When it comes to selling, you’re as good as your word(s)

EmoticonToday’s slangy emoji text culture may have you thinking that formally written communications are a lost art. Don’t believe it. When it comes to professional communications, poised and precise prose rules over the casually misspelled messages passing between colleagues.

This is especially true for sales professionals, since selling is fundamentally a communication process. No one wants the strides made during sales calls to be undermined by weak writing skills.  Properly crafted follow-up emails and formal proposals provide a planned opportunity to recap and confirm discussions, establish mutual plans, and remain connected between talks with the underlying benefit of staying at the top your prospect’s radar.

Yet, there’s not a single formula that works for each sale; your choice of words and how to present them will depend on who you are addressing.  Here are some writing tips to support – and not sabotage – your sales efforts:

Keep the customer in mind. Words help build relationships, so choose them carefully. Use words and concepts familiar to your prospect or client. It’s important that as you draft the correspondence, you are capturing your client’s point of view.  Use less “I hope…” and “I believe…” and more “you will realize…” and “your benefits will be…”

Be concise. Sometimes more isn’t better. After you create a draft, edit it down to the essentials. The clearer your message, the higher probability your customer will remember it.

Make it attractive. People appreciate copy that is attractive to the eye – that is, shorter paragraphs instead of long, rambling ones.  Busy people often scan longer documents, so bullet points are an effective way to break up copy into bite-sized, easily digestible pieces.

Don’t trust spell check. Programs to double-check spelling and grammar are great, but they are far from perfect. For instance, homonyms such as they’re, their, and there will pass the spell check but still be used in the wrong context. And we’ve all read hilarious, embarrassing autocorrects. Don’t let the joke be on you: Carefully read what you write before you hit “Send”.

Don’t be an illusionist: The single biggest problem in communication is that “we listen to reply and not to understand” , so its all the more important to be extremely clear in what we want to communicate.

Remember, carefully written messaging is a continuous effort that deserves proper attention. After all, if your written communications aren’t working for you, they could be working against you and impact your ability to advance your sale. Make sure your choice of words speak highly of you.