What?
Business writing instruction that can be incorporated into your existing onboarding program
Why?
Billions of dollars in lost productivity can be traced to poor writing (Los Angeles Business Journal). A few examples:
- Extensive criticism from news outlets and consumers on shirts that omitted an apostrophe (“Lets go, team”) forced Old Navy to reprint them, potentially costing millions in supplies, labor and bad PR.
- After revising its old ground-operations manual, FedEx cut the average reading time by more than 25%, saving an estimated $40,000 in just the first year (Joe Kimble, WMU–Cooley Law School).
- The U.S. Navy improved its memos to officers, reducing reading time by about 20%, saving an estimated $30 million annually (Kimble).
How
Following a need analysis, SBW will design a writing training that fits into your onboarding process. Among the typical steps:
- Three-hour workshop or webinar on the most essential writing skills
- 30-minute self-study modules on advanced writing techniques
- Customized 2-hour workshop/webinar on mastering your company’s frequently written emails/documents (if desired)
- Templates for key documents and a customized writing style guide (if desired)
Evaluation?
Through follow-up surveys and interviews with employees and supervisors, we’ll track and analyze the impact of the program and offer suggestions for future onboarding.
What writing challenges will be addressed?
Brevity
Marketing should work in conjunction with Operations.
Flow
The new account manager is innovative, personable and has considerable creativity creative.
Tone
Your industry analysis omitted the technology sector! What were you thinking? I suggest that you include the technology sector in your industry analysis.
Word usage
Our company has offices throughout Europe (i.e., e.g., Brussels, London and Madrid).
Email efficiency—explicit subject lines
Meeting has been set Budget meeting 10/9, agenda by 10/1
Why SBW?
Jack Appleman, author of the top-selling 10 Steps to Successful Business Writing, is a prominent trainer whose workshops and coaching programs have helped thousands of working professionals achieve better results from their writing. As principal of Successful Business Writing, Jack is driven by the belief that anyone can significantly improve writing by following the simple techniques he has fine-tuned for the past 20 years.