When the naturalist Charles Darwin outlined natural selection, he almost certainly didn’t have business people in mind. But his idea, that the species best suited to their environments are the ones who survive, has never been truer in the world of work. Competition for clients can be fierce, and never more so than now. The firms most able to meet their clients’ needs are often the most successful.
One effective way to do this is to make your written communication client-centred. It doesn’t have to be complicated – simply pre-empting client phone calls and emails with a letter, for example. In fact, well-written, aptly timed letters are one of the best ways to provide good customer service. They help to make your clients feel that you really care about them and their businesses.
The trouble is though that too many letters get it wrong. They unwittingly offend the client, don’t take responsibility for misunderstandings and talk around issues as though they were having a debate. Clients need you to be the expert; provide the right figures; be honest when you don’t know the answers and consistent about the information they need to provide you with. In short, they need to know their needs come first.
With the dealings of financial institutions increasingly under public scrutiny, trust is a sought-after quality. So, make sure that it shines through in your written communication because integrity and accuracy will help the numbers add up for your clients.
Just SCRAP it
Good letters and emails have a clear structure and a specific goal in mind. The aim is to make you’re your readers know why you are writing to them and what you want them to do. The SCRAP formula can help you to write clearly. The acronym stands for: situation, complication, resolution, action, politeness.
Situation
Begin by explaining the situation (or ‘where they are’). By doing this your reader will realise you understand and empathise with them.
Complication
Introduce the idea that there’s a problem (‘why they can’t stay there’) they need to solve or a request they need to fulfil.
Resolution
State your resolution to the problem or request. Your reader will probably be relieved that you’re offering a ready-made way of fixing things.
Action
Suggest what action the reader can or should take. In some cases, this will be what further action you are going to take. Make sure that this follows on logically from the resolution.
Politeness
Finally, end with a polite sign-off.
Like any good recipe, you don’t have to follow this formula to a tee. Some client correspondence will be so simple and straightforward that there’s no problem to resolve. You just need to decide what’s happened and what you want the reader to do about it.
Top writing tips
Get active
Use the active rather than the passive voice. So write ‘we found a mistake in your tax return’ rather than ‘a mistake was found in your tax return.’
Keep it short and simple
Good sentences contain no more than 15-20 words. Long flowery phrases are difficult to follow and can even breed distrust. Clear, plain writing suggests that there is nothing to hide. Always choose a simple word over a complication one. And remember that you can never have too many full stops!
Clarify your main message
If you’re having difficulty figuring out what you really want your letter to say write down the words; who?, what?, where?, when? and why? at the top of a piece of paper. Use these headings to brainstorm the contents of your document.
Ditch the management lingo
If you’ve been immersed in the business world for some time, it’s easy to start writing in management-speak. So, prune carefully through your written work to ensure that you’re not unwittingly lapsing into the types of language that would make David Brent in sitcom, The Office proud.
Metaphors such as ‘raising the bar’ and ‘picking the low hanging fruit’ sound more like a tropical limbo challenge than references to taxation matters. While generic phrases such as ‘working in close partnership with’ and ‘after due consideration’ may make your clients think that your letters aren’t tailored to their industry – or even to them. Don’t add redundant words, such as ‘pre’ in ‘pre-prepare’ and ‘forward’ in ‘forward planning’. All planning goes forwards and you can’t prepare until you’ve prepared. The extra words dilute your message and can make the reader think that your advice is full of padding and waffle too. Remember, clients will thank you for being short and concise, as it will save them time. Brevity can be a courtesy.
Case study
Whether it is tax, technology or telecommunications; these letter writing principles work in any industry. Here’s how letter-writing skills training transformed the customer services of a major insurance provider.
The problem:
The customer services department wanted to reduce the number of second-stage complaints they were receiving so they asked Emphasis to help the complaints team make its letters more customer-centred.
The solution:
We helped the team to fully identify the issues and facts behind the letters from complainants. We instructed participants about importance of structure in letters and then analysed the types of language, intentions and assumptions used in their standard responses. We enabled them to write letters in an easily accessible style.
The benefits:
Each delegate had a one-to-one coaching clinic six weeks later, where they submitted a post-training writing sample. All had progressed in structure and style. The team was so motivated by the course that they now talk about ‘Emphasising’ their letters.
Robert Ashton is Chief Executive of Emphasis.
Subscribe
Expert advice to your inbox
