In the
Media
Writing To
Get Your Way
Appeared in Today's Engineer, 4th Quarter, 2000
How you can make your next memo
get the results you want
by
Patricia
Lee
Although most
engineers are proud of their technical know-how and skills, many aren’t
concerned about their writing abilities. Yet engineers are the first to
lament the woeful state of their own communications skills.
For many technical workers, effective writing and
business skills won’t make much of a difference in career success.
But a large and growing number of engineers, especially those seeking more
lucrative and rewarding positions, often in management, are realizing weak
writing skills may hold them back. Those who really want to propel
their careers forward have found persuasive writing skills maybe key
to success.
Persuasion “probably is the most difficult and
demanding communication task encountered in a business setting,” says
Thomas Sant, author of Persuasive Business Proposals—Writing to Win
Customers, Clients, and Contracts.
Persuasive writing, especially in a business setting,
aims at getting results: decisions, sales, responses,
recommendations, customer base expansion and retention, and image
building. Persuasive writing is about action, motivating readers to
respond in deed to your message. Persuasive writing occurs in a variety of
formats: executive summaries, reports, staff memos, business
correspondence, sales letters, customer service publications,
proposals, marketing materials, conference papers, and
presentations.
You may already write persuasively without even
knowing it. That e-mail you wrote to your boss about a product idea, the
self-evaluation you submitted to get a promotion, the report you sent to a
prospective client on company’s services could help him save money—these
are all examples of persuasive writing.
When writing to persuade, you aren’t merely trying to
get others to see your point of view. Although writing reports, proposals,
and other persuasive pieces requires much research and work beforehand,
your final product is only the beginning. With persuasive writing, the
project—whatever form it may take —doesn’t end with your written document
or presentation. Instead, the written document should compel the
reader or recipient to move forward and make decisions based on actions
you’ve outlined.
First Things
First
To write an effective persuasive piece, you must
understand two critical components: your intent and your audience. While
your reasons and your readers are important in any writing, they are
especially critical in matters of persuasion.
What is the purpose of the document?
• To deliver news (good or bad)
• To provide product, service, or
department updates
• To present results, such as the
findings of a marketing study
• To acquire, retain, or regain
customers
• To establish business development or
marketing partnerships
• To convey a message or image to
employees or coworkers
• To sell a product or obtain buy-in from
other departments
• To get a promotion or move into another
job
• To convince others to hire someone you
recommend
The formats are just as varied as the reasons. Your
persuasive writing may take the form
of reports, proposals, presentations, memos,
customer service publications, sales letters, letters of recommendation,
testimonials, and other pieces.
More importantly, your readers are varied, too. You
may be writing to external clients (customers), internal clients
(other departments), executives at other firms, supervisors, subordinates,
coworkers, industry colleagues, contractors, or general audiences.
Knowing who these people are, what they do, why they’d be interested in
what you have to say, and what they can do about it is the most important
determination you can make in your persuasive process.
Know Thy
Reader
Although you may he writing a document intended for
one reader (whom you most likely know something about), others may
see your work. If possible, find out in advance who will be part of the
documents “audience.” Keep in mind that these readers will select from the
message the part or parts most relevant to their own needs or
concerns, and those may vary from person to person. Remember your
audience’s perspective and position, or what your readers are capable of
doing. If you’re writing to your peers. you may not need to go in-depth
into the background of a product or service they’re working on because
they’ll already have firsthand knowledge. If your writing is aimed at your
employees or a group you supervise, pay special attention to how your
project or idea affects their jobs and their bottom line.
Often, your persuasive writing will be directed at
supervisors and the company’s top management, or clients and
prospective customers. Writing for these two groups may pose the greatest
challenge, given this audience’s number of distractions and limited
time, and the threat of competitors. But writing to these two groups also
presents your greatest opportunity to shine and to provide
substantial information into the subject you’ve researched. Company
executives, for example, have more power to take action and make things
happen. Because they have a larger stake in the company and are more
concerned with its image and position in the marketplace, they’ll
want to know about both the big picture and the bottom line.
Psychology of
Persuasion
Knowing your readers (their responsibility,
background, and stake in the matter) and your intent (to get someone hired
or fired, to launch a new product, or to regain a lost customer, for
example) is only the beginning. To properly craft and execute a persuasive
piece, you need to understand the psychology of persuasion as
well.
Persuasion is all around you—from commercials, ads,
and op-ed articles to personal invitations, such as a friend convincing
you to see a movie you had no prior interest in. Advertisers, market
researchers, high-powered executives, and politicians understand the
psychology of persuasion well.
Above all else, persuasive writing addresses your
readers’ needs, so you must “think their thoughts, feel their
feelings, and speak their words,” says Sant.
This concept dates to Aristotle, says Maryann
Piotrowski, author of Effective Business Writing. According to the
Greek philosopher, persuasion involved locus (the word, fact, or
argument), ethos (the credibility or the character of the
speaker), and pathos (the feeling of the audience or the
disposition created in the hearer), Piotrowski says.
Understanding the audience’s needs and feelings is
important, but how you present yourself is critical, too. Psychologists
point to the Gestalt theory, which states that we perceive things in
relation to the form, surroundings, or context in which they are
presented. Your writing, then, is a reflection of the service, product,
project, or idea you’re trying to advance. Writing that is sloppy or
grammatically incorrect will give the impression that the writer is
incompetent or just doesn’t care.
Writing that is arrogant or too forceful will
only portray the writer as a bully or an egoist. The persuasive writer
must be extremely careful about projecting this overbearance, one
psychologist says. Although many experienced persuasive writers will warn
about overselling, even what you think is a simple explanation could be a
turn-off for your readers.
Persuasion or
Manipulation
Persuasive writers should draw distinctions
between persuasion and manipulation, recommends Raquel Marrero Ph.D.,
a Miami-based clinical psychologist and consultant. “Part of the
philosophical framework of persuasion is the deterministic view of
man,” she says. “Those who believe strongest in ‘free will’ would like to
say that they decided, not that they were influenced or persuaded.”
It’s not that they don’t want to give the persuader credit, Marrero says.
They just like to feel they were involved in the analysis and
conclusion-drawing process.
If you’re writing to someone who is more independent
and inner-directed, “instead of focusing on persuading, present the
facts so that the recipient makes the right choice,” says Marrero. But
don’t confuse persuasion with manipulation, she says. “When a person (your
reader) has knowledge of the facts and strongly believes in his right to
choose (free will), excessive attempts at persuasion might be perceived as
manipulation, which can only serve to dissuade,” she says. Above
all, don’t underestimate your reader.
Maura
Schreier-Fleming, an engineer turned sales trainer, has seen persuasion
attempts from all sides. As principal of Best@Selling, a sales training
and consulting company based in Dallas, she’s had significant experience
in persuading clients, customers, and conference participants. But from
her early working days as a lubrication and sales engineer, she also
experienced the other side of persuasion—being on the receiving end. While
she has some examples of “do’s,” one incident stands out as an example of
what not to do.
“One of the
worst persuasive pieces,” she says, “was an attempt to persuade my group
to support the implementation of a new program. It was an analysis
(spreadsheet) that was filled with inaccurate data assumptions. This piece
was from my boss, an engineer with an MBA, who was playing fast and loose
with the data. I lost what little respect I had for
him.”
Basic
Format
Once you have a good understanding of your audience,
your message and its purpose, and the psychology of persuasion, you can
comfortably begin crafting your document. Be sure you’ve obtained as much
information as possible about your readers. Remember, too, that “the
perception (of your writing) is influenced by many factors,” says Marrero,
including “age, gender, degree of intelligence, health status, previous
experiences and recollections, cultural perspectives, and decision-making
status:’ Understanding as much as you can about your reader will help you
anticipate questions and draft a stronger document.
Second, be sure you’ve conducted as much research as
possible, that you’ve talked to the right people, that you haven’t
excluded anyone or anything with critical information, and that you know
who requested your writing and why, how much it may influence subsequent
decisions, and if this is a one-shot deal or you’ll have more
opportunities to persuade.
Once you’ve armed yourself with information, you can
begin writing. Here’s a basic format for almost any type of persuasive
writing:
1. Start with a brief overview. Provide a summary of your product,
service, or idea. Keep it simple and brief. You can elaborate later
on.
2. State the problem or need. Explain the situation and ask yourself
“What does the audience need to know? What is the bottom
line?”
3. Solve the problem or need. Make recommendations. This part is the
“meat” of your work—where you address needs and concerns. Keep in mind how
your readers will respond to your message, and address weaknesses or bad
news, but show genuine concerns and play up the benefits. Find one or two
main selling points and emphasize throughout.
4. Back up your suggestions. Don’t make sweeping statements, but offer
facts, figures, statistics, and quotes to support your
recommendations.
5. Push for action gently but firmly. Address the “So what?” and
“What’s in it for me?” questions while at the same time prodding your
readers to action. If you want them to do something—buy your product, hire
someone, give you money—then say so, but nicely, of course.
6. Summarize your main points. Don’t rehash everything you’ve already
said, but show how every thing ties in together.
7. Attach supporting/substantiating materials. Include all the “proof”
to which you’ve made reference in your main document. It may involve more
explanatory text, charts, graphs, surveys, spreadsheets, testimonials, or
other materials. By attaching this
material, the readers who want to see the details can
do so without your document being bogged down with this data.
Beware the
Pitfalls
No matter how much research and thought you’ve put
into a persuasive writing project, you may still fall victim to bad
habits, weak tendencies, or misguided
efforts that can hurt your presentation. Some of the
pitfalls include:
• Writing that is over- or under-specific. Engineers “tend to get too
much into detail,” says Piotrowski. who also is principal of Cambridge.
Massachusetts-based Corporate Writing Consultants. On the opposite extreme
are those who try to be everything to everyone or who take what Sant calls
a “shotgun approach” and don’t tailor their message
sufficiently.
• Documents that are too long. Remember that people’s
short-term memories allow them to retain only about six or seven pieces of
data at a time, so don’t overwhelm your readers, suggests
Marrero.
• Overselling or
underselling. While you
don’t want to overpromise or oversell, underselling can be as negative.
Engineers “put up resistance’ when challenged to think of themselves as
salespeople, agree Schreier-Fleming and Piotrowski. Also, says Piotrowski,
scientists and engineers “don’t anticipate questions and tend to put their
recommendations and conclusions at the end, by which point the audience is
bored or has tuned out.
• Writing that is dull and boring. Avoid dull, boring writing by
using simple, lively, positive, conversational, language, full of action
verbs and images. Choose the active voice (we decided rather than it was
decided) and use simple words (engineers are notorious for using utilize
when the simpler use will do). Use lively words and images to show how
your plan will save money, bring in customers, solve problems, increase
visibility, or improve employee morale.
• Too much technical jargon. Avoid mumbo jumbo and technical jargon,
especially if you’re writing for a non-technical audience that may not be
familiar with your field or understand your lingo. Be especially watchful
of this if, in addition to working in a technical field, you’re also in a
bureaucratic environment such as the government.
• Messing with the facts. As Marrero and Schreier-Fleming have
pointed out, underestimating your reader or toying with figures and data
can only serve to alienate your reader.
• Too quick to declare victory. Juan Vitali Ph.D., staff specialist
for fire and explosion protection in the United States Office of the
Secretary of Defense and a member of the research faculty at the Georgia
Tech Research Institute, recounts the story of how one attempt to oversell
an idea backfired. In 1996, a group of scientists claimed that they’d
found a replacement for halon that didn’t have the same toxicological
problems as their previous ones. “In their eagerness to claim victory,
they oversold it,” Vitali says. It was a good replacement, but for
unoccupied spaces, so it wasn’t practical for all applications. When this
came to light and toxicological reports emerged, the group lost
credibility.
• Ignoring the human impact. Don’t let yourself be guided solely by
numbers and technicalities. Your readers are humans, too, often
responsible for other humans, and may wonder about the personal impact of
your product or idea.
• Typos, misspellings, and poor grammar. Vitali, who receives
numerous reports and proposals from prospective contractors, is amazed at
the poor grammar he sees. “It’s a turn-off to get so many things with
basic writing mistakes, and you end up losing the interest of the reader:’
he says. Mistakes are so prevalent that if he had a consulting firm, he
would “hire an English major just to proofread proposals.”
Special
Challenges
In addition to the pitfalls all writers should avoid,
engineers as a group face special challenges, including writing itself. “I
think it’s hard for engineers to write, period,” says Schreier-Fleming. “I
don’t know where they lost their knowledge of grammar, spelling, and
punctuation, but it is difficult to read a lot of what engineers write.”
Piotrowski adds that it’s hard for engineers to write in non-technical
terms, because engineers and scientists “have a hesitation to be anything
but technical and factual,” even though facts alone rarely
convince.
Another major obstacle for engineers is the lack of
training in non-technical or soft skills. Schreier-Fleming says much of
what she learned came from hands-on experience. Others have been
luckier.
“My personal approach to write better and more
effective persuasive communication was by completing college credit in
business communications early in my engineering career,” says E.
Eugene Anglemeyer, who put great value on non-technical skills
during his 44-year engineering career. “In addition, my employer during
the past 10 years offered and required constant courses to hone my skills
every year.”
Still other engineers have found clever ways to
acquire persuasive skills. Vitali credits his days as an active student
leader at the University of Florida, where he ran for student body
president. “Student government, that whole experience, was very
instructive for me, especially with public speaking and writing. After
graduation, I continued learning through the school of hard
knocks.”
Thinking
Persuasively
If you’re a good writer but still have difficulty
writing persuasively, consider:
•
Enrolling in a college-level advertising course to learn the secrets of
professional promoters
•
Enrolling in a psychology course devoted to persuasion
•
Taking part in an assertiveness training program
•
Joining Toastmasters, the public-speaking organization, to learn how to
think on your feet and argue effectively
•
Joining the board of a community group to gain experience with projects
and proposals.
Finally, remember that persuasion is about getting
someone else to do something—but you can’t control people. Have patience,
says Piotrowski, because you won’t always persuade on the first try. You
also need prudence to keep you from exaggerating or overselling; and
flexibility to help you make concessions when necessary, because sometimes
getting something may be better than getting nothing at all. █
Patricia Lee is a writer in Alexandria, VA.
This article first appeared in
Today’s Engineer in the 4th Quarter 2000.
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