Serve up winning process documents, just like a MasterChef
It’s not just what’s inside that counts … how it’s presented matters, too.
Hopefully, ‘Yum! That looks delicious!’
Or maybe it doesn’t look too good, and you’re wishing you’d chosen the same thing as your dinner partner.
Either way, what’s sitting on the plate in front of you immediately sets a positive or negative impression.
MasterChefs know this. They don’t go to all that trouble with presentation for nothing. They understand its importance.
They understand that the way food is presented is just as important as the way it tastes.
So when you’re documenting your business processes, how much thought do you give to the way they’re presented?
Because the way you present a process is just as important as the way you’ve explained it. Continue reading
8 steps to get your everyday communication aligned to and building your brand
All your business’s communication, not just your marketing communication, needs to align to your brand.
IT engineers, project managers, the accounts team and others you don’t normally associate with the brand have to understand it, too.
Your employees (and contractors) can affect your image and reputation more than your carefully crafted marketing messages.
After all, it’s your employees who are expected to deliver on the promises you make to customers.
So whether they know it or not — and whether you like it or not — your brand depends on all of your employees and the way they communicate. Continue reading
7 easy ways to confuse your readers
Go ahead. Let your readers tie themselves in knots trying to understand what you’ve written.
That report you’re writing …
Yes, that report!
You know that people are depending on it to make a decision, don’t you? And that your employer is paying you to write it?
That means the report has to confuse your readers. The last thing anyone needs is a report that’s consistent and clear.
So, to make sure your report is confusing, here are seven easy ways to do it. Continue reading
3 ways document templates save you time and money
Templates are a simple and practical way for your valuable resources to save valuable time.
When I say ‘template’, I don’t mean a single-paged document with a few headings that you have to try and craft a report from.
I mean a multi-paged, fully branded document based on a company-wide style sheet.
And I mean a structured document with standard headers, footers, sections, headings, and lots of instructions to explain what’s expected of the author.
So, why go to all that bother?
Because those sorts of templates make good business sense. Continue reading
How to ease the pain of writing proposals and tenders
Proposals and tenders don’t have to cause you heartache and headaches. It’s all about being prepared …
I’ve worked on enough of these to know that it was probably started late, with not enough resources, not enough time to do your solution justice, and a scramble to gather, collate, write, edit and review all the information and get it out the door before the deadline.
Does that sound familiar?
If you answered ‘no’, I wish I worked for you in the past.
But if you answered ‘yes’ (as I suspect) then you’re really not making the best use of your time and resources. Continue reading
The secret to making your customers feel special
A beautifully wrapped gift can make you feel special. How do you wrap your products and services?
Do you think it matters? Do you think it depends on the type of product or service you sell?
Well, this is what I think: if you want customers to care about you, show them you care about them.
Whatever it is you’re selling, the way you deliver it matters.
It matters to your customers.
And that means it matters to your brand, your image and your reputation. Continue reading
How to get the best results from your RFPs and other procurement documents
They’re a costly exercise in time and money. So make sure your RFPs get the best result.
Just look at what’s at stake.
It’s the commitment to a solution or service, with its associated (and potentially large) financial transaction, contract period and changes to business operations.
When I say ‘procurement documents’ I’m talking about RFPs, RFQs, RFTs, RFIs, EOIs, ITBs, ROIs, ITRs, ITOs, ITTs … you see, they come in many flavours and all have different purposes.
Mind you, the way I’ve seen them used indicates their names and uses are open to interpretation.
And that’s just one issue with them.
Whether writing them or responding to them, these documents can be a bother. (That’s a polite way of putting it.) Continue reading
