Writing for Business, writing business.

The reason you edit is to fix or change what you wrote in order to make the material sound (and read) better. When writing for business, this means fixing the errors and making the text as clear and concise as possible.

A lot of writing for business is sloppy, poorly written, disorganized, littered with jargon, and incomplete. Often it is either too long or too short. All these attributes contribute to ineffective business writing.

After you have proofread your material, it's time to edit. Sometimes proofreading and editing can be done simultaneously, but it is more effective when they are done sequentially.

Whether you are writing a sales proposal, an email to your boss, or an instruction manual for a software package, there are certain steps you must follow to be effective. Follow these five steps:

Proofread and Edit

Regardless of your writing style, all writers need to proofread and edit all written material, even emails. After you're done writing, proofread your work. You may then need to edit it. Proofreading is re-reading what you wrote to make sure all the words in your head made it correctly onto the paper. Because our brains work faster than our fingers, you may omit words, leave off an ending, or use the wrong homonym (e.g., "there" instead of "their"). Proofreading catches these errors. Obviously, proofreading a one-line email is easy and just glancing over it as you type may be enough. However, if you are writing an instruction manual, your proofreading will be more complicated and take longer.

Good writers have different styles of writing. Some prefer to write everything out and then go back and edit. Others prefer to edit as they go along. Sometimes their preferred style varies depending on what they are writing.

Also, remember that you will communicate more effectively to your audience if you focus on what you want them to hear rather than on what you are going to say.

If you don't organize your material it won't flow well and it won't make sense. Writing can be simple or complicated. When writing an email announcing a staff meeting, this is as simple as collecting your thoughts. On the other hand, you'll probably need to develop a complex outline in advance of the finished material if you're writing up the results of a ground-breaking pharmaceutical trial. Whatever the task, without an appropriate level of organization (even organizing your thoughts), you may not include everything you need to or fail to give prominence to the most important topics. Omissions or an incorrect focus will make your business writing less clear.

• Effective professional writing is written with a clearly defined audience and purpose in mind. This is results-oriented writing. The text helps the reader do or know something.
• The writing style should be written to be concise, relevant, and understandable. Excessive wording, jargon, or extraneous information have no place in any type of business writing. Each element of the document supports the communication of the purpose to the reader.
• Of course, good writing is free of grammar and spelling errors and inaccurate information.

Instructional business writing provides the reader with the information needed to complete a task. The task may need be accomplished immediately or it may be for future reference.

• Emails: documents used to quickly communicate information between staff or clients in business activities. Learn how to write a business email.
• Dismissal notice: this letter provides the official context and procedural details associated with employment termination.

Each category has its overall goal. Based on the objective, each of the many business documents falls within these four broad segments. Understanding these conceptual divisions will help guide your decisions about your document choice and goal.

4. Transactional Business Writing

While the document goal varies, the core of business writing does not. Here are some helpful style reminders.

When people think of business writing, they often think of the persuasive writing category. These documents are generally associated with sales. The persuasive writing may be direct, with focus on a specific item, or indirect, with focus on developing the client relationship.

• Report: perhaps the bulk of informational writing is report writing. Organizations rely on reports to act, to communicate business and technical information, to capture work completed, to record incidents, to finalize projects and recommendations, and to act as an archive. A well written report allows the reader to easily grasp the content and, if applicable, make informed decisions.
• Financials: documents that outline the financial state of a company. These statements provide a fiscal snapshot of a company over a defined period.
• Minutes: a summary of the proceedings of a meeting. A record of discussions, decisions, and assignments for attendees and others.

Not all business writing requires action. A large volume of writing is created for reference or record. This category can include some of the less glamorous but still essential documents.

So, now that we've gone through all of the steps to show you how to write a business proposal, let's discuss some examples. As you go through the writing process, you might find it's helpful to consult external resources to review business proposal samples or templates and see how other businesses have structured these types of documents. Specifically, it might be even more helpful to review business proposal examples that relate to your particular industry—such as marketing, advertising, or finance.

If you don't have any additional information to include, don't worry—you can end your business proposal with the conclusion section.

Writing a business proposal can seem overwhelming at first, as it requires you to provide information about your company and its services as they relate specifically to what your prospect needs. As you go through the process again and again, however, it will become easier and easier to write a succinct and effective business proposal.

For the most advanced and plug-and-play type business proposal samples, you may decide to utilize a service like Proposify or PandaDoc. These software services allow you to choose from their library of professionally designed and outlined business proposal examples (which are also usually industry-specific) and customize the template for your business's needs.

RFP sample

Although you might feel the urge to show off your language skills while trying to impress a client, when you’re writing a business proposal, tour best bet to win business is to be clear, concise, and direct. You won't want to use overly flowery language or anything that could possibly be misconstrued.

In the case of solicited proposals, often called RFPs (short for a request for proposal), it’s likely that this potential client already knows at least a little about your business. With these kinds of business proposals, you'll want to spend less time convincing the client that you're the best small business consultant for the job and more on making your proposal feel custom to their specific brief, project, or problem. On the whole, the less generic your business proposal is, the more likely you are to win the work.

There’s no way around the fact that pricing projects isn’t easy or fun—after all, you need to balance earning what you’re worth and proving value, while also not scaring away a potential client, or getting beaten out by a competitor with a cheaper price. Nevertheless, a budget or pricing section is an integral part of a business proposal, so you'll want to prepare your pricing strategy ahead of time before getting into the weeds of any proposal writing.

Along these lines, you can also use this section of the prospective client's proposal to restrict the terms and scope of your services. This can come in handy if you’re concerned that the work you’re outlining could lead to additional projects or responsibilities that you’re not planning to include within your budget.

Regardless of your writing style, all writers need to proofread and edit all written material, even emails. After you're done writing, proofread your work. You may then need to edit it. Proofreading is re-reading what you wrote to make sure all the words in your head made it correctly onto the paper. Because our brains work faster than our fingers, you may omit words, leave off an ending, or use the wrong homonym (e.g., "there" instead of "their"). Proofreading catches these errors. Obviously, proofreading a one-line email is easy and just glancing over it as you type may be enough. However, if you are writing an instruction manual, your proofreading will be more complicated and take longer.

The purpose of business writing is to convey information to someone else or to request information from them. To be effective writing for business, you must be complete, concise, and accurate. Your text should be written in such a way that the reader will be able to easily understand what you are telling or asking them.

If you don't organize your material it won't flow well and it won't make sense. Writing can be simple or complicated. When writing an email announcing a staff meeting, this is as simple as collecting your thoughts. On the other hand, you'll probably need to develop a complex outline in advance of the finished material if you're writing up the results of a ground-breaking pharmaceutical trial. Whatever the task, without an appropriate level of organization (even organizing your thoughts), you may not include everything you need to or fail to give prominence to the most important topics. Omissions or an incorrect focus will make your business writing less clear.

Good writers have different styles of writing. Some prefer to write everything out and then go back and edit. Others prefer to edit as they go along. Sometimes their preferred style varies depending on what they are writing.

Proofread and Edit

The reason you edit is to fix or change what you wrote in order to make the material sound (and read) better. When writing for business, this means fixing the errors and making the text as clear and concise as possible.

Also, remember that you will communicate more effectively to your audience if you focus on what you want them to hear rather than on what you are going to say.

As you write (or when you edit) be aware of length. You should use enough words to make your meaning clear, but don't use unnecessary words just to make it flowery. Business writing needs to be clear and concise, not verbose and flowery. Remember, no one in business has time to read any more than necessary.

After you have proofread your material, it's time to edit. Sometimes proofreading and editing can be done simultaneously, but it is more effective when they are done sequentially.

A business plan is a comprehensive roadmap for your small business’ growth and development. It communicates who you are, what you plan to do, and how you plan to do it. It also helps you attract talent and investors.

Once you’ve completed either one, only then create a big-picture representation to include here as well as in your objectives in step two.

When you wrote your original business plan, you likely identified your specific business and personal goals. Take some time now to assess if you’ve hit your targets.

$20,000 per project

15% profit margins

$30,000 net

Business plan template

Your marketing strategy or marketing plan can be the difference between selling so much that growth explodes or getting no business at all. Growth strategies here are a critical part of your business plan.

• Average cost per project: $20,000
• Ongoing maintenance fee: $250 per month
• Google My Business: 5 stars from 7 reviews
• Environmental certifications: Three (see Appendix)
• Primary marketing channels: Word of mouth, referrals, and home shows

By getting specific, you’ll illustrate expertise and generate confidence. If your target market is too broad, it can be a red light for investors. For example, if your product is perfect for people with money to hire landscape architects, listing “anyone with a garden” as your target market might not go over so well.