Effective Business Writing

get clear on your message

How do we communicate?
Verbal (how we speak)

Body Language (gestures, eye contact etc)

Written word (letters, emails, presentations, reports, social media)

Who do we communicate with?

Colleagues Clients External organizations (banks, solicitors, government organizations) Other stakeholders The media (print, social)

Written communication should be aligned with our brand

Vision our solutions may be creative. Trust be careful what you put on paper! Make sure you are being honest, speaking with integrity and remember if you write it down, it could be read out in court. Clarity our written communication needs to be delivered in a CLEAR, EASY TO UNDERSTAND format.

Rules for effective business writing

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Start with your conclusion in mind Think about the audience (mum & dad clients Vs professionals) Each new point or question MUST start in a new paragraph Use bullet points whenever possible Less is more attention spans have changed; no one wants to read war and peace

Rules for effective business writing

6. Avoid jargon a writer uses jargon when they dont know how to say anything meaningful 7. Write once, check twice 8. Cool down before you send! 9. Call to action 10. Dont give reader too many choices 11. Focus on Benefits; NOT features 12. TONE has a huge impact!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A poorly written email example

To bill.blogs@newco.com.au Subject: meeting Hey Bill It was good to catch up I wanted to talk about your tax situation in more detail since I feel that this year you could be in a situation where you will pay more tax due to changes is the superannuation regime which is currently awaiting royal assent in parliament and also an increase in the personal marginal taxation rates. I would personally consider using a more tax effective structure to manage your business moving forward; namely a discretionary trust with a corporate trustee of which you and your family members will all be beneficiaries. A discretionary trust is an entity that hold property on behalf of its beneficiaries; its conduct is determined by its trustee which is in this case would be a Pty Ltd Company. It will allow for flexibility in distributing income as well as providing you with asset protection (subject to satisfying some of the claw back provisions of the Bankruptcy Act 1966). Having said all of that it could be that a more suitable structure could be that we use the current structure to offset quarantined losses in the other bodies corporate in the business group using a series of management fees. We can do this as part of a quarterly review of your package which is something else that I would like to talk to you about one day when we are meeting on the other issues. Would you like to do this soon? Something else we spoke about today was your personal financial requirements. We can look at making many suggestions for you. Firstly income protection is something that we recommend to all of our clients. We can then look at putting place a strategy for your investments and we can also provide you with a self-managed superannuation fund which is a structure to administer superannuation which can be a much better way to structure investments in some instances. You should start thinking about how much money you need to have saved for retirement. Kristen Quirk is our financial planner and I would like to introduce you to her one day when you are around so that you can look at taking on one of the many services she offers as part of our group. I look forward to hearing from you so that we can work out the best way that we can service you we can either do this by phone, skype or in person. MATT BOURKE Chief Executive Officer

What is wrong with it?

Pick as many issues as you can Do you ever do this in any of your emails? Think clearly about how you would lay this email out using principles discussed earlier Have a go at your own version!

A well written email example

To bill.blogs@newco.com.au Subject: Financial Issues & Forward Strategy Hi Bill It was good to catch up with you recently to discuss your 2011 tax results. Since this time, I have had a chance to put together a clear list of items that we believe you need to address, and more importantly, a roadmap of how to do this. Issues: I have identified that you have three issues that you should be addressing immediately: 1. 2. 3. You believe you are paying too much tax Your family is exposed to a huge risk if you become ill and can no longer work You are unsure of if you will have enough money to retire on in 10 years (planned retirement)

Solutions: Broadly speaking, we would need to investigate the following strategies to address your above concerns: 1. 2. 3. Review (and more than likely alter) your business structure; keeping tax minimisation and protection of the family home as the key focus Review and implement Insurances; keeping our focus on ensuring your family are taken care of if you are not around Review of your retirement progress and plans

Next Steps: This is not a small job, but these issues concern your families future, so we see them as urgent. We can commence this process immediately: 1. 2. 3. 4. Meeting to gather necessary information Overlay this information with your financial information Present engagement options and sign off Execute in accordance with your wishes

Bill, it is also appropriate that when we meet I introduce you to Kristen Quirk, our in house Insurance and Investment expert when we meet. Please take some time to read this information and discuss with Sally; I will be in contact in 24 hours to make a suitable time. Kind regards MATT BOURKE Chief Executive Officer

Remember
Clients pay for us to be educated and know our stuff People buy based on features not benefits They also pay us to make things simple for them Our emails and other communication can be a sales tool when used effectively They reveal how our mind works We want our written word to embody our brand promise, particularly the CLARITY part!

Internal Emails
Emails can be misconstrued sometimes which can damage morale If you follow the rules I have laid out, you will have less room for interpretation and communicate with much more clarity Some conversations should be saved for phone or in person Your email is the company email; do not forget this! If you send a poorly constructed email to a colleague; do not expect a well constructed one back!

Letters
Letters are used less and less in the modern world.
Same principles apply Letters should be used when management deems it appropriate to step up the formality of the communication Letters should always be template driven when possible; check with colleagues first before drafting (yammer would be ideal) Letters should take on a more formal tone eg no cheers etc Letters should be used and signed off by partner whenever advice of any kind is being given; emails are not suitable for this in most cases

Social Media
Bourke Group is on;
Facebook Linkdin Twitter Youtube

All Group communication via these mediums at present must filter through Matt. Also, employees with private accounts look at what happened with energy watch you still have a responsibility as a BG employee when using privately.

Conclusion start using these rules immediately!

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. Start with conclusion in mind Think about the audience Each new point or question MUST start in a new paragraph Use bullet points whenever possible Less is more Avoid jargon Write once, check twice Cool down before you send! Create a call to action Dont give reader too many choices Focus on Benefits; NOT features TONE has a huge impact!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you