Entrepreneurial Blog

The 10 points in the book Business and Administrative Communication by Kitty Locker for Making Your Writing Easier to Read are:

1. Choose words that are accurate, appropriate, and familiar.
2. Choose words that do not include technical jargon unless it is essential and known to the reader.  Eliminate business jargon.
3. As you write and revise – use active words in sentences.
4. As you write and revise – use verbs – not nouns – to carry the weight of the sentence.
5. As you write and revise – eliminate wordiness in sentences.
6. As you write and revise – vary sentence length and sentence structure.
7. As you write and revise – use parallel structure in sentences.  Use the same grammatical form for ideas that have the same logical function.
8. As you write and revise – put your readers in your sentences.
9. As you write and revise – begin most paragraphs with topic sentence so the readers know what to expect in the paragraph.
10. As you write and revise – use transitions to link ideas in paragraphs.

Eliminating wordiness is very important along with having clear concise sentences.  When receiving an email the less words the better.  In today’s environment with people having very little time and much to do in that amount of time they do not want to waste time.  People prefer a concise clear email over a wordy email if they both achieve the same objective.

Another point of this book is to eliminate the “I” word.  Make the focus of your communications to be toward the reader not the writer.  Instead of saying “I am sending you the brochure”, say “Your requested brochure is enclosed.”  Also do not include words like “this writer”.  If you do need to reverence yourself do so but try to be aware your intentions.  If it is about or for the reader reference them.  If is truly about the writer then you can use “I”.  An example would be “I need a new computer.”  You are informing the reader your needs.  You could also follow up with “I need a new computer, could you provide me with a quote?”  This informs the reader what the writer needs but then puts focus back to the reader since the writer is requesting something from the reader.  Try to keep the focus on the reader.

This book also talks about What I Really Mean Is with the acronym WIRMI.  When proofing your sentence write another sentence that says “What I really mean is” then complete the sentence.  Are you getting your point across in your rough draft or do you need to revise the sentence?

Another hint the book gives is to read the draft out loud to someone else.  When reading communication out loud is it sound awkward then you can make revision so that your written communication will sound clearer and more concise.

Emails are important in working relationships and there are proper email etiquette.  The internet article “Email Etiquette Tips, Tricks and Secrets” by About.com gives the advice of asking before sending large attachments, cleaning up emails before forwarding them on, reminds you that email is a permanent record, and to use bullet points for readability.  These are some very good points.  Other good points include points that Dennis G. Jerz mentions in his internet article “Writing Effective E-Mail: Top 10 Tips”.  They are as follows:

“Some professionals get scores of e-mails a day. Follow these tips in order to give your recipients the information they need in order to act on your message sooner rather than later.

1. 1. Write a meaningful subject line.
   2. Keep the message focused and readable.
   3. Avoid attachments.
   4. Identify yourself clearly.
   5. Be kind — don’t flame.
   6. Proofread.
   7. Don’t assume privacy.
   8. Distinguish between formal and informal situations.
   9. Respond Promptly.
   10. Show Respect and Restraint. “

In the book Business and Administrative Communications by Kitty Locker  she refers to revising, editing, and proofreading.   Try to reread emails before sending them out to see if the receiver will understand the message.  If there are acronyms spell them out, if they email back using the acronyms then it is acceptable to use the acronyms in emails to them.

This book also says to eliminate “If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.”  This used to be acceptable in communications, but no longer.  Know that if the receiver needs clarification or any additional information from you most professionals will not hesitate to contact you. Try not to have negative implications in emails and try to look for positive implications in all communications.

Miscommunication happens quite often.  From watching the movie about “Erin Brokovitch”, I learned that one needs to be detailed and informative to have effective communications.  Some terms describing miscommunication are vague, inconsistent, and non specific.  Try not to be stuffy in communications, to always include dates, addresses, and name of contact person to make it more personable.  Try not to bury the main point and try to emphasize the reader not the writer.  Also try to be specific in requests and not vague.