Table Of ContentY
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Team-Fly®
Business
Writing
for
Results
How to Create a Sense of Urgency
and Increase Response to All of Your
Business Communications
J A N E K . C L E L A N D
Copyright ©2003 by Jane Cleland. All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America. Except as per-
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DOI: 10.1036/0071426221
My father, a non-native speaker,
struggled to make himself understood in English.
He often wished for simple ways to
remember complex writing rules so that
he could produce professional letters quickly and easily.
This book is for my father.
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Contents
E
Introduction ix
CHAPTER ONE
Arrange Your Thoughts 1
A Methodical Process 1
Set Action Objectives 1
Exercise 1: Write a One-Sentence Objective 3
Analyze Your Target Readers 5
Exercise 2: Target Your Reader’s Personality 10
Create the Right Image 11
Exercise 3: How Formal Should Your Communication Be? 18
Big Picture: Use the Matrix of Persuasion 20
Exercise 4: Put the Matrix of Persuasion to Work 23
CHAPTER TWO
Create a Draft on Paper
(or on Your Computer) 25
Good Writing Starts with Clear Thinking 25
Choose Your Organizational Structure 25
Exercise 5: Select an Organizational Structure 40
Organize Your Thinking Using an Outline or Hub & Spokes 44
Exercise 6: Get Your Thoughts Down on Paper 50
CHAPTER THREE
Write Excellent First Drafts 51
Write Polished First Drafts 51
Write with Your Readers in Mind 51
Exercise 7: Calculate the Empathy Index 57
Exercise 8: Rewrite to Improve the Empathy Index 59
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Copyright 2003 by Jane Cleland. Click Here for Terms of Use.
Contents
Your Salutation and Lead Set the Tone 62
Hook Your Readers’ Interest with a Compelling Lead 66
Exercise 9: Add Urgency Through Time-Sensitive
Vocabulary 68
Add a Snappy Close 70
Exercise 10: Write a First Draft 74
CHAPTER FOUR
Hands-on Writing Workshop 77
Add Credibility as You Revise 77
Specifics Increase Believability 77
Exercise 11: Add Specificity to General Statements 79
Exercise 12: Add Examples to Make Dull Copy Come Alive 82
Exercise 13: Add Specificity to Increase Reader
Understanding 83
Select the Best Word to Express Your Meaning 83
Exercise 14: Select Words with FURY 88
Exercise 15: Revise in a Methodical Manner 89
CHAPTER FIVE
Revise for Impact and Clarity 95
Concise Communications Succeed 95
Tactic One: Conciseness 95
Exercise 16: Revise for Conciseness 100
Tactic Two: Clarity 103
Exercise 17: Revise to Create Proper Emphasis and
Increase Clarity 108
Tactic Three: A Positive Tone 110
Tactic Four: Parallel Construction 111
Exercise 18: Write a Third Draft 115
CHAPTER SIX
Determine What Kind of
Proofing You Require 121
Integrate Proofing into the Writing Process 121
Understand Proofreading’s Role in the Business Writing Process 121
Determine Your Editing Level Before You Begin to Proof 122
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Contents
What Do You Know? It’s Quiz Time 132
Exercise 19: Assess Your Knowledge 132
CHAPTER SEVEN
Proofread for Perfection 137
Confirm Your Text Is Clear and Professional 137
Grammar and Punctuation Update 137
Politically Correct Writing 141
Punctuate for Clarity 143
Exercise 20: Revise for Clarity 147
Using Proper Grammar Signals Professionalism 149
Exercise 21: Correct Common Grammar Errors 153
Use the Correct Word 155
Exercise 22: Practice Using Frequently Misused Words 158
Capitalize for Emphasis 159
Exercise 23: Capitalize Correctly 162
Exercise 24: What Did You Learn? 163
CHAPTER EIGHT
Write with Confidence 169
Putting It All Together: Use the Three-Step Process 169
A Methodical Approach 169
Step One: Get Your Thoughts in Order 173
Exercise 25: Write an Objective 174
Exercise 26: Analyze Personality 174
Exercise 27: Use the Formality Index 175
Exercise 28: Understand Your Overall Writing Assignment 176
Step Two: Create a Draft on Paper (or on Your Computer) 177
Exercise 29: Select an Organizational Structure 177
Exercise 30: Use the Hub & Spokes Model 178
Exercise 31: Get a Draft on Paper 180
Step Three: Revise for Clarity 181
Exercise 32: Calculate Your Empathy Index and
Revise to Increase Reader Focus 182
Exercise 33: Add a Snappy Close 185
Exercise 34: Add Specificity 186
Exercise 35: Select Words with FURY 188
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Contents
Exercise 36: Calculate Your Average Sentence Length 189
Exercise 37: Make It Clear 191
Exercise 38: Confirm That It’s Positive 192
Exercise 39: Maintain Parallel Construction 193
Exercise 40: Proofread for Perfection 193
Appendix A: Streamline Your Text 201
Write Lean 201
Appendix B: The Correct Use of Prepositions 205
Correct Preposition Use Enhances Professionalism 205
Index 209
viii
Introduction
E
Malcolm Forbes once said, “A good business letter can get you a job inter-
view, get you off the hook, or get you money. It’s totally asinine to blow
your chances of getting whatever you want with a business letter that
turns people off instead of turning them on.”
Here’s the bottom line: If you can’t produce well-written communi-
cations, it’s unlikely you’ll achieve business success. No matter what your
industry, no matter what your job, no matter what other business abili-
ties are required to succeed in your career, you must be able to get your
points across clearly and persuasively in writing. Writing well in business
involves more than merely following the rules of grammar. It requires a
keen understanding of two things:
1. Your objective—what do you want your readers to do as a result
of reading your material?
2. Your target audience—what is going to motivate your readers
to do whatever it is you want them to do?
Most business professionals understand that the ability to communi-
cate clearly and concisely is not an optional business skill—it’s a critical
one. What they usually haven’t considered is that businesswriting is a dif-
ferent kind of writing from the writing they learned in school. It’s nei-
ther academic nor informal. It differs from technical writing, creative
writing, and journalism. Just as each of these writing styles has standards
unique to it, so too is business writing unique. At its best, it’s conversa-
tional without being chatty, accessible without being too familiar, clear
without being overly simplistic, and professional without being stuffy. This
book sets out an easy-to-use and easy-to-understand three-step system
guaranteedto help readers write business communications well.
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