, but that's what we learned to do.

Business writing involves throwing all those ideas out the window.  Our only point in writing a business document -- letter, memo, e-mail, report -- should be clarity and conciseness.

Here are a few things to think about as you plan your next writing assignment; I call it writing APTly.

Audience: To whom are you writing?  Your grandmother?  Nephew?  Boss?  Client?  Think about this person reading what you've written.  Have you used language consistent with the reader's abilities?  How about font size?  Font type?

How much does your reader know or care about the topic of the document?  How much explaining must you do to be consistent with that knowledge?

What type of personality does this reader have?  Is this reader a stickler for details?  If so, you'd better read the document many times, checking for misspellings, typos, and factual errors.  (Be accurate.)

Is this person always in a rush with no time for extraneous stuff?  If so, keep the material to a minimum!  With this type, executive summaries are usually the best way to communicate. (Be brief. Be excellent. Be gone.)

Is your reader warm-hearted, always concerned with people and their feelings?  Then you don't want to be too stiff or formal, or that reader will feel hurt, probably over nothing, but still ... (Be friendly.)

Is the reader a happy-go-lucky person, good with the big picture but death on details? Does this person also love glitz and fun stuff? Then, please again give a summary and include, if you wish, some bolding or color. (Be amusing.)

Purpose: Why are you writing? If you're not sure, don't!  If you're confused about the reason for the document, your reader will be even more so. Take a few minutes to decide what the reader is supposed to do when he or she has finished reading it.  Call you?  Call someone else?  File the paper away?  Throw it away?  Act on something?

One of the biggest decisions you can make is to identify the one or two reasons for the document.  (If you have more than two, consider writing a new one.  It'll be easier for your reader to work with and to file away later.)

Tone:  Do you see a difference between these two sentences?  "You must answer all the questions or suffer the penalty."  "By answering all the questions now, you'll avoid any penalties later."

Tone is critical for success.  While we must be clear about what we're saying, there is usually a way to get the point across without getting the reader's hackles up!  Using positive language is more than good manners; it's a way to have your reader buy in to what you're asking.  Very few people like being told what they must do; most of us like to be consulted.

Two more points:  Keep the sentences at an average of 17 words and keep those paragraphs short -- for first and last paragraphs, three typed lines.  For interior paragraphs, no more than eight typed lines.  Even if you don't have a new thought, break the paragraph. White space is good!  This is not an English course; it's business writing.  Our only objective is clarity.