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
Important information comes first…
Leading up to Christmas, we put together a sand pit for my son (and eventually his baby sister) as one of his gifts. Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it?
I was very happy to see that all of the pieces were numbered so I didn’t have to figure out which piece went where, and the instructions (mostly in pictorial form) seemed simple enough to follow. However, it wasn’t always clear that each piece of wood had an up or down side so I had to undo and re-screw some bits.
Worst of all, though, was the fact that the kits came with screws of two lengths and it was only in step 8 of 9 that there was any mention of this. Continue reading
Merry Christmas!
On behalf of everyone associated with Word Constructions, have a very Merry Christmas (or at least a lovely day if you don’t celebrate Chri
stmas as such) and a wonderful, prosperous and safe 2011.
And for those who have been good all year, I hope you enjoy your visit from Santa!
Keep smiling and use your words wisely!
Christmas hours for Word Constructions
As December is moving along, I want to wish you a lovely holiday season without too much stress and with many laughs.
Word Constructions will be closed over the Christmas/New Year period, starting from 4pm Wednesday 22 December 2010. We will reopen on Wednesday 5 January.
During this time, I will check emails and blog comments but it may take a few days before you get a response. Thank you for your patience as I take some time to spend with family.
And as we get closer to Christmas, remember there is still time to order a personalised Love Santa letterto delight the children in your life (yes, it is a shameless plug but Love Santa letters are so much fun I can’t help myself!)
Sending a Christmas message
We’re heading for Christmas and most businesses are trying to be prepared for the December rush.
Many businesses send a Christmas email to their customers, supporters and suppliers so here are some tips for writing your email…
- if possible, use the person’s name so your Christmas message is personal
- even if your usual business communications are formal, make this message casual and clearly from you – you are sending the email in appreciation and to share goodwill, so don’t think of it as a business document. However, spelling, grammar and making sense are still basic elements of your email
- if you and/or your customers are not Christian or simply don’t believe in Christmas, send a “season’s greetings” message instead. Even better, make it an “end of year” message
- keep it short – this isn’t the time for a sales pitch or news, just give your best wishes and leave it at that
- still include the basics of a good email – useful subject line, unsubscribe details (if you are using a list rather than truly personal emails) and contact details
- put your message in the body of the email, not as an attachment or in a graphic
Adding some cheery graphics and/or colour is nice, but not essential; if you do add graphics, make sure the email doesn’t become too big.
Giving people a choice of contact…
Through recent conversations, the topic of contact details has come up (again!) So let me start by asking – do you prefer to be contacted by phone or email, or something else? When leaving your details for a business to contact you, do you like giving lots of details or just choosing the ones that suit?
I have explained before that I prefer getting emails than phone calls as a general rule, so maybe I am a little biased!
However, I don’t like filling in forms on websites that ask for a lot of information because it wastes my time and gives them more than I think they need to know. For example, if I am asking you to email me something, why do you need my phone number and postcode?
My favourite collection forms are those that let you fill in phone or email or whatever, or at least ask what your preferred method of contact is. And I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who prefers a choice…
Along with choosing what contact details you give out, remember to consider what you ask for, too.
Twenty starts
When writing numbers at the beginning of a sentence, always write the words out in full.
So, “Twenty sailors were on deck at the time” is correct.
Within a sentence, numbers can be written in words – “There were twenty sailors on deck” – or in numerals – “There were 20 sailors on deck.”
There are different styles, so the use of words or figures in text can vary. If in doubt, the most common rule is that single digits (one, two, three, etc) are written in words and the number 10 and greater are written in figures.
“Of the 18 children in class, only five were in yellow house.”
Having procedures
If you have worked in the corporate world, you know that big businesses have procedure manuals and policies for how things are to be done. They may vary in effectiveness, but they have been thought out and written.
Maybe you consider this something that only belongs to big business, but small and medium businesses should also have some procedures written out.
A small business will have fewer procedures, may not call it a manual and may be more flexible in their approach, but the concept is the same.
Why have procedures?
Many small business owners, especially sole traders, know how to run their business so don’t see any reason to write down their procedures. But what happens when the owner isn’t the one trying to carry out a particular task one day?
By having procedures written down, someone else is able do the job with minimal disruption to clients and the overall business.
Here are some the main reasons to have procedures written down for your business:
- Someone is able to fill in for you if you are sick or go on holidays
- Less time is required to train new staff
- You have a system to sell, either as a franchise or if you sell the entire business
- There are less likely to be human errors because someone forgets a key step
- Clients receive consistent answers and service
For some tips on how to start getting some procedures for your business, read my article on business procedures. For a full run on why procedures are useful and how to use them as well as how to prepare procedures for your business, my preparing procedures eBook is jam-packed with information and tips.
Another poor marketing email
I receive many poor emails, but sometimes I am amazed at them and have to share them in the hope of reducing the number of bad emails being sent.
In this case, the email was from someone who can apparently improve my email marketing – how can I trust that claim when their email is so poor itself? Continue reading
Risk acknowledgement
How often do you consider the risk of running a business?
As much as we’d love business to be about profits and perhaps doing what we love, there are also risks to running a business and ignoring those risks can lead to all sorts of problems. Acknowledging risks, however may mean yu can reduce the likelihood of them occurring and allow you to plan ahead to make dealing with a risk easier.
Here are some risks you may want to look at for your business:
- investigate anyone you are doing large transactions with – you can do a credit check, check if they have civil claims against them, ask for bank references, and so on
- security offered by your web host Continue reading
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