Natalie Canavor

Cheat Sheet / Updated 06-10-2024

Whether you’re a manager, an entrepreneur, or a recent graduate, the ability to write well is a skill you can’t afford to be without — particularly in the world of business. This handy Cheat Sheet helps ensure your business writing is fit for the right purpose, and gives you tips on effective resume writing, international communication, and online content creation for your business.

Article / Updated 04-15-2021

You may be under the impression that you don’t write business letters and never need to in today’s fast-paced world. Think again. You are probably writing letters without realizing it. Don’t be fooled by the fact that you’re using an electronic delivery system and don’t need a stamp. Acknowledge that your missive is a letter, and you do a much better job of achieving your goal. When something important is at stake, recognize that what you produce merits extra care in terms of its content, language and visual impression. This doesn’t necessarily mean you need to find your old stationery. In many cases, it’s perfectly fine to send your letter as an email. In other instances, a physical letter serves you better. If you’re a nonprofit manager writing to elderly donors, for example, relying on email is risky. As always, consider your goal and audience in deciding on the best mode of delivery. Here are some of the business-world occasions when you should think “Aha! This calls for a letter!” Introducing yourself: If you’re the new veterinarian in town writing to the patient list, or need to explain why a VIP should give you ten minutes of their time, or why people should vote for you, you’re courting the reader and must make the best possible first impression in order to secure what you want. Making a request: If you want a referral, a recommendation, an invitation, an informational interview, a special assignment, a corner office, a favor of any kind, write a letter. Pitching something: If you sell a product or service, one effective way is with a sales letter, either via the post office or email. When you market anything, you must apply your best strategizing and writing. Presenting formal applications: When you apply for a job, submit a proposal or compete for an educational opportunity, nine times out of ten, you need a cover letter. If it’s optional, leaving it out is a mistake. Sometimes the letter must accomplish the goal on its own—when a job posting specifies a letter and no résumé, for example. Saying thank you, I’m sorry or expressing sympathy: Such messages are important and should be carefully personalized and meticulously written and presented. If they don’t look as if you have given thought to such a message and taken trouble, they don’t communicate that you care. A personal letter is much more effective than a greeting card. Expressing appreciation: If someone gives you a wonderful break, takes a chance on you, offers significant advice or makes an introduction for you, a letter from you to that person will be treasured—trust me. People so rarely do this. And it’s worth considering a retrospective thank you to anyone in the past who inspired or helped you, too. Congratulating someone: Supervisors, coworkers, subordinates, colleagues, suppliers—everyone welcomes a graceful congratulatory note when reaching a milestone or achieving something significant. Documenting for legal purposes: Letters can be called for as official records in relation to job offers, agreements, performance reviews and warnings. These formal records may have legal implications now or in future. A binding contract can take the form of a simple-looking letter, so must be scrupulously written if you want them to protect you. And know what you’re agreeing to when sign those written by other people! Seeking redress: If you have a complaint about a product or service, how you’ve been treated or how a print or digital publication has misrepresented you or your organization, to be taken seriously, write a letter. Expressing opinions and concerns: Yes, Virginia, just as there is a Santa Claus, newspapers and other publications still run Letters to the Editor—and those editors know that this section is usually the most read feature of all. But it takes a good letter to be heard. Letters to local government and legislative offices reap a lot of attention, too. Inspiring people to care: If you want friends and colleagues to actively support a cause you believe in, with money or time or connections, a letter bears much better testimony to the depth of your own commitment. Valuing privacy: Letters carried by the postal system are privileged documents protected by the “secrecy of correspondence” principle. In many countries, it is illegal to open letters in transit. The privacy of digital communication remains murky, and you obviously risk disaster by communicating private information in an email or social post or text. Printed-and-delivered physical letters offer a last bastion of privacy. If you search online, you’ll find a ton of prewritten and preformatted letters for every occasion. You may draw some ideas from them, but almost never will a cookie-cutter template work as well as your own well-crafted letter. Often the tone is wrong and the content is bland and impersonal. This totally undercuts the reason you’re writing a letter. Therefore, I won’t give you a formula for every letter. Rather, I want to stimulate your imagination as to what a good letter can accomplish for you in your professional life and beyond. I have personally used this skill in situations ranging from a need to establish my (at the time, somewhat uncertain) credentials for a major purchase, build ongoing relationships with VIPs, and more than once, obtain a refund for a disappointing purchase or when a major deposit was withheld. To show you the impact a letter can have, here are some actual examples with details altered). In each case, instead of leading you through the planning process that leads to a good message, I first give you the final product and then follow with the analysis. Situation 1: You hear a major renovation is to commence on a house down the street—a peaceful, well-kept, private-feeling street where children play outside and residents share a community spirit. You find the following letter on your doorstep. Dear Neighbor: As you may be aware, the Bennet family will be venturing into a home renovation/addition project shortly. As the family’s general contractor and representative, I wanted to take a moment of your time to introduce myself. My name is Allan James and for the most part, I, or one of my project managers, will be on site every day. Having completed numerous projects in the area over the years, I am familiar with the town and sensitive to the effects a project of this scope can have on the neighborhood. It is my intention not only to deliver a quality, on-time project to my customer, but to ensure the least amount of impact to your environment. My subcontractors are very much aware of my expectations in regard to respect for your neighborhood, the town by-laws and the need for utmost common courtesy and respect. It is inevitable that there may be some minor damage to the town-owned grass strips between the sidewalk and the street. Any such damage will be restored at the end of the project. To ensure that this occurs, a surety bond has been levied with the town. Please feel free to contact me in person, by cell phone or email if some aspect of this project is affecting you adversely. With best intentions, Allan James, AIBD, CPBD, UCSL President, AJ Builders, Inc. How would you react as a resident? It’s hard to imagine a negative response. However, even though the business strategy is so effective, I have never seen or heard of another contractor taking the trouble to write and deliver such a letter but. Even if the idea does not seem relevant to you right now, notice how this letter aligns with the planning process, which is the heart of this book: Goal: Smooth the way for a process that is naturally disruptive and forestall likely complaints. Audience: Homeowners who fear damage to the street and a potential flood of unsupervised workers and subcontractors to the quiet neighborhood they value. Content points: Communicate . . . High sense of responsibility and caring as company owner Active direction of workers and subcontractors Knowledge of protective bylaws and commitment to them Acknowledgment of probable damage and commitment to repair it Ensurance of legal protection via surety bond Credentialed company president (no matter what the acronyms stand for) Accountability: Direct contact information is given in case of a problem (or should readers want to inquire about services for themselves!). Tone: Low-key, respectful, sincere. Why it works: The writer understands the neighbors’ worries based on their prior experiences with construction and directly addresses those fears. In doing so he generates trust: He makes the coming interaction personal. He reassures residents that he will respect the street they share and care about. But there’s more: The thoughtfulness of the letter conveys that this is a caring, capable and intelligent person who will do an excellent construction job. That’s the magic of what you can accomplish with good writing. Of course, the writer must follow through on all counts. Outcome: Beyond accomplishing a collegial environment to work in and forestalling complaints, the contractor received several queries from other local homeowners who were inspired to pursue their own renovations. Situation 2: Here’s an example of how good business writing carries over to non-work needs. You are relocating and have put your house on the market. Happily, you soon receive a number of offers that move over the asking price. You’re ready to accept the highest bid when this letter arrives: Dear X: My name is Donna Whitman and I am writing to you to express how important it is for me to purchase your lovely home. I have dreamt of living on a lake for more than 20 years. When I was transferred from Minneapolis to Charlotte this past year, I hoped to make my dream come true. I have spent time with colleagues in the Arborville community and knew it would be exactly right for me. When I saw your home listed, I knew I had to see it! And when I walked in the door, I told Jim, my broker, that this was the home for me! I love the location, layout and of course, the lake. My 15-year-old cat, Cappy, will also love your home. She will have so much happiness sitting with me on the splendid deck (her joints don’t allow her to sit on windowsills any more). I’m excited that the dining-room set I inherited from my dear grandmother will fit perfectly. And I love that my parents will have a beautiful place to stay when they visit in March, should I be lucky enough to purchase 45 Lakewood. I truly hope I will be chosen to be the new owner of your home and finally have my dream become a reality! With the utmost sincerity and gratitude for your consideration, Donna As the seller, how would you react to receiving this letter? Donna may not consciously have followed the process I recommend for all your writing, but here is why it succeeds as a message. Goal: To win the bid, without knowing what other offers were received. Audience: Someone who has loved the home herself, apparent in its cared-for condition, furnishings and decoration. Content: To accomplish this goal, with this reader in mind: Personalize the interaction to stand out from other potential buyers. Express high enthusiasm for the chance to live there. Communicate appreciation for potentially being “chosen.” These points are backed by citing specific benefits to the writer and communicate a personal vision—Cappy the arthritic cat on the deck . . . the beloved grandmother’s dining-room table in place . . . the happy visiting parents. Tone: Enthusiasm! I suspect your reaction in this scenario would be similar to the seller’s: a little skepticism at so much excitement, overridden by feeling gratified that her long-term home will be appreciated, enjoyed and cherished. Outcome: The writer had not, in fact, made the highest offer, but the seller wanted her to have the house. Donna agreed to meet the slightly higher price of the offer above hers and everyone left the table feeling very good. The point: Think about what well thought-out letters could accomplish in your own life. Adopt that mindset and the opportunities will come. Consider at times the value of a real letter—the kind that you can hold in your hands, reread at will and keep with your important or treasured documents. Do you have a shoebox of letters that connect you with important events or people of your past personal life? Letters relating to our professional lives can also have strong associations for us, especially if they make us feel good. Digital messages are fleeting—some are even meant to disappear in a few minutes. But a physical letter is real and tangible and (relatively) permanent, like a photographic print. I know several professional colleagues who make a habit of handwriting their messages to clients and other important connections on notepaper: thank you for the help or referral, happy holidays, happy birthday, congratulations on your award or your son’s graduation. These savvy professionals look for opportunities to write notes like these. Don’t laugh. When they visit these recipients’ offices and see these notes prominently displayed on the contact’s bulletin boards, the strategic value of this small effort is reinforced. These friends are all very successful.

Article / Updated 04-02-2021

Essentially, when you use the tools of persuasion, you are asking people to change in some way. The challenge is that human beings don’t like change. We may enjoy deciding whether to travel to Paris or Rome, but change a long-held conviction? Give up a skill we took years or decades to develop in favor of the new? Cheerfully accept a company reorganization that transforms patterns and habits and relationships we’re used to? Even talking people into changing their brand of coffee is an uphill battle, let alone asking them to take a risk. We are emotionally invested in the choices we’ve already made, from our coffee to our political leanings to our work patterns. No wonder persuasion is hard. Let’s start with some general ideas about that art and a few fun shortcuts to generate your own enthusiasm, because your own conviction is a first essential. Draw from psychology From the golden age of Greece on, persuasiveness has absorbed plenty of attention. The philosopher Aristotle described the formula for a great speech as combining ethos (establishing authority), logos (logical argument) and pathos (swaying an audience emotionally). Today, techniques of persuasion obsess marketers, communicators, psychologists, neuroscientists and even economists, who created the field of behavioral economics with breakthrough analysis of how humans make decisions. Their opinions are backed by research that ranges from brain imaging to big data crunching. Consensus is that Aristotle knew what he was talking about but according to today’s thinkers, the balance of factors—logic, authority and emotion—has shifted toward the last. The key takeaway: While we may believe we make choices based on information and logic, in truth, our decisions are usually driven by emotion and then justified with rationality. Analytic thought consumes enormous amounts of brain energy, so we typically call on it only when we more or less force ourselves to take the trouble. For business writing, the key lesson is: Whenever possible go for both the heart and the mind. When it’s important that readers respond to your message in a particular way, create an emotional connection. Relate to your audience’s hopes and aspirations, or perhaps feelings like worry and anxiety. Use language that produces positive associations, builds trust and shows empathy. Find ways to capture people’s imagination. Give them a vision. But back it all up with evidence that speaks to your claims and your own authority or expertise. The emotional connection draws people in and encourages them to stay with you, but most people will look for backup information that justifies trust. Also, some people typically approach decisions more rationally, so the facts, and signals of authority, are dealmakers for them. In short, covering all three elements makes perfect sense. Drawing on the resource of techniques and strategies that follow can improve all your communication, from emails to proposals, presentations to interviews, websites to speeches to sales pages. I can’t cover every need you encounter to write or speak persuasively. So read this advice with an eye toward adapting it for your use according to the goal and situation. Communicate with conviction Identifying and understanding your audience is the key to succeeding with every message. But the other side of the equation is you. You must speak and write from a sense of your own value and the value of whatever you’re pitching. When persuasion is in order, your own belief is your best friend. One corollary of the self-belief principle: When you craft an important message to introduce yourself in person or in writing, remind yourself of your own value and relevance. If you’re pitching a product or service, soliciting a donation or asking for peoples’ votes, take a minute to reinform yourself of why you believe that what you represent is worthy and why (I presume) you’re making it your life’s work. What drew you to do what you do? Why does it matter to you? Is it a passion? A commitment to solve a problem or help people? Why are you certain that knowing about your service or product or yourself will benefit others and/or their own audiences? Why are you the ideal person for the opportunity? A popular quote often attributed to Theodore Roosevelt sums it up this way: “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Enthusiasm is the best convincer. Few will review your facts and figures if you don’t project enthusiasm and generate it in others. If you aspire to a leadership role, few will follow you if they don’t sense your enthusiasm. To bring confidence to your writing as well as to face-to-face situations, experiment with techniques that actors, presenters and salespeople commonly use to set the stage for a good performance. When you’re about to work on an important message or make an appearance, energize yourself by assuming an assertive but comfortable posture and walk around that way for a few minutes. This technique exploits the mind-body connection, signaling to your mind that you are capable, resourceful and knowledgeable. Another strategy from the psychologist’s repertoire: choose a photo or other image that’s associated with a proud moment in your life when you felt on top of the world, and relive that moment as vividly as you can. Perhaps you won an award, were congratulated on something, finished a marathon or celebrated another personal achievement. Employ all your senses to re-create how you felt, stood, held your shoulders, moved. Practice recreating this glow in your mind and body several times and you’ll be able to trigger your confidence just by calling up the image!

Article / Updated 04-02-2021

For everyday sharing, reports, project-hunting, client correspondence and more, you need email. For the ongoing back-and-forth between team members, you may depend on Slack or another instant messaging channel that is restricted to a group. The difference in how we use email and work chat today is that we need to help counter what is lost through the growing absence of in-person contact. Make email more personal As you depend on email to help bridge the gap between yourself and the rest of the world, consider thinking about more conscious, strategic use. One appropriate adaptation, in line with the more isolating lives many people now lead, is in the tone of your messages. An upbeat, positive tone is always more than welcome and supports relationship-building. A few specifics: Avoid giving your message a negative vibe with statements like these: “This is not what we agreed on”; “It worries me that . . .”; “I don’t really like . . .”; “You seem to have forgotten that . . . .” Frame even a critical message in a positive spirit: “I appreciate how quickly you provided the report”; “I have some ideas for clarifying the data next time around”; “You make a lot of good points. It led me to think about how we might improve . . . .” Use positive sentences that lead people to feel good—it costs you nothing! “I appreciate that . . .”; “What a great job on . . .”; “I really liked what you said about . . .”; “I enjoyed working with you on . . . .” And always and perennially, “Thank you for . . . .” Humanize your messages. Use people’s names in the salutation (“Dear Sarah”) and/or the body of the message (“Thank you, Sarah, for crunching the data so quickly.”) Use a conversational and somewhat personal tone to make yourself real to people, rather than coming across as an efficient, narrowly focused work machine. Take space to connect emotionally: Show empathy, or interest, in the other person on an appropriate level. Rather than Dear Al: To follow up on the plan to print flyers . . . try Dear Al: I hope this finds you and your family well. Are the west coast forest fires affecting you much in Nevada? It’s sad to read about what’s happening in California. I’m writing to see if this is a good time to follow up on the plan for the flyers . . . Even if you spend just a sentence on the weather or sharing how you spent the holiday, you can warm up a virtual relationship incrementally over time. Use writing deliberatively to stay connected with clients, collaborators, prospects and more. Develop a list of people important to you and check in on them via email—and/or consider whether to increase your social media and blogging activity or use teleconferencing and other channels, such as an e-newsletter. Using team chat to your advantage There are numerous instant messaging apps to facilitate collaboration on a company-wide or team scale, including Slack, Google Chat, Skype and Microsoft Teams. They are at the top of the informality scale for business communication, so I won’t advise on writing style, except to remind you that clear and concise is always in season. Issues with chat media for business revolve more about protocols. If the organization does not provide guidelines, set your own with group discussion, and consider these: Don’t: Deluge coworkers with a steady shower of messages and notifications that are irrelevant to them. Write messages that are rude or inconsiderate in tone or substance, air grievances or criticize people, especially in an all-staff channel. Tell jokes or include any humorous material that could offend anyone. Attend to chat so much that you are distracted from the project or goal—team chat is not a social media tool. Use chat to communicate about complicated matters that demand nuanced conversation. Use chat as the constant default channel. When you need an immediate response or need to discuss something personal or sensitive, pick up the phone! Note that you can create channels or rooms to accommodate specific teams and projects. Separate public channels can be set up for non-work interactions, so social life is supported separately from work needs and people can elect whether to participate and to what degree. Some groups see this as a water cooler stand-in; other groups dedicate channels to recipes, personal news and so on according to group interest. If you’re not team leader, suggest a conversation about setting such rules at a meeting or via teleconferencing. How to use teleconferencing effectively Videoconferencing tools like Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Skype are not a simple substitute for live events. They impose different demands. Meeting by video takes more planning to succeed, and this depends on solid written preparation and less improvisation to be productive. Far more than in-person meetings, videoconferencing depends on good written agendas, plenty of informational materials and thorough documentation. Beyond serving as the new meeting rooms for groups and teams, videoconferencing has become indispensable for interviewing job candidates and interacting with clients. In these situations, too, writing is prime. When you compete for a job or contract virtually, your written credentials need to do a lot more speaking for you, and you need to be extremely well-prepared to make your case. Therefore, to use videoconferencing tools to your advantage, call on the tools of good writing: analyzing your goals and audience to writing clear and concise emails; developing résumés, elevator speeches and presentations; creating stories and using talking points to field questions and challenges. Here, I focus on some particularities of teleconferencing that require rethinking the usual approaches. Videoconferencing limits When a group of people gathers for a purpose in person, the experience is three-dimensional. We see each other and interact subtly through body language, facial expression and reactive glances. Side comments arise. A comment can tip the conversation in a more creative direction. A group spirit develops—enthusiastic and goal-driven if the meeting is well planned and managed. But these elements don’t naturally happen with a video meeting. Videoconference-style conversation is linear: We speak one at a time to many, which has a different effect than addressing one person. We learn not to interrupt a speaker and may even be asked to raise our hands to speak. We avoid making even a sound of approval or interest. Body language is basically absent, since we typically can’t see anyone’s hand gestures, and subtle facial expressions are hard to discern. There is little small talk or interplay, and the natural bouncing off each other that good meetings generate is typically absent. It is hard to promote a conversation or debate that leads to a creative solution. The experience is more akin to watching a series of speeches and giving our own, rather than participating in an interactive meeting of minds. On a personal level, people are self-conscious and less forthcoming when they talk into a computer screen rather than a live situation, especially since it’s hard not to fixate on our own face or how visible we are to everyone else. Small talk is minimal and generating trust is difficult. In short, the impersonality of the videoconference experience does not easily lend itself to camaraderie, flights of imagination or creative brainstorming. To counter the agreeableness that meetings tend to fall into, some companies deliberately foster conflict. They present a goal or idea—for example, what should we change about X—and channel people to take sides. More commonly, many organizations react to videoconferencing shortfalls by making meetings briefer and more structured, tightly focused and efficient. Structuring meetings with agendas If it’s up to you to plan and run a meeting, remember that many people feel “Zoom fatigue.” Acknowledge this by scheduling meetings only when you need to accomplish something specific, rather than hold them for the sake of it or because you always meet on Monday mornings. For many enterprises, experience with videoconferencing is leading them to backtrack on how they approach in-person meetings as well. The new-normal agenda is the key. A central principle: Build each agenda around a concrete and clearly expressed objective. That objective—which may be to generate ideas, decide on an action or solve a problem—can often be framed as a question, such as: “How should we counter online criticism of our customer service?” “How can we trim $X from the department budget so we can support more training?” Once an objective and the outcomes you want are clarified—which isn’t always easy—you can determine the process needed to achieve the outcomes specified. This too should be spelled out: who will speak on specified topics and which components are to be involved—brainstorming, SWAT analysis and so on. In “earlier times,” an agenda might include a whole series of decision-oriented items or just list topic areas or people’s names (“John Smith, update on HR)”. But given our shorter patience with teleconferenced events, savvy organizations are finding it better to hold short, more closely focused meetings with a single purpose. To make the most of group time, create and distribute all relevant informational materials and written input from team members in advance of the meeting. When everyone prepares for the session by reviewing everything before the meet, they need not sit bored through a tiresome on-the-spot grounding. When they think through their own part of the discussion in more depth, they come up with ideas, commit them to writing and are prepared for a more useful discussion. This enables the group to accomplish the goal in a tight timeframe. If your organization dictates a format for agendas, which might require following Robert’s Rules or a company protocol, you may need to cover a range of items such as approval of minutes and categorize topics under labels like “new business” and “old business.” Then just fit your objective, process and outcome into the format. Don’t be surprised if a good agenda—one that engages everyone in addressing a specific situation or problem—takes time to create. It forces you to think the challenge through much more thoroughly. Do not depend on open-ended brainstorming, where everyone is asked to throw in bright ideas on a subject, on the spot. This can occupy a lot of time and yield little concrete results. It’s better to have team members brainstorm their own ideas and commit them to paper before the meeting. Should you start meetings with a touch-base or socializing time? Research shows, as you probably know from your own experience, that the most successful teams are characterized by mutual trust. Ideally this is achieved through some light-hearted activities or personal sharing, which deepens over time. Teleconferencing, however, does not offer a warm atmosphere that invites personal confidences—participating feels more often like being a deer caught in the headlights. An intermediate approach is to make an opening exchange less personal—for example, go around the table asking each person to remark on the best and worst of their week. Better if possible is to devote a session to getting acquainted before launching the collaboration. In general, stay aware of realities and show some flexibility: a work-at-home parent may have children at home and an occasional guest appearance may be hard to avoid. If a home is small, it’s hard to silence the sound of a barking dog. Technical glitches happen. Take advantage of the breakout room feature of some teleconferencing apps and build that into your plan, or use it impromptu. The larger your online group, the harder it is to focus on specifics. Breakout rooms offer a good way to assemble people in smaller groups to work out an aspect of the shared challenge. Reporting on meetings These are often called “minutes,” which understates their value and influence. I recommend calling them “reports” and assigning this role to someone with good judgment who thinks fast enough to take good notes and also writes well. The report’s format can vary as long as it’s clear, concise and complete to the right degree. Distribute to all—these reports are indispensable documentation. Without them, team members will have entirely different memories of what occurred and what needs to be done. Trust me on this. An agenda gives the notetaker a healthy head start on creating the report efficiently. It can follow the same structure, and most include discussions and approval of proposed actions and follow-up. It should always detail responsibilities, deadlines and a next-meeting alert if called for. How thorough should a report be? In most cases, as complete a record as possible will provide a good resource for the immediate future and beyond. It’s also an official record that belongs to the organization. The questions that arise usually center on how much of an open discussion to report. Minutes may need to be publicly posted, and in controversial or sensitive situations, a discussion can be specified without necessarily including details.

Article / Updated 04-01-2021

Writing well is always its own reward: Effective messages achieve what you want much more often. But writing also can be put to use in personal ways—to catalyze your thinking and problem-solving skills, understand important people in your work life and strategize how to advance toward where you want to be. This article gives you ten ways to build your personal power. Refer to the writing techniques covered throughout Business Writing For Dummies, 3rd Edition to carry out these ideas. Use writing to problem-solve Psychologists say we humans have lazy brains. Deep thinking consumes so much energy that we only undertake it when forced. One result is that when faced with a difficult problem, we try to solve it by instinct, which doesn’t always end well, or we endlessly circle and re-circle around the same ground without finding a way out. Writing enables you to break out of this morass. Try defining the problem as thoroughly as possible in writing. Sometimes just working through the details clarifies your view of what the trouble is and how it developed. This often paves the way for a solution. Also look to shift your perspective by changing what you say to yourself. Suppose you defined the bottom line of the problem as “the boss doesn’t give me the best opportunities so I’m not learning or moving ahead.” Re-word this as: “How can I show the boss I’m worthy of better opportunities?” This simple shift channels you to deal with the challenge creatively and moves you away from dwelling on the “why”—as in “why doesn’t the boss appreciate me?”—to practical ways to achieve what matters to you. Write a “pro” and “con” list When faced with a tough decision like whether to accept a new job or stay with the one you have, take a piece of paper and split it into two columns vertically. Write “pro” at the top of one column, and “con” at the top of the other. Now list all the factors you can think of that would lead you to say “yes” to the new job, and those that prompt a “no,” filling out each column until you run out of thoughts. Look at the length of each column: Is one longer than the other? More important, does one column include factors that matter more to you than the others? For example, maybe the new job would bring you to a place you’d like to live, or give you more flexibility in allocating your time, or let you work for a cause you believe in. This simple pro-con strategy gives you perspective and helps clarify which route is best for you. Handwrite to spark creativity Neurological studies show that the mechanical nature of handwriting taps into wholly different parts of the brain than typing or using your voice to dictate messages. Writers of fiction and poetry have always known this, and even today, most creative writers draft their new work by hand. Professional writers who use keyboards often rely on handwriting at critical points such as planning out content, beginning a new work or finding a direction when stalled. Try writing by hand when you have to create a difficult message of any kind, solve a knotty problem or prepare for a challenging situation. Not coincidentally, making handwritten notes also works best when you’re learning something new. In deciding what to make note of, you process the information. When you keyboard or record the audio, in contrast, your brain does not filter the information or give it perspective. Taking notes by hand amplifies understanding and recall exponentially. Research proves this, too! Write to take charge of your emotions The essential message of this article is to plan everything you write in context of your goals, your audience and the content that best connects these two basics. This thinking process will help you analyze tough situations and make decisions even when writing is not involved. Especially when interacting with other people, rather than giving in to a spontaneous emotion like anger, pause to think: What’s my real goal? What do I really want? Vent my feelings? Get even? Hurt the person who hurt me? If you’d rather fix a glitch in the relationship, ask yourself, what is the better way to address the issue? Unfortunately, in work situations, losing your temper (or crying) marks you as unprofessional. Another way to prevent yourself from succumbing to a damaging emotion is to write about the emotional event in detail, perhaps in the form of a letter to the person who provoked the feelings. This clears your mind and is safe venting—provided you take care not to send the message. Remind yourself that practicing controlled, strategic behavior empowers you to keep your cool and equips you to achieve good outcomes and respect. Take notes about your work Some of the most efficient managers I’ve known keep a notebook ready at hand to record decisions, requests and work events as they happen. Their ability to leaf back and cite specifics is confounding to everyone else, since our human tendency is to forget or reinterpret a deadline, decision or plan, given a little time, and particularly when forgetting makes life easier. And of course, this record-keeping enables you to refresh your own memory upon need. Keep a notebook in your desk and jot down outcomes and loose ends during or after meetings, conversations, decision-making and so on. This technique is equally useful for entrepreneurs and independent workers, among others. Take the meeting notes A little-recognized fact: Acting as the notetaker at business and office meetings is not a lowly occupation—it spells power. The person who records what happens and writes it up creates the official recap that becomes group memory and guide to action. Some amount of every discussion is open to interpretation, and it’s the notetaker who makes those judgment calls. Rather than this being a secretarial task, it’s an opportunity to create a perspective on what happened. I’ve rarely seen this questioned—people reviewing the “minutes” typically focus on spelling errors. A bonus: You make yourself the information hub because participants feed you follow-up data, new input, clarifications and more. You become the person who knows more about everything. And you know what they say about knowledge. Take notes of your anytime ideas Personal journaling—devoting a certain amount of time every day to writing about what’s happening and what you’re thinking—is a nourishing activity for many creatives. If you’re building a business or a career that profits from inventiveness, try it. Another easy-to-practice tactic is to carry a mini-notebook for jotting down your ideas and inspirations in real time. Why do our best thoughts materialize when there’s nothing to write with, and/or it’s not convenient to record what we want to remember? Be prepared. The fun way is to use reporter’s notebooks: handy little 4-by-6-inch notepads that fit into a purse or pocket and make you feel like a professional journalist when you whip them out. Prepare for confrontation Equip yourself for situations where you’re put on the spot just like the politicians do. Whether it’s a job interview, a questions and answers session with your CEO, or a meeting with your boss to ask for a raise or discuss your performance, prepare by developing talking points. Brainstorm all the points you can make in your favor. Think each one through, but capsulize it in a line or two, just enough to trigger your memory. Work with the list until you completely assimilate the points and are ready to speak to each as the conversation allows. Go a step further: Imagine every question you might be asked, especially the ones that keep you up at night. Prepare good answers, and you might even link these up with your talking points. Enlist a friend or colleague to make the process more fun and ensure you don’t gloss over the worrisome areas. Write a long-range career plan Applying an analytic frame of mind to your long-range career goals always pays handsomely. In writing, explain where you want to be in six months, a year, two years, five years, ten years or more—you choose the timeframes—and what you want to achieve in each one. Then review each period of time against the one furthest from the present: Are you taking the steps you need to move from one period to the next and to your ultimate goal? Do you see a clear progression, step by step, or do you see gaps in preparing for each forward leap? This process enables you to see if what you’re doing now puts you on the right track and illuminates how you can move toward your goal. Do you need a certain kind of experience or training? Do you need to connect with certain people or groups, take on particular assignments or find intermediary roles? Major bonus: You’re better able to recognize opportunities you might otherwise overlook, make better decisions and avoid straying too far off the path. Of course, stay open to adjusting the plan according to a shift in the realities or yourself. Create profiles of your VIPs Write in-depth descriptions of your boss, CEO, difficult coworker, collaborator or all of the above. These people are your most significant audiences, and just as you can create a persona for groups you want to engage with, you can thoughtfully analyze the people who most impact your work life. Scan the characteristics presented in Chapter 2 and create a list of relevant factors, including the person’s management style, communication preferences and approach to decision-making. Is this person partial to ideas, statistics, their impact on people or their own ambitions? Also note their hot buttons, enthusiasms, vulnerabilities, positioning in the organization and biggest worries. Draw from your notes to write a cohesive portrait. Magically, you will find it easier to assume the person’s perspective. You know how to ask for what you want, score opportunities to shine and improve—even turn around—relationships. You’ll take giant steps toward practicing empathy, a quality that is increasingly valued in the workplace. Write gratefully You have probably come across the idea of sending sincere, well-thought-out thank-you letters to people in your present or past life. It’s good advice, especially because the busier and more pressured we feel, the less time we take to express appreciation to people who deserve it. A note of gratitude not only makes the chosen person’s day, but also is treasured forever as proof of value. Such notes stand out because so few are received. Even more effective is to keep a “gratitude journal,” or add this element to your journal writing if you already keep one. This is the place to write—daily if possible—about things you are thankful for: a favor rendered, an opportunity gained, a special person in your life. Or, how beautiful the sunny sky outside your window looks, how wonderful it is to have a friend who is there for you, an inspiring memory or whatever gives you laughter, solace and support. Psychologists say that writing in a gratitude journal counterbalances the negativity that often overshadows the good things around us. So, writing can make you happier! It’s great practice in developing your skills, too.

Article / Updated 04-01-2021

Want to know how to write a book? It's more complicated than just sitting at a computer and letting the words flow. For many people and for many reasons, writing a book feels like a paramount achievement. It’s an “end product” of our knowledge, experience, and professionalism. There’s something exciting about the idea of holding your book in your hands, giving it to people, even signing copies or seeing it in a bookstore—though this is no longer where most books are sold. A book feels like the ultimate way of sharing, branding, and making a mark. If producing a book is a dream or a practical business tactic for you, there’s never been a better time to do it. Publishing traditionally is more competitive than ever, but self-publishing has come a long way from being called the “vanity press.” You can write and produce your own print books, ebooks, or both, without endorsement by gatekeepers. You can handle the whole process yourself, or access a growing range of services and support systems to help. You can market your books directly to your selected buyers and sell them yourself. Books are attractive propositions because they can produce “passive income” — money that accumulates over time and requires little effort once it’s published. There are two big “buts” to this idea. First of all, very few books make money. Commercial publishers support their constant stream of new books with the proceeds of a few blockbusters. Second, books don’t sell themselves. Authors learn that even a traditionally published book demands active marketing, and self-published writers find that this can be a full-time job. Bottom line: Don’t plan on your book being profitable. It does happen but not often. It helps to be famous or have a subject that hits a universal nerve; have access to something or someone special; or have a ready-made “platform”—an audience presumably eager to buy your book because you have a social fan base, a popular blog, media coverage, an impressive reputation or rare skill. Otherwise, write your book because it will give your “real” career a nice boost, or will just make you feel very good. The guidelines given here assume you want to write a how-to book of some kind. But most of the ideas apply with some interpretation to most types of books—and to developing other large-scale and intensive writing projects. 1. Envision your finished book How do you see your final product: as a self-published print or ebook? Or, a commercially published book? This decision affects your choices from the outset. If you aspire to traditional publishing, almost always you need to land a literary agent—a feat in itself—and create a solid proposal that includes a promising platform. The publisher customarily covers editing, design, production, and distribution and in theory, marketing. You only get 10 to 20 percent of the royalties on sales. But a traditional book still carries the most cachet in the business world, especially for consultants. If you choose self-publishing, an ebook is a good option. You sidestep expensive printing costs and the headaches of storing all those heavy books. You can earn 70 percent or more on sales and keep the copyright. Amazon’s Kindle division facilitates many of the production tasks, and many other services offer supplementary resource packages. Or, hire freelancers as needed. Otherwise, you are responsible for all the functions like editing, graphic design for the cover at least, and perhaps help with formatting (converting Word to digital), as well as marketing. A nice option that many new authors use is print-on-demand. You can publish an ebook and also order small batches of physical copies rather than a huge number of physical books at once. In making decisions, take into account how much material is called for. A traditional hard-cover book requires 60,000 to 80,000 words, at least 250 pages. The publishing process is slow: it easily takes a year or two. Ebooks can be any length, and a number of authors produce steady income by slivering their subject into a series that readers lap up if they like the first one or two. 2. Create an elevator speech for your book A book is a message that’s definitely on a much grander scale than an email, but the planning is not that different. Create a good base for what may be a long-range commitment by writing down your goal as specifically as possible. Write a detailed portrait of the book’s audience. Think through what your intended readers will gain. Then write a crystallizing statement of your intention. For example, here is an elevator speech used for Business Writing For Dummies: Business Writing For Dummies will help readers on many different skill levels improve their writing by using professional techniques across media, so they can be more successful in their own field—whether business, government, nonprofit, freelance or consulting. Also, write down your own purpose in undertaking the book. You’re committing yourself to an extended period of hard work—no two ways about that—and need to keep your motivation strong. How effectively will your book support your consulting business? Establish your authority? Give you something on your desk to smile at? Remind yourself! 3. Think about marketing—early It’s never too soon to think about how to publicize and market a book, and if you’re aiming for a commercial publisher, you need an almost full-fledged plan to sell it. A website it essential for selling directly if you choose to do so, and for publicizing. You might create a site solely for the book, or attach it to your business website and give it a landing page and promotion on the home page. Review your existing platform: Do you blog? Are you active on certain social sites and have built up followings? Do you give workshops or speeches that bring you into contact with likely buyers? Might you go to conferences where you can talk the book up? Many good tactics take time to put in place so the advance work, done incrementally, makes a big difference. Savvy authors start putting the pieces into place right at the beginning, maybe even before starting to write. You might plan to up your blogging schedule or re-focus it . . . dig deeper into a social platform that will support marketing . . . develop speaking engagements . . . make useful contact with bloggers in your field, and other influencers. You may want to join relevant associations. Experienced authors use their existing channels to generate excitement during the writing process, and may report on progress to their connections. Some bring their fans into the process and ask for input, or offer an advance chapter to read and comment on. It’s inspiring and useful to plan your book launch early, too, whether as a party of friends or at a bookstore, library, clubhouse or even via videoconferencing. Many bookstores actively support local authors. Offer to speak about your subject and sell books. 4. Break the writing into pieces Brainstorm a simple master list of all the components you plan to cover. This will make the work far less formidable and enable you to organize it from the beginning. For example, if you want to write a book on “Entrepreneurship for Gen Z,” think about what this cohort wants to know and what your experience suggests they should know. Ideally, supplement this with a reality check—in this case, talk to a bunch of Gen Z’ers and successful entrepreneurs who are one generation older: Millennials. Think about where your readers are now in relationship to the subject so you know how basic you must be, at least in part. Consider also demographic factors such as age, which may suggest factors like attention span. This might affect your presentation style. 5. Create a folder system Whatever the timeframe a publisher gives you or you give yourself, take advantage of the chance to build the material incrementally. Equip yourself with a large file and start throwing into it all the relevant material that crosses your desk or dining room table in the normal course of your days, from newspaper and magazine clippings to conference handouts, and your own notes from your notepad and paper napkins. Make up a virtual file as well for storing all the related blogs, articles, websites and other useful information. The magic of focusing on a topic is that, suddenly, everything becomes relevant. Your file will fill up quickly. Before it becomes unwieldy, scan through it and sort everything into subtopics from your master list, plus additional ones that your research-and-thinking period prompted. Make up a physical folder and a virtual one for each subtopic. Keep the virtual ones in the cloud so you can access them on any of your devices. The payoff of this folder strategy: In addition to an already-organized system, you end up with a working outline of your chapters! 6. Assess the practicalities Re-check how much time you have to complete the project, or wish to give it. This may suggest trimming down your ambitions to what you can reasonably accomplish in the timeframe and your chosen format—whether a physical book or an ebook. Also assess your capabilities. Will what you have in mind require help with the design and layout? Cover? Editing? If it’s an ebook and you’re self-publishing, what must you know about that process so you write to suit it? Do you have a platform or can you put one in the works now—a ready-made means of marketing via a successful blog or circle of influencers, for example? Figure out where you will need help and what it can cost. One essential is a professional editor, or at least, someone with a good eye for language who can save you from careless mistakes. Don’t let the answers to your check-in necessarily discourage you: Just take realities into account to determine your project scope and scale. Visualize the finished project as you’d like it to be, all over again. 7. Write a proposal Whether your book is planned for traditional or digital publication, write a proposal—even if no one else but you will ever see it. Pulling a proposal together sharpens your thinking and focus like nothing else. Is it a lot of trouble? Yes, but it sets you up for the whole project so you invest your time more productively and never find yourself floundering. Well, at least not as often. Researching the competition is especially important. You need to know what’s out there and why your book will be better or different. Don’t despair if you do find books on your subject. On one hand, publishers like knowing about existing books because it tells them there’s a market for that subject. On the other hand, they’ll check the sales figures for each one and want to know why yours will sell. If the competition looks strong, consider whether you can find a narrower niche for yourself. The Gen Z entrepreneur author might decide to narrow the focus to creative service business or video game start-ups. Use facts and statistics when possible to make your case. For example, a quick Google check unearths that a Nielsen study, as quoted by Forbes, documented that 54 percent of the Gen Z cohort want to start their own businesses. But does this group read books? Studies also show that they do, in fact, search out books of interest, and the proposal can include that as well. A typical proposal that might gain you entre to an agent’s services and, eventually, a publisher, generally runs 25 pages or more. If you don’t plan to send it anywhere, you’re on the honor system—do enough to nourish your project. It saves time later. Trust me. The components: Title and a tagline: Long ones that suggest the book’s unique content are in fashion. Nutshell description: Like an elevator speech for your book, as pithy and zingy as you can craft it. Audience description and their need for this book: Who will buy it, with figures on potential audience size; why they’ll want it and what it will do for them; how it differs from available sources. Rundown of the competition: Typically describe six to ten of the closest books and mention their pros and cons relative to your idea. Chapter outline: A paragraph or more describing each chapter’s content. Your credentials for writing this book: All the relevant qualifications you can come up with; any evidence that you are capable of delivering. Your platform for marketing the book: Include useful connections, memberships, activities, followers, reputation, email list, networks, newsletter, media coverage and more. Sample chapters: If you’re submitting to a publisher—preferably via an agent—you may need to also supply three written chapters including the first one so they can evaluate your ability to write and follow through. 8. Draft the copy Follow your roadmap! Start at the beginning to set the context and tone you want. The first chapter usually needs to explain to the reader (and yourself) why you’re writing this book, what it will give this reader and how to use it. A short ebook might require only a page or two for this. You will probably revise this opening piece later. Depending on how you work best, proceed chapter by chapter or start with those you feel most prepared for. You need not necessarily proceed sequentially, but it works best to finish a chapter, or at least a section, before moving elsewhere. Review all of the material you collected for the chapter. It will probably need further organizing into sub-topics. Assign new folders for each. These folders may serve nicely as subject heads and subheads for the full chapter. Try that, and tweak as needed so the material flows well. Develop each section piece by piece. When you hit parts that you don’t feel ready to write, skip them until you feel like doing some research or analyzing the issue in more depth. 9. Liven up your content Stories, anecdotes and examples liven up every subject and highlight your first-hand experience. How-to books benefit from some entertainment value, too, helping adults to learn better and stick with the experience. Case histories also work beautifully. So does your own story. Another option is to incorporate “view from the field” mini-features by people who are expert in a particular angle of your subject, such as a financial advisor, an investor, a copywriter, and a professional marketer for the Gen Z book. Ask contributors to write a short piece themselves (which you edit), or write it yourself based on talking with them. This carries a bonus: You can ask them to help promote “our book” and may gain some enthusiastic marketing partners. 10. Check out self-publishing options Every aspect of self-publishing has a raft of consultants and services to support authors, reflecting the popular appeal of writing books. Check them out to see which best suits your needs. The main retailer is Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing, which publishes and distributes books for their Kindle device. Because this service dominates 75 to 80 percent of the ebook market and makes it easy to create a book, don’t overlook it, though you may have to give them exclusive selling rights. Amazon also operates CreateSpace, which prints physical books on demand. Apple Books is Apple’s ebook publisher and retailer and offers the advantage of wide international distribution. Kobo is a Canadian company with international reach and some distribution services in the United States. Other platforms to know about for print books and eversions include Book Baby, IngramSpark, Lulu and Smashwords. They offer various production and marketing services, as well as distribution. You can, of course, hire freelance help, essential for editing and cover design. Fees are all over the place depending on professional credentials. Know the difference, reflected in fees, between a developmental editor (helps shape the content), line editor (helps improve language), copy editor (does light rewriting and addresses inconsistencies) and proofreader (fixes spelling and grammar errors). Know what level of help you need and request project fees. Many authors claim good experience with Fiverr, a resource of hungry editors and designers offering creative services at rock-bottom prices.

Article / Updated 08-21-2017

Most freelancers hate talking about money. Often, business writing is a good way to do it. You can marshal your thinking points and articulate them more effectively without the person present, and give them breathing space to consider your request as well. Clients typically don’t enjoy these conversations any more than you do, and may blurt out a negative response that’s hard to reconsider. Many successful consultants sidestep cost questions before presenting a proposal because they can write out all the work involved. Writing also enables them to analyze and define the larger value of the proposed work to the company. This sets the stage for a better conversation. One challenging need is a request for a fee increase. Most people who hire independent workers are content to continue in the same groove forever. You don’t often hear of any instances where a freelancer was offered a raise. Ask you must, whether your business and living costs are going up like everyone else’s, or because you’ve experienced “scope creep” — that is, you find yourself investing more time than your fee structure covers fairly. The approach for collecting on invoices also works for this problem. List your possible content points. You will have specifics according to the situation, but here are some fairly universal points to make in framing the message: I’m raising my rate 5 percent. I haven’t increased my fees for three years. My overhead and operating expenses go up inevitably. My work is valuable to you, as proven by … My service this coming year will be even better because … The last point is optional, but if you can think of something that doesn’t really cost you anything — like a staff expansion or new capability you planned on anyway, an offer to meet more often, or a way to repurpose your work for additional uses — you provide a mitigating factor that inclines the client to agree more easily. She’s spending more, but getting more. Remember that a message like this will probably be passed up the managerial chain and reviewed by financial people, so supply your connection with information to help him win approval on your behalf. And use an impersonal but still friendly writing style. When you spell out your basic points first, you spare yourself a lot of agonizing. Just follow the trail! Dear Jed, I’m writing to alert you, as a client of many years, that Marsh Sisters will raise our project fee rate by 5 percent this coming year. I know you’ll understand that just like Tailor Enterprises, our operating expenses steadily increase. We have not raised our rates for three years, and did so only once in the seven years we’ve worked together. Of course, we want to continue providing Tailor with the best possible service. We were very proud to earn the March Association Award of Merit for the Chancellor Project this past year, and even happier to know our work played a part in helping Tailor increase its Blue Division revenue this past quarter. We have plans to support you in meeting your business goals even more effectively. We’re implementing a new software system right now that will give you more detailed reports, with even faster turnaround. All of us at Marsh look forward to working with you this year and together, know we will achieve new heights. Sincerely, Maggie

Article / Updated 08-21-2017

Business writing becomes even more important as more people work from home. Working from home and virtual teaming trend upward every year. In addition to the escalating numbers of people who work on a project or hourly basis, more employees than ever work from their home base part of the week. Many others do their jobs away from headquarters, and may be continents and time zones away, or crosstown. Teaming with people you never see has become a commonplace experience for many of us. Communication technology opens up all these possibilities with ever-easier ways to work virtually. But few of us are trained to function well in a virtual environment. Strategic writing gives you a key advantage as a virtual team member or project leader. Except for occasions when you see our virtual coworkers on screen, interaction between virtual coworkers is generally by written messages and phone calls. This brings a host of drawbacks. You must collaborate without being able to read people’s facial expression, body language, and perhaps, intonation. It can take much longer to understand people’s perspective, establish trust, and know what to expect from each one so you can interact effectively. If you participate in short-term projects with new teams every time, developing a set of practices is especially important. If you have a choice, try to start the collaboration off in person, or close to it. Meeting face to face with the team is best because spending some time getting to know each other pays many dividends. Video conferencing is choice two, or use Skype or a cloud video meeting ground like Zoom. The telephone is third choice. However accomplished, your initial meeting should address good practice and set agreed-to guidelines for distribution in writing to everyone involved. This document should spell out the group’s goal; individual responsibilities; mutual obligations; milestones toward the goal and timelines; and each person’s availability, taking locations and time zones into account, as well as working preferences (for example, are folks reachable at night? On weekends?). Include a checklist to denote progress. Decide on sharing mechanisms, such as Google Drive, Google Docs, or Dropbox. It’s preferable to plan for periodic group meetings online if not in person to maintain momentum, address personality issues, and solve the inevitable roadblocks — all are handled much better face to face. It’s important to know who’s in charge. If there’s a designated project leader, his role should be fully spelled out. If “everyone is equal” and no one is centrally responsible, it’s a good idea for the group to agree that a specific person will coordinate, keep everyone on track, and hold team members accountable. A notetaker or communicator-in-chief should for designated for meetings. If this unpopular task is up for grabs, volunteer! In notetaking lies power. You’ll know more: Everyone shares information with you. And when you’re the reporter, you create the perspective. Here are some ways to help you be a good virtual collaborator and a good team member in general: Communicate always in a positive, upbeat way that promotes relationship building. Express appreciation for other people’s good work or contributions in written notes, which are especially valued. Contribute appropriate personal notes. Until you know people better, you can ask about mundane matters like the weather or someone’s weekend away. Note that research on teaming finds that the “small talk” and good listening that build comfort and trust level characterize the most successful teams. Write considerate messages. Respect your teammates by making all your writing clear, concise, to the point, and complete. Introduce a written repeat-it-back technique to confirm everyone is on the same page. Doing so prevents misinterpretations, especially if there is a shift in direction. For example, confirm your own actions with notes such as, “To follow up on our conversation on Tuesday, I plan the following … .”

Article / Updated 08-21-2017

No matter how carefully invoices and contracts are written, every consultant, freelancer, business person, and entrepreneur has trouble collecting money at times. How to maintain a good relationship while pressing for payment? Minimize the risk of losing your money and/or customer by asking for a retainer on signing, no matter how much you trust the person you’re dealing with and how steady a client she has been. People are known to leave jobs and those who replace them have been known to prefer suppliers of their own, or bring the work in-house. Companies have been known to go out of business and file for bankruptcy without warning. You may also encounter disputes about whether, in the buyer’s opinion, you delivered to the standard expected. No one with honest intentions will ever fault you for acting in a businesslike way to protect yourself by requiring an advance. And don’t lay the groundwork for cheating yourself if the nature of the work means you’ll do a major portion in the beginning, like coming up with ideas or creating the blueprint. Set up the payment schedule to cover this aspect of the job should the agreement dissolve. A contract is only as good as the parties’ willingness to live up to it. If a client doesn’t like what you produce, legal enforcement may not be desirable or practical. When payment is running a little late, minimize resentment by saying as little as possible in a perfectly neutral, blame-free, impersonal tone. Make the person you’re writing to a partner in the collection effort: Subject: Can you help? Dear Tardee, My payment for the Tyler project hasn’t come through yet, though the work was finished two months ago. Is it possible for you to nudge the machinery a bit on my behalf? I’ll appreciate it very much. —Marty Or: Subject line: Friendly reminder Dear Tardee, I’m wondering if it’s possible to speed up the processing of my second check for the Curio Design work. In line with our agreement it was due September 4 but has not arrived. I’ll appreciate your help with this. Thanks, Marty There’s never a reason to plead poverty. Don’t say you need the money to pay your bills. Late payment messages work better when they are impersonal. The same minimalist approach is useful when you bear some responsibility. A friend was embarrassed to discover that she had neglected to deposit a check and it was too old for the bank to accept. She wrote to the client: Dear Mr. Black: In tracking invoices and payments for tax purposes, bookkeeping has brought to our attention that your check #9174 written on January 12 of this year was rejected by ABC Bank due to endorsement requirements. Our records indicate that the check was not redeposited. Attached is a copy of the check that was not credited to the Marketing Pro account. Would you please issue a new check to replace the one that was originally provided? We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Thank you, Marcia White Assuming the editorial or kingly “we” along with the formal tone depersonalizes the request and presents it as a glitch between bureaucracies, though the writer runs a very small company from a virtual office. Sometimes, however, a true “letter of record” is called for to document an event or problem or present your claim more formally. This kind of letter may have legal implications that involve lawyers. You can try a strategy to keep in your back pocket for severely late payments and other confrontational situations: a chronological accounting. Here, it’s all about the facts. Marshal all the relevant bits and arrange them in a timeline. Then create a letter that simply marches down each item on your list in a dispassionate, matter-of-fact way: no frills, no flowery adjectives, no emotion. Start each item with the date. Suppose you’re an independent graphic designer and a client hasn’t paid your last bill, which was due six months ago. He now hints that the work wasn’t done to his satisfaction and won’t take your phone calls. You don’t want to go to court, but you do want your money. Your letter can go this way: Dear Mel: On July 6 of this year, you contacted my firm, MorningGlory Design, to inquire about website services for your firm, Thompson, Ltd. On July 8, we met at your office for two hours to discuss Thompson’s needs and goals. On July 15, I sent you a summary of our conversation with our suggestions for a website to meet your specifications. You called and said “I like the approach very much, go ahead.” On July 22, I sent you an agreement specifying that MorningGlory would provide the services outlined (see attached contract pages 1 and 2) at a proposed fee (see attached contract page 3) and a schedule of payments. On July 22, we both signed the contract. You remitted the one-third payment due. On August 10, I presented the preliminary design. You said “with some revision it would be exactly what I want” and that you’d mail the second payment at week’s end. On August 19, I presented the revised version based on your input. You said, “It looks fantastic, let me take a more careful look with my staff, and I’ll check about the payment you didn’t receive.” And so on. Further entries might include the dates the invoices were sent, when the new web design went live, and every other relevant detail — the more, the better. The close: In sum, I have met every obligation of our contract in a timely manner and with your full approval. The site is online exactly as I designed it. But six months later, you have not paid two-thirds of the fee to which you agreed in writing. Kindly remit the balance owed immediately. Very truly yours, Natasha This may one of the only situations where you should use a stilted, formal language with an archaic tone. Such a letter sounds as if a lawyer is advising you. Or at the least, your reader will recognize that you have a good case and are prepared to seek legal redress. If Mel doesn’t come through and you decide to take the legal route, your letter becomes part of that process and serves you well. The approach works just as nicely when you’re on the other side of the fence. Moreover, if you don’t want to pay an unfair bill and clearly state that you have no intention of paying, the other party’s recourse may be limited, depending on the state you live in. Underscore your letter’s legal undertones by mailing it — or better yet, certify it and require a signature to prove receipt.

Article / Updated 08-21-2017

If you’re a solopreneur or partner in a small business, you may regularly need to write pitch letters or deliver cold-call messages. Typically, your goal is to bring you, or your product or service, to someone’s attention and ask for an in-person meeting. Such letters are important for professional specialists of many kinds. Here’s an approach which is visualized via a specialized professional. Sarah, a professional historian, knew that a county preservation office would soon need someone to organize an application to obtain landmark status for a local building. Aiming for an appointment to present herself, Sarah drafted a letter. Try This: Imagine you’re the government official Sarah is addressing. How would you react to this letter? And how might you improve it? Dear Mr. Johnson: I had the pleasure of meeting you last July when I accompanied Jane Maxwell of the city preservation office and architect Roger Brown on a site visit to Marigold House. At that time, Jane and Jeremy were working on the city’s new Local Landmark designation for properties of historic and cultural importance outside the Big City Historic District. The Pritchard Building was officially approved by the City Council on November 28. Robert Brown was the consulting architect on that project, and I served as the consulting historian, preparing a historical title search and the land use, cultural, and biographical information necessary to establish the significance of the health center. The nineteenth-century Marigold House has more than 300 years of stories to tell and a number of them are nearly unknown. For example, the eighteenth-century correspondence of Margaret Green and Eleanor March; Mary Jennings’ 1810 book of poetry, recently discovered; the autobiography of the slave Emelia, who escaped to the north on a boat in 1814. All of these and more contribute to your property’s historical and cultural significance. I would like to research the title and history of Marigold House and prepare the significance portion of its application for Landmark designation in conjunction with Lisa and Roberta and the city preservation office. Can we schedule some time to talk about this? Sincerely, Sarah Jones Did you have trouble getting through this? Most people do. You can assume Mr. Johnson would have too had he received the letter. Here is a suggested revision. How does it compare with your idea? Dear Mr. Johnson: We met at Marigold House last July when I accompanied Jane Maxwell of the City Preservation Office and architect Robert Brown on a site visit. I’m taking the liberty of writing now because as a professional historian, I would very much like to work with Jane and your office to research the property’s title and history for its application as a designated landmark. This eighteenth-century house has more than 300 years of wonderful stories to tell. For example: The correspondence of … Mary Jennings’ 1810 book of poems … The first-hand account of the slave Emelia who escaped … All these stories contribute to Marigold House’s historical and cultural significance, but only a few of them are now part of the official registries. I would like to prepare the significant portion of the application and include these stories and many more. I’ve previously worked with Jane to develop the city’s new Local Landmark designation regulations and I served as the consulting historian to establish the significance of Margaret Field … I am the former resident historian for … Can we schedule some time to talk? I will welcome the opportunity to explain my qualifications to research Marigold House and support its application for Landmark status. Sincerely, Sarah Jones Here are the guidelines derived from comparing these two versions: Say what you want ASAP so the person knows why you’re writing. When you have a personal connection, begin with that because it positions you, establishes trust, and builds instant connection. Format the letter to be quickly read and easily understood. In the revised letter, the short, bulleted list breaks up the copy and gets the examples across more effectively. Paragraphs and sentences are shorter and less dense to encourage reading. Make the most of what’s interesting, relevant, and/or close to the reader’s heart. Sarah showcases her qualifications with specific details in the bullets. This show-not-tell technique is far more effective than saying, “I am an expert historian and know many interesting stories.” Use a writing style that relates to the audience and your goal. In this case, the writer is addressing someone with an academic orientation similar to her own, so a slightly formal tone feels right. Cite credentials, but not necessarily up front. They are often not your best sales points. People respond more to your understanding of their challenges and what you can do for them, rather than what you’ve done in the past. This isn’t really counterintuitive: Knowing how to bridge your expertise to other people’s problems is a top trademark of professionalism. If you came up with a different version you like better, good for you. Editing and writing are far from scientific. It might be nice to think you can follow formulas or use templates, but “canned” approaches come across as overly general and boring. Practice thinking each challenge through with a goal-plus-audience framework in mind, address head and heart, and you’ll get the results you want more often.