Business Writing

Feedback: The Breakfast of Champions

On a recent Sunday I went out with my family for breakfast at a pancake house. We were seated at a table next to a family made up of a mother, a father, a young boy in a booster chair, and an infant in the mother’s lap. 

Before we had even opened our menus, we heard the parents make these remarks loudly to the boy, whom I will call Joey: 

• Joey, don’t take such small bites. Take big bites, Joey.
• Joey, sit up straight in your chair. Don’t slouch.
• Joey, don’t hold your fork with a limp wrist. 

I can’t tell you more about the commentary on Joey because I discreetly asked the host to move us to table in a different part of the restaurant. I wanted to have a pleasant meal, and I couldn’t stand hearing more feedback on Joey’s behavior. 

Management guru Ken Blanchard said, “Feedback is the breakfast of champions.” I don’t think Joey would agree. My moments near his family made feedback seem like the breakfast of losers. It was all negative and hard to hear, even for me. Imagine how Joey felt. 

Feedback needs to be constructive—to build up the person who receives it.

Here's the business writing angle:

If you give feedback to employees in writing, think about your audience as you write. Less experienced employees need to know what they are doing right as well as what they need to do better. Even the newest employee is doing something right, whether it is simply reporting to work on time, smiling, or avoiding personal calls and text messages. Those basic behaviors are hugely important, and they need to be praised.

I think of Joey, who needed to know it was terrific that he was talking softly and eating his breakfast rather than tossing it at his baby sibling. 

Very experienced employees may not need to know what they are doing well (because they already know that), but they need their positive performance recognized in writing, along with suggestions for improvement. They need acknowledgment for their hard work and successes, not just in the form of a bonus for goals achieved. Getting positive feedback simply feels good!

If there was an “experienced performer” in our breakfast situation, it might have been Joey’s father. His mother might have told Joey's father she appreciated his willingness to go out for Sunday breakfast, especially when it was his only day to sleep in. He might have already known he was a good guy for doing it but appreciated hearing it from his wife.

They say a healthy breakfast builds strong bodies. Well, balanced feedback builds good performance and better relationships.

I am not sure pancakes, while delightfully delicious, make a healthy breakfast. But I am sure about balanced feedback.

Do my remarks inspire you to comment about giving or getting written feedback—or to go out for pancakes?

Lynn
Syntax Training

Help Customers Think Positively

Yesterday I wrote about the effective personalized email I received from IX Web Hosting. But the personalization was not the only strong point of the message. The email was a fine example of leading the customer-reader to think positively by using positive language.  

First, the subject of the email was "Upgrades to Your IX Web Hosting Account." Not changes--upgrades.  

The first paragraph included "Thank you," "sincerely delighted," and "serve you and your website," which encouraged a positive mindset. 

The third paragraph got me excited about something I thought I would never care about, improvements in web-hosting infrastructure:

"We now have a 100% brand-new hosting infrastructure that will pose numerous benefits to you, your site and its visitors! Speed, security, flexibility and uptime are just a few of the areas where you will experience extensive improvement."

Notice that the excerpt above focuses on benefits, not features--and not boring technical details.

Since I have been satisfied with my web-hosting plan, learning that I will "experience extensive improvement" intrigued me. I am eagerly wondering what it will be like.

Other words and phrases in the message--"benefit," "satisfied with our service," and "always happy to hear what you have to say--kept me feeling enthusiastic about my web host.

The next time you write to a customer, make it your business to help your reader feel good about your message. If my web host can get me excited about an upgrade, I bet you can inspire a positive response too.

Note: Since I have praised the IX Web Hosting email in two blog entries, I feel the need to tell you that I have no financial relationship with the company other than to pay our web-hosting fee annually.

Lynn
Syntax Training

A Quick Example of Positive Language

The other day I sent out a reminder to people who would attend the public Better Business Writing class yesterday. In it, I wrote:

Class begins at 8:30 sharp.

The sentence felt too schoolmarmish--as though I would give a detention to anyone who arrived late, and maybe whack them with a ruler. At the same time, I wanted people to know we would start at 8:30 a.m.--not any later, even if they weren't there.

I changed to this sentence:

We will begin promptly at 8:30.

"We" signaled inclusion. "Promptly" said we would be efficient. No detentions, no stings.

I thought you might appreciate the example.

Lynn
Syntax Training

Noisy vs. Energetic: The Language of Reviews

I received a survey request for my feedback on a restaurant, and I noticed the categories I could pick from regarding the noise level:

Quiet . . . Moderate . . .  Energetic

Did you notice the absence of the word noisy?

I spotted it right away because I had found the restaurant noisy. But I appreciated that the survey language helped me recognize that my noisy could be another person's energetic or lively. In fact, the word made me realize that the restaurant was very lively and, well, energetic--not really noisy at all.

If you write performance appraisals, let the difference between noisy and energetic remind you to think carefully about the way you describe employees. You may at first want to describe someone as nitpicky, but a positive version is meticulous or very careful. Can you see the positive side too?

Before you characterize him as stubborn, are you certain you don't mean persistent or tenacious? And is she narrow-minded or highly focused? Is he a loner or an independent thinker? Are her plans wildly optimistic or exciting--or both?  

The language of performance reviews can inspire or dishearten an employee, so try to see both sides of a trait and praise the positive side too. When you do, employees can recognize their strengths and opportunities. Maybe he is too chatty for the accounting department but would be perfectly sociable in client relations. Your language can help an employee make that kind of connection.

If you get stuck trying to think of alternative words, try your online thesaurus or synonym feature. But double-check the meaning of any word you don't normally use. My thesaurus gave erratic, indecisive, and inconsistent as suggestions for nitpicky--not at all what I intended.

Lynn
Syntax Training

The Smarmy "Valued Customer" Line

This week I taught two groups of sophisticated writers who communicate with clients. One of the business writing topics we agreed to disagree about was the language we use to show customers we care.

I like statements like "You have been a valued customer for many years" and "Thank you for being a valued customer." But some of the class participants found those smarmy--that is, excessively flattering--and insincere.

The words "valued customer" do come across as empty when we use them in place of the customer's name. And they sound phony when we use them in what is clearly a mass mailing that goes to every customer, valued or not.

I myself dislike the words "valued customer" when they appear in an email from a company I have done business with for a short time, such as one hour or one day.

Then how do we show clients and customers we care in our writing?

I like to use lots of positive language: appreciate, thank you, happy to, I can, delighted, pleased, look forward to, terrific, and other words that communicate a smile. Are those terms smarmy in business messages? I don't think so.

But we are not all the same. Some of us thrive on personalized greetings and closings, positive language, and even smiley faces. Others want business writers to get to the point and cut the cute stuff. (Read my article "Adapting to Your Readers' Style Differences" for more on style preferences.)

In the writing class, however we felt about "valued customer" language, we agreed on the value of focusing on positives rather than negatives, responding promptly, saying yes to customer requests, doing our best when we have to say no, and keeping the customer informed.  

Valued reader, do you have phrases you like to use to show clients and customers you care?

Lynn
Syntax Training 

Insurance Companies as Our Families

Lately I have been thinking about messages from insurance companies, who often encourage us to think of them as our families. My thoughts go in this direction because I wrote a training proposal for an insurance company in Minnesota this week, and I am looking forward to teaching "Writing Tune-Up for Claims Professionals" in Dallas, Texas, next month.

So I was intrigued when I received an example from a client, who got it from his insurance company. The emailed letter begins like this:

Dear _____,

You're more than just another policyholder at ______ [name of company]. You're a member, and we treat our members like family. That's why we are reminding you that your property policy doesn't provide coverage for flood damage.

Yes, family communications are often blunt and focused on a negative, like the last sentence in that paragraph.

The letter goes on helpfully to suggest several excellent ways to prepare for heavy rains. The fourth way, which appears in a paragraph after three bullet points, is to purchase a flood policy. The letter provides brief details about how to purchase a policy, when, and at what estimated cost.

But the opening jarred me. I think insurance companies can maintain their focus on customers as family members and communicate the flood damage message in a positive, helpful way. Here is my revised opening that uses the same theme as the original:

Dear ______,

You are an important member of our insurance family. That is why we want to be sure you are prepared for whatever the weather brings.

King County authorities warn that heavy and prolonged rain could cause flooding, even in communities that typically don't flood, like Auburn, Kent, Renton, South Seattle, and Tukwila.

Here are steps you can take to prepare:

• Purchase a flood policy. Your current property policy does not provide coverage for flood damage.
• Prepare your home now and make emergency plans.
• Make a plan for evacuating any pets and livestock.
• Purchase an AM radio to be able to monitor evacuation plan alerts.

From the original message, I have edited the King County sentence and the steps you can take to prepare. I have put the focus on the flood policy, making it the first bullet point. It is essential that policyholders understand that their policies do not cover flood damage. 

What's your view? Did the original opening jar you? Or do you prefer blunt communication from your business family members?

Lynn
Syntax Training

When Is Confidence Presumptuous?

In a business communications class last night, we discussed a closing sentence in a cover letter--that is, a letter of application for a job. Here is the sentence:

I look forward to being interviewed for the position.

We argued about whether that sentence is positive and confident or pushy and presumptuous.

What do you think? If you read that sentence at the end of a letter of application from someone who appeared to have all the qualifications you seek, how would you react? Would you be impressed by the applicant's confidence or turned off by the applicant's presumptuousness?

Please share your view. Granted, you have not read the rest of the letter. But how does that sentence feel to you?

Lynn
Syntax Training

An Easy Win for Relationships

Yesterday someone in my professional network, whom I may see once a year, ordered 20 booklets from me. In my emailed thank-you for her order, I said I hoped she and her young daughter were having a beautiful summer. I used her daughter's name.

She wrote back, "Thanks! I am so impressed you remembered my daughter's name :-)."

Confession: I did not remember her daughter's name. I had recorded it, along with her date of birth, in the notes in my Outlook contacts.

Having recorded it rather than remembering it doesn't make the gesture any less meaningful. After all, I want to remember her daughter. I want to have warm relationships with customers and others in my professional network.

It's an easy win--keeping track of the personal milestones in people's lives and mentioning them in the natural flow of business communication. It just takes the discipline of recording those events when they happen.

Lynn
Syntax Training

We Don't Have Talent

As a fan of positive language, I am intrigued by a positive word that has not caught on with ordinary business people. That word is talent, used to describe employees.

Talent management, talent acquisition, and talent retention are phrases popping up constantly in my email inbox. Consultants, recruiters, training companies, professional organizations--they are all using the word talent. At the ASTD International Conference and Expo in San Diego, which I attended last week, the word appeared everywhere on banners, booths, and brochures.

Here's the problem: "Normal" people (the people those consultants, recruiters, and others want to communicate with)--do not use the word talent. They talk about their employees, supervisors, managers, executives, associates, partners, interns, and staff--not their talent. They mention their sales people, engineers, programmers, nurses, customer service representatives, scientists, and other specific employee groups--not their talent.

Our web designer visited the ASTD Expo and stopped by our booth. She asked, "So what's with all the talent at this convention?" She didn't understand it.

One of our longtime clients visited our booth, and I asked him whether he used the word talent. He said no, explaining "If anyone used that word in our company, they would sound like an outsider, not like one of us."

So for those of us who are tempted to get on the talent bus, let's ask ourselves first: Do we want to sound like outsiders? Do we want people to wonder what we are talking about? Of course not. So let's find out which words our customers and readers use, and follow their lead.

Lynn
Syntax Training 

More Than a Person--a Guest

Always on the lookout for positive language, I was rewarded this week at one of the Starbucks stores in the San Diego Convention Center.

Waiting in line, I heard one of the counter staff (known as "partners") ask, "May I help the next guest?"

Not the next person, not the next in line--the next guest. I felt welcome.

Lynn
Syntax Training