HBR Guide to Better Business Writing - Bryan A. Garner 2013
Understand your readers
Delivering the goods quickly and clearly
Communication is a two-way exercise. Without knowing something about your readers—and about psychology in general, for that matter—you’ll rarely get your ideas across. What are their goals and priorities? What pressures do they face? What motivates them?
Respect readers’ time constraints
The most important things to realize about all business audiences are these:
✵ Your readers are busy—very busy.
✵ They have little if any sense of duty to read what you put before them.
✵ If you don’t get to your point pretty quickly, they’ll ignore you—just as you tend to ignore long, rambling messages when you receive them.
✵ At the slightest need to struggle to understand you, they’ll stop trying—and think less of you.
✵ If they don’t buy your message, you may as well have stayed in bed that day.
Each of these universal tendencies becomes magnified as you ascend the ranks of an organization. Your job as a writer, then, is to:
✵ Prove quickly that you have something valuable to say—valuable to your readers, not just to you.
✵ Waste no time in saying it.
✵ Write with such clarity and efficiency that reading your material is easy—even enjoyable.
✵ Use a tone that makes you likable, so that your readers will want to spend time with you and your message.
Do these things and you’ll develop a larger reservoir of goodwill. You’ll not only have a genuinely competitive edge, but you’ll also save time and money.
Tailor your message
If you’re writing a memo to colleagues, for example, consider where they sit in the organization and what they’re expected to contribute to its success. Or if you’re responding to a client’s request for proposal, address every need outlined in the RFP—but also think about the client’s industry, company size, and culture. Your tone will change depending on your recipients, and so will your content. You’ll highlight the things they care about most—the ever-important “what’s in it for them.”
Connect with particular readers to connect with large audiences
It’s challenging to write for a large, diverse group of readers, especially if you don’t know them. But you can make it easier by focusing on some specific person you know. In his preface to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Plain English Handbook, Warren Buffett suggests grounding your prose by having a particular reader in mind:
When writing Berkshire Hathaway’s annual report, I pretend that I’m talking to my sisters. I have no trouble picturing them: Though highly intelligent, they are not experts in accounting or finance. They will understand plain English, but jargon may puzzle them. My goal is simply to give them the information I would wish them to supply me if our positions were reversed. To succeed, I don’t need to be Shakespeare; I must, though, have a sincere desire to inform.
If you focus on a smart nonspecialist who’s actually in your audience—or, like Buffett, imagine that you’re writing for a relative or a friend—you’ll strike a balance between sophistication and accessibility. Your writing will be more appealing and more persuasive.
Your readers may have little or no prior knowledge about the facts or analysis you’re disclosing. But assume that they’re intelligent people. They’ll be able to follow you if you give them the information they need, and they won’t be bamboozled by empty, airy talk.
NOT THIS: |
BUT THIS: |
We aspire to be a partner primarily concerned with providing our clients the maximal acquisition of future profits and assets and focus mainly on clients with complex and multi-product needs, large and midsized corporate entities, individual or multiple entrepreneurial agents, and profit-maximizing institutional clients. By listening attentively to their needs and offering them paramount solutions, we empower those who wish to gain access to our services with the optimal set of decisions in their possible action portfolio given the economic climate at the time of the advice as well as the fiscal constraints that you are subject to. Against the backdrop of significant changes within our industry, we strive to ensure that we consistently help our clients realize their goals and thrive, and we continue to strengthen the coverage of our key clients by process-dedicated teams of senior executives who can deliver and utilize our integrated business model. On the back of a strong capital position and high levels of client satisfaction and brand recognition, we have achieved significant gains in market share. We hope that you have a favorable impression of our company’s quantitative and qualitative attributes and will be inclined to utilize our services as you embark on your financial endeavors. |
We’re a client-focused firm dedicated to making sure you get the most out of our services. Our client base includes individual entrepreneurs, midsized companies, and large corporations. If you decide to do business with us, we’ll give you financial advice that is in tune with the current economy and with what you can afford to invest. For years, we’ve consistently received the highest possible industry ratings, and we have won the coveted Claiborne Award for exceptional client satisfaction 17 of our 37 years in business. We hope to have the opportunity to work with you in your financial endeavors. |
Recap
✵ Understand that your readers have no time to waste: Get to the point quickly and clearly to ensure that your message gets read.
✵ Use a tone appropriate for your audience.
✵ Emphasize the items most important to your readers. If they can easily see how your message is relevant to them, they will be more likely to read it and respond.
✵ Choose an intelligent, nonspecialist member of your audience to write for—or invent one—and focus on writing for that person. Your message will be more accessible and persuasive to all your readers as a result.