Up to 10% of a business's annual sales are lost due to miscommunications from bad writing, says Allison Nazarian, President of Get It In Writing, Inc.
"At my company, our slogan is 'Words mean business.' It's never been more profound. Bad writing is more than ugly; it's so costly and bad for business," Nazarian explains. In the public sector, as well, nearly a quarter of a billion dollars is spent annually on remedial writing instruction for employees, meaning that sloppy writing costs taxpayers as well.
According to Nazarian, most executives don't stop to think about the many ways in which bad writing costs corporations and the public sector big dollars. She outlines some of them here:
- Unclear instructional manuals create work interruptions, lengthy on-hold calls to Help Desks and costly delays in completing projects.
- Executives being paid the "big bucks" may be reading and re-reading (and re-reading again) poor writing, losing their corporations countless money due to lack of clarity.
- Poor copywriting in annual reports can alienate, lose and/or confuse stockholders.
- Poorly written text can create a disconnect with customers; replacing customers can be extraordinarily costly.
- Miscommunication from poor writing can hurt employee morale.
- Unclear, unprofessional and/or confusing web copy can create a poor overall impression of a company, affecting search engine rankings and help the competition.
How does Nazarian recommend workers improve their writing? "When writing something, mentally give yourself the 'elevator speech.' In other words, practice what you want to say in 60 seconds or less, then write it down just as succinctly. In business communications, employees from all parts of a company need to create tighter copy. The business world doesn't have time for unnecessarily bloated writing."
Nazarian also recommends on-site training to improve employee writing. "There are many writing coaches out there who will spend a couple of hours training your employees the right way to communicate in writing. No matter what you're spending on that training, it will be less than the impact on your company's bottom line from writing errors."
About Get It In Writing, Inc: Since 2001, Get It In Writing, Inc. has been a leader in developing the messages, words and ideas of business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) communications. The firm, which has built a solid reputation as a trusted and indispensable resource for professionals in marketing, advertising, sales, graphic design, web development, public relations and branding, helps clients harness the power of words to communicate, sell, inform, educate and publicize. For information, free resources and/or to buy services online, visit www.GetItInWriting.biz.
