How to improve your professional business writing skills.

There are four fail safe tricks to improving the emails and letters you send to clients.

Before you even pick up a pen or start tapping away consider:

PRESENTATION:
Ask yourself “How does it look?”

The layout is critical.
Make sure each key point is separated into its own paragraph.
Opt for 1.5 line spacing betweens text and ensure solid carriage return between paragraphs.

Is the font readable?
Make sure your font is at least 12 points and preferably in a standard san serif type.
Perpetua, arial and times roman are always a safe bet.
Reduce the amount of italics, bolding and underlining you do to emphasise key points.

WRITING LIGHT

Simplify your words by avoiding industry jargon, buzz words and acronyms.
Identify the most interesting aspect of your message and lead with that.
Avoid words that end with “tion” and “ment” and instead use the corresponding verb. For example, swap “in the consideration of” for “in considering” or exchange “in the compilation of” for “in compiling”.

WRITING TIGHT

Go for active speech to deliver your message in a straightforward manner.
Using lots of commas, “of the” and “for the” are clues you are writing passively.
Active speech follows the subject+verb+object sequencing rules whereas passive flows the other way.
For example, “the client placed an order” is active while “the order was placed by the client” is passive.
You can see the latter uses extra words that slow down the reader.

WRITING RIGHT

Check your grammar, punctuation and spelling.
Better yet, ask someone else to do it for you as it is very difficult to pick up your own writing mistakes.
If you have the time then wait before sending emails immediately as rereading your work with fresh eyes can work wonders.

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