Business Writing

Your Commotion List

The other day I wrote about David Allen's two-minute rule. When I used my grammar and spelling checker to check the post, I had a a good laugh at a suggestion for this sentence of mine:

If not, your message must be important enough to your readers to put on their to-do list to accomplish later.

My grammar and spelling checker flagged to-do. Here is what it suggested in place of to-do:

commotion

No doubt I have a commotion list--but it's never written!

Lynn
Syntax Training

Write for David Allen's 2-Minute Rule

Among his many tips and strategies, time management guru David Allen offers a "two-minute rule." He says that if you can get a new task done within two minutes, do it. If you cannot get it done that fast, either delegate it or defer it. In his words, deferring it means putting it "into your organization system as an option for work to do later."

Allen's books are bestsellers. People pay attention to him, and we writers should too. If your reader cannot handle your message or document easily within two minutes, it is going to be put somewhere "as an option for work to do later." Or ignored. Or deleted.

When it comes to email, people follow a 30-second rule before the two-minute rule. If they cannot understand what you want within 30 seconds, they go on to the next message. They tell themselves they will get back to your long or confusing message later, but often they don't get back--and you don't get action or a response.

Test your message. Can readers recognize in just a few seconds what you want? Can they complete the action within two minutes? If not, your message must be important enough to your readers to put on their to-do list to accomplish later.

I hope you were able to read this post within 30 seconds. That was my intention.

Lynn
Syntax Training

Re: Are You Around This Morning?

I was reviewing a company's email when I came across a wonderful email thread. It started with one employee wanting to know if another was in that day. Here is their email subject:

Are You Around This Morning?

The person who received the message responded that yes, he was indeed around the office. Then the two continued an email thread over the course of two weeks. They exchanged many emails with a lot of important business information. Two weeks later, what do you think their email subject was? 

Re: Are You Around This Morning?

Yep! It hadn't changed.

When they are looking for the essential information they shared, I hope they can remember the subject, especially if they aren't around this morning to talk! They should have heeded my Email Tip Number 11:

Use a current subject. Avoid clicking Reply before updating the subject, if necessary. Readers overlook and misfile messages with old, outdated subjects.

Learn more about my 110 Tips.

Lynn
Syntax Training

How to Stop the Gossip

A client sent me a worried email about an administrative assistant. The assistant had sent out an email to some executives in the company, and that email had lots of errors.

When I read the email thread, I saw the offending email. I also saw that several messages were now scurrying around the company, each one speculating about why the assistant had made so many errors. Was this a problem of English as a second language? Did the assistant need a tutor? Would the assistant, who otherwise seemed very polished and professional, be offended if approached about a tutor?

I looked closely at the email that started this flurry. I counted the errors: 10. Then I pasted the email into a Word document to use my grammar and spelling checker on it.

Microsoft found 9 of the 10 errors.

These errors were not subtle. They included extra spaces, a missing period, an incorrect punctuation mark--that kind of thing.

Do you think a half-dozen people at the company would be concerned about the competence of the administrative assistant if the person had made just one error? That is how many errors would have remained if the document had been checked for grammar and spelling errors. And proofreading could have easily caught that last error.

Question: Could they have been talking about you? If so, here is one way to stop the gossip at your company: check the grammar and spelling--and proofread--before you send an email to executives, or to anyone. If you don't, people may be whispering and wondering about your competence even though you seem--indeed are--so polished and professional. 

It would be much nicer if they were whispering about how great you look. Or about their hopes that you are happy in your job because they don't want to lose you. Or about how much they admire you and all you have accomplished.

If you are thinking the people at the company were not actually gossiping, you're right. They were expressing concern about a valued employee. But if their comments went on unchecked, they could easily deteriorate. Don't let that happen.

Lynn
Syntax Training

I Don't Hear from You

In sales letters and email (and even in telephone messages), many people end like this:

"If I don't hear from you before then, I will call you on Friday."

There has always been something about that statement that has not felt right to me.  It's not a threat, no. And it is positive: "I will call you." But it just doesn't work for me. The other day I realized why not.

I was staring at the words on the screen when I saw the problem:

" . . . I don't hear from you . . ."

It's that negative peeking out of the sentence that must have made me nervous. That's why I like these alternatives:

"I look forward to talking with you. I will phone on Friday."

"I will call you on Friday unless we have talked before then."

"Phone me if you get a moment, or I will follow up on Friday." 

"If you have a chance to call me before Friday, great! Otherwise, I will call you then."

What do you think? Are you satisfied with "If I don't hear from you?" or do you use another approach? Please share your views.

And if you would like more ways to be persuasive in writing, please read my latest newsletter. Its theme is "Be More Persuasive." (Note: If you subscribe, you will not hear from me unless you want to. It is simply a monthly newsletter, no strings attached.)

Lynn

As I Said, Make a Sign

My husband Michael, who works with me at Syntax Training, has a sign on the wall above his desk. It says:

As I said,
As it says,

Michael uses this sign, usually while on the telephone, to remind himself that "As I said" is correct--not "Like I said." The same goes for "As it says"--not "Like it says."

Michael had the habit of saying the incorrect "Like I said" and "Like it says," and he needed to break it. He needed to break the habit because representatives from world-class companies call us to ask about our seminars in business writing. To appear credible in the field of business communications, we need to use correct grammar in writing and speaking.

But all of us need to communicate professionally. So if you have one of those awkward bad-grammar habits, make a sign. Then practice.

For example, if you start a sentence with "Me and my supervisor" rather than "My supervisor and I," make a sign, hang it above your desk, and practice saying "My supervisor and I" at the beginning of a hundred sentences.

Or if you write "Call Ahmed or I"--wrong! Make a sign and practice saying "Call Ahmed or me." Whatever your bad habit is, learn the correct expression. Then work on it.

Michael has just about eradicated the "Like I said" habit. He still glances at the sign while he is on the phone, but I think the only habit is the glance.

Don't let a bad-grammar habit get in the way of sounding professional on paper or in person. Like As I said, just make a sign and practice.

Lynn

P.S. If you are not sure of correct word choices, see my "60 Quick Word Fixes" for clear explanations.

 

Furnace Maintenance for Readers--Brilliant!

I was reading my Winter 2008 Perspective: News and Insight from PEMCO Insurance, when I came upon another excellent example of writing that makes life easy for the reader.

"How to Maintain Your Furnace" was the column I was reading. (Yes, I know how to have a good time!) At the bottom of the piece, this notice appeared:

Use the back of this sheet to record furnace filter changes, then tape it near your furnace.

I turned over the sheet and found a perforated column headed "FURNACE MAINTENANCE LOG." Above the heading was a small notice: "Post Near Your Furnace for Easy Reference." There were fill-in-the-blanks for the type of filter, the furnace technician's name and phone number, and filter changes from 2008 to 2011 (with a short, lined column for each year). The lines implied that we ought to be changing our furnace filter a bit more often than we do now.

This brilliant user-friendly log is exactly what people need to keep track of their furnace maintenance--near the furnace. When we change a filter, we can just jot down the date.

The PEMCO logo, which includes the company name, appears in the bottom-right corner of the maintenance log. How better to remind me of PEMCO's interest in preserving my home?

Nice work, PEMCO writer! Thanks for this smart, practical log just for me, your reader-customer.

Lynn

Me, Myself, and the Presidential Candidates

I have been watching the debates of the candidates vying for the nomination of their party for U.S. president. Whatever their politics, I would like them to get one thing straight about English grammar:

The word myself is not correct in place of I or me. That means it is wrong to say things like these:

The other candidates and myself agree on this issue.

Both John and myself have plans in place to solve this problem.

You will get the same answers from John and myself.

Here are the correct versions:

The other candidates and I agree on this issue. (You can recognize that I is correct because "I agree on this issue" is correct. Also, your grammar and spelling checker should offer the correction.)

Both John and I have plans in place to solve this problem. ("I have plans in place" is correct, and your grammar and spelling checker should tell you so.)

You will get the same answers from John and me. ("You will get them from me" sounds and is correct. However, my grammar and spelling checker got this wrong: it suggested I. )

Use myself to reflect back to an I earlier in the sentence:

I would like to take that question myself. (I . . . myself)

I myself instituted a similar program. ( I myself)

I can speak for myself. (I . . . myself)

Whether you accept the candidates' views and promises or not, do not be misled by their incorrect use of myself. Saying it repeatedly in Iowa and New Hampshire does not make it right.

Lynn

Scared Off by the Big, Bad Paragraph

I was reading the list of upcoming business meetings in a weekly email from The Seattle Times, when a meeting announcement caught my attention. The presenter was going to speak on a topic that interests me--the steps in growing one's business. I often weigh the advantages of getting bigger vs. staying small as a business, so I thought I would register for her talk.

But I wanted to know more about the presenter, so I clicked the link to her blog. That's when things went wrong.

Her latest blog entry was one huge paragraph 41 lines long. Can you imagine her 325 words in one big block? You don't have to--I have created a 325-word block of text below. Don't bother to read the words. They're just the text you are already reading.

Don't read this sample big, bad paragraph--just notice it.
I was reading the list of upcoming business meetings in a weekly email from The Seattle Times, when a meeting announcement caught my attention. The presenter was going to talk on a topic that interests me--the steps in growing one's business. I often weigh the advantages of getting bigger vs. staying small as a business, so I thought I would register for her talk. But I wanted to know more about the presenter, so I clicked the link to her blog. That's when things went wrong. Her latest blog entry was one huge paragraph 41 lines long. Can you imagine her 325 words in one big block? You don't have to--I have created a 325-word block of text here. I forced myself to read her paragraph. Hiding in it was some good information, but that info could not undo the negative impression. If that big, bad paragraph represents the woman's communication skills, I would be much better off finding another resource.I was reading the list of upcoming business meetings in a weekly email from The Seattle Times, when a meeting announcement caught my attention. The presenter was going to talk on a topic that interests me--the steps in growing one's business. I often weigh the advantages of getting bigger vs. staying small as a business, so I thought I would register for her talk. But I wanted to know more about the presenter, so I clicked the link to her blog. That's when things went wrong. Her latest blog entry was one huge paragraph 41 lines long. Can you imagine her 325 words in one big block? You don't have to--I have created a 325-word block of text here I forced myself to read her paragraph. Hiding in it was some good information, but that info could not undo the negative impression. If that big, bad paragraph represents the woman's communication skills, I would be much better off finding another resource.

I forced myself to read her paragraph. Hiding in it was some good information, but that info could not undo the negative impression of thoughts stuffed into one big paragraph. If that big, bad paragraph represents the woman's communication skills, I would be much better off finding another resource. I won't be attending that meeting.

A huge block of text, even when well organized, intimidates readers and turns off skimmers. Most of us know this, but if you work with people who are still churning out thick wads of text, talk with them about what works in today's messages. You will be doing your coworkers--and their readers--a huge favor.

Lynn

 

Another Way to Make It Big

Kathy Frederick, author of The Junk Drawer blog, wrote me about my post on increasing type size to proofread more successfully. She wrote:

"My husband and I made a great discovery the other day. You can enlarge screen text by pressing the CTRL key while scrolling up or down. This goes for both Windows and Mac. I prefer this method because it requires less clicking or searching around a screen for a button or menu item that does the resizing. This trick works the same across most programs, so it's more efficient for me."

We tested Kathy's tip, and it works. My ergonomic keyboard has a one-finger zoom feature in the center, so I will opt for that. But if you don't have an easy zoom, you will like Kathy's discovery--well, it was actually her cat Shadow's discovery. Read about it here.

Thanks, Kathy--and Shadow!

Lynn