Writing That Works; How to Communicate Effectively In Business
Kenneth Roman, Joel Raphaelson
Language: English
Pages: 193
ISBN: 0060956437
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Writing That Works will help you say what you want to say, with less difficulty and more confidence. Now in its third edition, this completely updated classic has been expanded to included all new advice on e-mail and the e-writing world, plus a fresh point of view on political correctness.
With dozens of examples, many of them new, and useful tips for writing as well as faster on a computer, Writing That Works will show you how to improve anything you write:
- Presentations that move ideas and action
- Memos and letters that get things done
- Plans and reports that make things happen
- Fund-raising and sales letters that produce results
- Resumes and letters that lead to interviews
- Speeches that make a point
Stanford professors, Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton, call “smart talk.” Writing in the Harvard Business Review in 1999, the professors identify smart talk as a major obstacle to taking action in business. A characteristic of smart talk is that it is unnecessarily complicated or abstract (or both). People seldom act on what they cannot understand. Good results are even less likely if you flood the reader with information that isn’t organized to lead to an action or isn’t relevant to a grasp
of the subject. Even the federal government is starting to recognize the benefits of simple, clear writing. The Securities and Exchange Commission inaugurated the plain-language movement by ordering mutual fund companies to rewrite their prospectuses. The Veterans Benefits Administration trained employees in its insurance division how to write more clearly, and the response rate to its letters increased — saving the agency $500,000 a year. Companies are seeing how confusing communication ties
of our applicants. This is one of the few times we wish we had a larger student body so we could accept more students. All letters that say NO would do well to say it with such sympathy for the feelings of the reader. How to collect money owed you It’s hard to write a good collection letter. You don’t want to irritate your reader. But you do want to get the money. Watch your tone of voice. If you’re reminding somebody that a payment is a few days overdue, don’t sound as though
Recommendations and Proposals That Sell Ideas Whether you are in business, government, or the not-for-profit world, you will have to sell your ideas in writing. In written recommendations to committees or boards to take some action. In written proposals for the funding of grants. However persuasive you are in person, you will be asked to put it in writing. The purpose is to persuade somebody — or, more often, a number of people — to approve a recommendation or proposal, and agree to put it
To maintain the highest levels of customer satisfaction. To improve the use of key people. The recommendation went on to show how those objectives would be met. Never fail to answer the main question your audience is asking, however silently: “What’s in it for me?” Proposals That Win Grants Foundations and government agencies that grant money have an unhappy dilemma: having to say “no” far more often than they say “yes.” Much more money is asked for, and for deserving causes,