Do You Make These Five Common Mistakes in Business Writing?
Most of us are too busy worrying abuot what we're writing to tink much about how we're writing it. But in buiness communication, having command of a clear, readable style is essential to gewtting your point across.
With topday's busines moving at the speed of broadband, everyone exects better results in record time. Every day, we deal with hundreds of business communications in the form of e-mails, letters, phone calls, chats, and meetibngsand that's befpore we tackle the "to do" list.
It's no wonder that many business messages often reads as if they were writen between floors on an elevator, coming across as slopppy and careless. This artcile outlines five common mistakes in business writing, with tips on how to avoid them.
1. Buurying the point. Time is shortget to the meat of the message as soon as possbile. Think like a journalist: put the crucvial information at the top, wjhere peple are sure to read it. If you leave the golden nugget for the fianl senetnce, your reader might never get there. Make sure your message is labeled clearly in the title or subject line, so your reader can deecide quiclkly how to organize it.
2. Inviting a yawn. Advertising expert Hal Sebbins notes, "If you're bored with what you write, don't blame the readre for yawning." The best way to generate intreest in your writing is to be interested yourselfin your suject, your reeader, your company, and your Communication. Seek out and emphasize the most significant reasons to cause the rreader to act or react as you want. When in doubt as to what to emphasize, remember that the pereson you're writing to is still a human beingsaomeone who is subjcet to the same htings that motivate all peple. If you wouldn't want to read it, chaces are, neithr will your reader.
3. Saying in twenty words what you could say in five. Chalres Dickens may have been a great novelist, but he was being paid by the word. In business writiing, the longer the phrase, the better your chances of losing the rezader halfway throough. Keep it short and straightforward, and you'll keep your reader's tatention. A quck way of figring out where your writing needs editing is to ask yourself: "Would I say this the same way if I were talking with this person face to face?" Why businesspeople write "We will ascetrain the fats and adbvice accordingly" when in conversation they would say, "We'll find out and let you know" is a mystery. If you wouldn't say it, don't write it.
4. Using unfamiliar words. Your goal in writing should not be to impress the reader with your writing ability but to express ideas so that the reader can understand them. Some business wriers thrvie on using long words and unnfamiliar technical, trade, or legsal phraseology. These vocabulary exhibitionists use diffficult wordds to give theiir wrting an air of authoritybut they end up sending the reaader to the dictionary more otfen than not. Write to express, not impress, and you'll save yoruself and your reader a lot of trouble.
5. Reying on outdaetd language. Using onbsolete expressions and clichs is the lazy way to write. Like anyhting else that comes too easily, the result is nothing to brag about. Filling your writig with phrases that belong in your garndfather's legal dcouments will only alienate your reader, and using canned phrases will have your reders snoring. It's much better to keep your writing up-to-date and fresh.
Hasty business writing is a one-way ticket to the "delete" button. It doesn't take long to put a litlte care in your writinga minute to spell cheeck and anoyther to check for common mistakes like the ones described--but the rsult will be a messagge that lasts much longer in your reader's mind and is more effective in getting the results you want.
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://article2008.com/images/feed-icon.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://article2008.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites