How can I communicate better through writing?

How much writing do you do in your job? Probably more than you think. But the problem is that hardly any of it gets read, and so there is a need to learn how to write far persuasively.

Forget phone calls. Put aside face-to-face interactions. The truth is that 90% of all business transactions involve writing to our customers and in this area of communication we need to improve fast. Just take this example of gobbledegook: “If there are any points on which you require explanation or further particulars we shall be glad to furnish such additional details as may be required by telephone” – No surprise that customers get frustrated because what this actually means, after it has been decoded, is: “If you have any questions, please ring”.

If you are still not convinced that the way you write impacts on business then consider the fact that only 10-15% of what you and your team put in your proposals, reports, letters, emails and brochures ever gets read. Why? Well don’t blame the reader. Who, for example, would want to read this nonsense... “Deutsche Bank Global Markets London-based Product Innovation Group has implemented Prediction Dynamics’ Crucible as a platform for researching and deploying innovative quantitative trading strategies. The quantitative trading infrastructure software will enable the bank to very quickly implement sophisticated non-parametric financial trading strategies for its growing client base.” – It is baffling isn’t it?

However, the real irony is that the people writing this sort of babble are trying very hard to communicate effectively with their clients. OK, they are failing miserably but the answer is not for them to stop trying. The solution is for them to learn key skills that can transform this rubbish into clear, persuasive and engaging writing.

There are three basic steps that will make writing easier for you and for your customers:

1. Planning

It is no surprise to find that good planning is a must. However it may surprise you to hear that professional writers spend more than twice the amount of time in planning compared to non-professional writers. Now let me be clear about this. Planning is key both because it helps the writer to gather all their ideas and information and because it helps stimulate creative thinking.

In this context there are a number of powerful planning techniques which you can use. Mind Mapping is one, and another is the Cluster technique which, like Mind Mapping, allows you to put down on one page all the various associated thoughts that you have around your subject. Both these techniques also help you to consider your audience. How much do they know about the subject? How much detail do they need? What style of writing is appropriate? Start answering these questions and you will have a much better chance of composing a piece that is appropriate and engaging.

2. The quick draft

Of course once you have constructed a plan it is far easier to draft your document. You know where you are starting, you know where you are going and you have some key milestones for your journey. However, when drafting, a good piece of advice is this - do not revise as you go along and once you have started writing don’t stop – keep going. If you make an error then leave it. If you can’t think of a word or phrase then leave a space to fill in later. Remember that nothing comes out perfectly the first time, so instead of perfection, aim for a draft that contains everything you want to say.

Furthermore if you are one of those people who finds that they can’t get started then begin anywhere. It doesn’t matter where you start so long as it is all included at the end. And one final hint with rough drafting; keep a notepad to hand. Every writer gets good ideas when drafting; ideas that don’t belong to the sentence or paragraph under construction. Note them as they occur and keep them for later use.

3. Editing

Once you have drafted your piece you are ready for the most important step of all – editing. And invariably this means cutting down on your text, not adding to it. You may think that you have 1000 wonderful things to say but the effectiveness of your communication is measured not by what you know but by what your reader takes in and understands. Editors know this and that is why they are so ruthless with their red pen!

As we saw at the beginning of this article, people tend to get very long winded and use far too much jargon when they are writing to their customers. But how do you know if what you have written is clear enough?

One way to assess your writing is to try reading it aloud. If it flows and has a logical structure then you are probably safe. Alternatively you can check clarity by using the fog index. To calculate your fog index take a passage of about 100 words and divide it by the number of sentences. This will give you an average sentence length (A). Now total the number of words which have three or more syllables in this passage of writing (avoiding proper names, nouns or words with prefixes or suffixes). Call this total B. Add the totals A + B and multiply by a factor of 0.4 and this figure will be your fog index.

The figure you have for your fog index represents the minimum reading age required by your reader in order to make sense of your writing. And just to give you a feel for the fog index of the British press, The Sun has a fog index of 6-8, The Mail has an index of 10-12, The Times, The Guardian and The Telegraph have an index of 14-18 and The Independent an index of 20-24. So how should you be communicating with your customer base? What level of clarity do you need?

Now this article only introduces you to some of the key ideas. If you are serious about improving then you need training and coaching in the planning, drafting and editing skills outlined above. But the good news is that this is not a long process. In one or two days you can transform your writing technique, with courses such as Writing Dynamics.