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I hope you find my writing and business tips and observations useful. My business and blog are dedicated to helping businesses communicate clearly and reach their potential. Read, subscribe to my newsletter, enjoy!Tash

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TashWord

Tash is a professional writer who loves helping people communicate clearly and effectively.
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Business lessons from the gym

Published 1 March, 2012 | By TashWord

As long as you are willing to look, there are business lessons to be learned from many places. A local gym club has unfortunately provided numerous examples of how to alienate members.

image source: 123rf.com

So here are some of their mistakes that we can learn from:

  • send out quarterly invoices at seemingly random times and vary the means of delivery (snail mail or via staff to members)
  • never answer the phone and wait for at least 3 messages before returning any calls
  • ask for a deposit for the following year then question why members pay that much less in the first invoice of the year – either admit it is an extra fee or understand that a deposit is deducted from the main invoice
  • don’t answer emails
  • if you do answer emails (and it’s taken over two years for this to happen in our case) do not put your name at the end of the email, just use a signature with the club name and address
  • give out dates of major events (like the end of year performance) via wall posters 2 weeks beforehand – notices, emails and advance notice are overrated, surely?
  • claim to leave multiple messages, but not speak to member when at the club each week, as justification for not communicating important information. If nothing else, maybe it was worth checking if the correct phone number was being used (as no messages were ever received by us)

I have heard people praise the location and facilities but only ever criticise the organisation itself. It is a pity to see people travel further than necessary because they want a basic level of customer service.

Of course, that is the key lesson from all the mistakes above – provide customer service and make things easier for customers.

How much poor or mediocre service will you put up with? Are there situations where it bothers you more than others?

Posted in business info & tools | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments

An annual report by any other name…

Published 28 February, 2012 | By TashWord

I sometimes refer to writing annual reports for clients, but you may know those reports by another name such as:

  • trustee report
  • annual trustee report
  • shareholders’ report
  • report for members
  • membership report
  • AGM reports (although these are often simpler and delivered orally)
  • company report
  • annual credit report

Are there any other name you use or know for annual reports from a company or similar entity?

Posted in Business Communications, writing | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Social media choice

Published 27 February, 2012 | By TashWord

Which social media platform(s) do you find useful for your business?

Twitter or Facebook?

I have seen a number of discussions on this topic recently, in blogs and forums, and most people have answered in favour of Twitter or Facebook, with some being against the other. Other sites get little mention or are listed as additional channels.

It intrigues me that people still consider Twitter to be about what someone had for breakfast and won’t look at it while swearing by Facebook as a business tool. Both sites can be used seriously or frivolously – you can choose to not like/follow anything you think is nonsense.

My personal experience is that business people share a lot of information and resources on Twitter while Facebook is great for products and consumer services that people can relate to in ‘their time’ rather than in ‘work time’.

I heard it summed up nicely by Tom Webster (of Brand Savant) recently when he said (paraphrased) “Facebook is for sharing with people you know while the other platforms are for sharing with people you don’t know.”

Benefits to business

As a B2B business, having my information shared widely is valuable so Twitter suits  that need. I also like reading what other B2B people share as I can learn from it. Reading what friends share on Facebook may be interesting or fun, but generally doesn’t teach me business skills or knowledge.

One set of  statistics* I found interesting is:

Comparison of social media platforms for B2B and B2C results

B2B 39% & B2C 53% have acquired a customer via Twitter
B2B 41% & B2C 67% have acquired a customer via Facebook
B2B 61% & B2C 39% have acquired a customer via LinkedIn
B2B 55% & B2C 63% have acquired a customer via their business blog

It clearly shows that LinkedIn is more about professional links rather than leading to consumers. But more relevant for now is that Facebook works much better for B2C than B2B, and Twitter and Facebook have produced similar results for B2B users.

Those figures also make it obvious that a blog is still a very useful tool for both B2B and B2C – with the advantage of complete control of the blog and content (social media platforms can and do change).

Your social media experiences

How do you use social media as a consumer/client? Where would you look for a business in social media?

What results have you seen from social media for your business?

*From HubSpot State of Inbound  Marketing Report 2011 (2012 version due out soon)

Posted in business info & tools, marketing, social media | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

Getting responses

Published 24 February, 2012 | By TashWord

If you take the time to write some content, I assume it is to get a response. So isn’t it worth taking a bit longer and making a response more likely?

This week I have received two messages that may have generated a nice response from me except for what I see laziness on the part of the writer.Messages transferred between computers

First was an unsolicited email from someone wanting some proofreading work from me. He used the contact form on my website but addressed it to “To whom it may concern”.

If you want a job, you need to impress your perspective employer – show some initiative and attention to detail, and tailor your approach to the employer. It is not hard to find my name on my site but he didn’t even bother. He also didn’t mention my business in any way, just what he wanted, and used a Gmail account instead of an email from his domain.

Second was a comment in my blog {names changed to protect the guilty or maybe just me!}:

I am Fred Nerk from XYZ Pty Ltd and I would like the contact details of your marketing manager to tell him about our forum next November Regards.

I know this was spam and he obviously hadn’t even read the post he was commenting on. But the same lesson applies – take the time to find someone’s name and understand their business before contacting them.

Even if you can’t be bothered doing your research, assuming all marketing managers are male is not a good option either.

I’m not employing someone (or buying someone’s product or service) who can’t be bothered finding my name on my site.

Would you?

Posted in Business Communications | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Procedures and opportunities

Published 23 February, 2012 | By TashWord

Have you thought about the lost opportunities in your business? Or linked some of those opportunities to the lack of procedures in your business?

Often because we are so busy or are comfortable, SMB people can miss opportunities to grow their profit margins. In Forbes this week, Bill Conerly wrote about two major factors leading to missed opportunities.

One factor is concentrating on revenue and forgetting margins. That is, worrying so much about getting sales and more money coming in that there is no assessment of actual profits (remember profits and turnover are very different terms, although related).

Bill gives the example of winning many jobs (so increasing revenue or income) at below-cost prices (so making no profit). My example is a freelancer who charges an hourly rate that doesn’t factor in costs such as running a website, electricity and administration – being the cheapest may win more work but doesn’t generate as much profit.

Written procedures and business opportunities

Further opportunities are missed through the lack of procedures.

“Written procedures can be an efficiency tool, which means better profit margins,” wrote Bill with a personal example of improving his own working methods.

Bill also quoted me with the following issues relating to a lack of procedures:

  1. all the information in one person’s head means the business struggles if that person is suddenly unavailable – a struggling business can’t grab new opportunities or even cope with the current ones
  2. training a new person is time intensive for those who know the operations whereas a set of procedures can give the trainee guidance to work alone sooner
  3. a business is more valuable to a potential buyer if they can easily continue the service – it also looks more professional. You may not be thinking of selling just now but preparing to sell your business is a good strategy
  4. going through your operations to write (or review) your procedures can give a different perspective and highlight areas that can be improved. For instance, whilst noting the procedure for updating a client’s website, I was able to remove double handling by staff and show them an easier way to do the updates – the time saved was an opportunity to increase their social media presence.

Have you seen any improved efficiency relating to having good procedures in place?

Establishing procedures in your business doesn’t have to be hard – just work on one at a time as you complete important tasks. My preparing procedures eBook is designed to help you through this process, or contact me with specific questions and challenges.

Posted in business info & tools | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Making legalese clear

Published 22 February, 2012 | By TashWord

Converting legalese into Plain English which is easier to understand, while keeping the legal message, is possible and doesn’t have to be that hard, either.

With the overall aim being to make the content shorter and to use simpler words, you can greatly improve a piece of legalese writing into something more readable.

Try swapping the phrases and words next time you are writing or editing any legal-based statements to see what a difference they make.

in respect of                                 about

due to                                             because

wherefore                                      why (or what)

herein                                             in (or within)

in the event                                   if

defaults in the payment             doesn’t pay

vendor                                             buyer or customer

three (3)                                         three

at this time                                     now

for the purpose of                         for (or to)

in order to                                      to

in point of fact                              in fact {or nothing is probably the best option!}

is required to                                 must

inasmuch as                                  because (or since)

making a determination             determining (or better, try ‘deciding’)

subsequent to the use of              after using

whether or not                               whether

with reference to                            regarding (or ‘about’ for real simplicity)

commence                                        start (or begin)

utilise                                                use

in light of the fact that                 because ( or the really short option ‘as’)

And remember that ‘include’ means ‘here is part of the full list’ so there is no reason to write ‘including but not limited to …’

Are there particular words or phrases in legalese (or other hard to read dialects) that stand out for you? What words would you use in stead, or do you need some suggestions of alternatives?

Posted in Business Communications | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Oral or aural , spoken or heard

Published 20 February, 2012 | By TashWord

The spelling and pronunciation are different, as are the meanings, of these two words but they are all similar enough to be misused without most people realising.

aural: [adjective] related to the ear or the sense of hearing
An aural learner may study better by reading notes out loud or discussing the concepts.

oral: [adjective] the mouth or related to the mouth
His oral presentation was fanatic but his written report was poor. Babies putting everything into their mouth is known as the oral stage of development.

You may be able to remember which is which by thinking of the O you make with your mouth being oral.

Posted in Monday Meanings | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments

Good blogging made simple

Published 18 February, 2012 | By TashWord

A colourful, interesting blogBlogging can be fun, it takes time, it can have great rewards for a business. For some, like me, thinking of topics and writing blog posts is fairly easy; for others, writing blog posts can be hard and nerve-wrecking.

So here are ten quick tips to give you confidence that your blog posts are going to work for you, not against you.

  1. use a spell checker (within the blog software or elsewhere) and a grammar checker (tied in with many spell checkers now anyway)
  2. read your blog post out loud as you proof read it – your tongue will stumble over mistakes you may otherwise miss
  3. whenever possible, leave a day or two between writing and proof reading and editing your posts
  4.  relax and be yourself – a blog should show some personality and make the business human. A professional image does not mean you have to be stuffy and intellectual
  5. write for humans, not search engines. It is important to include keywords but not at the expense of making the content easy to read
  6. if you have little to say on the topic, write a short post – don’t add a lot of fluff and nonsense just to make it look longer
  7. if a post is getting very long, consider dividing it into two or three posts – it’s easier to read, more visually appealing and you get more posts for not much extra effort!
  8. ask questions and invite comments – the interaction can lead many places and adds a new dimension to your blog. Reply to comments, too, but that comes after writing the posts!
  9. make the post easy on the eye – use sub-headings, images, bullet points, short sentences and short paragraphs as appropriate
  10. make sure facts and opinions are clearly shown as such – facts need to be accurate and you don’t want anyone thinking your opinions are presented as facts. For your opinions, make them real – it’s ok t be controversial as long as your stand suits your brand

As you build confidence, there are many more things you can do for your blog but getting started and attracting readers is the first and shot critical step. Good luck, and enjoy blogging!

Posted in blogging | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Legalese or clear English?

Published 16 February, 2012 | By TashWord

Legalese* is used a lot and is not what I call clear content or simple communication.

Legalese is usually both longer and more complicated than is necessary to communicate a message. Most people don’t read it in full because it is looks too boring and hard. And it isn’t truly necessary most of the time.

If you have terms or other important information to communicate with clients, by all means get a lawyer to review it for you to ensure you are saying the right things. However, make sure the information is presented clearly.

To help make it clear:

  • find a legal advisor who is happy to work with you for commercially sound content – at a minimum, get them to approve what is written meets the requirements (and no more) even if they would prefer to include a lot more
  • write a short and simple message and link off to a comprehensive list of legal terms elsewhere. The message alerts people that terms exist but keeps your main message clear – and most people really don’t need to know all those terms. I have used this strategy on product disclosure statements – we state the basic rules that apply to most people and list the finer terms elsewhere for unusual circumstances. The result is that people actually read those documents rather than letting them collect dust as they appear too hard.
  • use good formatting to make the content visually appealing – lots of small print, long sentences and numbered items in paragraph style is very off-putting

What do you think – do you read content that is obviously legalese? Do you find some of that small print information worth reading, if only presented in a clear way?

I can think of a few instances where a document has not answered a question so I have to skim through a lot of tiny terms to find the information. A shorter legal statement with important details or a well set out page of terms would be much easier to achieve the same goal.

* Legalese is the usually complex way lawyers write information to ensure all angles are covered and liabilities avoided.

Posted in Business Communications | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

Breadwinner review

Published 15 February, 2012 | By TashWord

As 2012 is the national year of reading, I am going to share some of my reading this year through a series of book reviews. Here is the first one…

Breadwinner: a fresh approach to business success

by Tom O’Toole with Lowell Tarling
BAS Publishing, Seaford 2009

Some time ago, an IT trainer told me about a video by Tom O’Toole from the Beechworth  Bakery. The trainer (and others at his training company) were using it in a business course to cover customer service. I then heard of Tom O’Toole in passing a few times.

Driving through Albury last year we happened across a Beechworth Bakery outlet and stopped for lunch. Whilst there, I bought a copy of  Breadwinner by Tom O’Toole.

I admit I didn’t start reading it until January but was very impressed with it once I started. So much so we detoured to Beechworth on our way back from Canberra a few days later.

Personally, I generally don’t find biographies or autobiographies satisfying as a business book (as interesting as they may be to read for pleasure) but this book was a great blend of the two. Tom starts with a chapter on his philosophies from business and finishes with a chapter on his personal philosophies and lessons. In between was his autobiography from childhood to business success.

There are a number of thoughts in the book that I have come across before (if it’s to be, it’s up to me;  it’s the little things that make a difference; goals are just dreams with a date) but they had an impact because they fit in Tom’s story – he shows how they helped him rather than lecturing readers with clichés.

Tom was a poor kid growing up on the banks of the Murray – and his childhood and family certainly gave him stories to entertain with in his book! Imagine kangaroos and frogs living in the house, brothers sharing a bed and living with your front door open and you’re heading towards young Tom’s world.

While Tom discusses his poverty and hardships, it is neither a pity party nor a ‘look how good I am for rising out of this stuff’. It is his story so he tells it, tells it honestly and lets us see how things influenced and taught him.

It’s a good read which will have you laughing and thinking.

From a business perspective, Tom does give ideas and examples of customer service and how to build yourself and your team for success.

In Tom’s words “this book is about making dough, the paper kind. It will hopefully get you out of your comfort zone, it certainly got me out of mine.” And me out of mine.

I recommend grabbing a copy and investing your time in it. Once you’ve read it, come back and let me know how it motivated you or changed your business.

Posted in book review, business info & tools | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments
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