The first 5 slides in a series of tips on writing for business and sales.

1. Some things I’ve learned
about writing for business and sales

2. 1.
People don’t read
Everyone is bombarded with content and it is
difficult to gain—let alone hold—their attention.
Keep content short and present it in bite-sized
chunks. Design documents for ‘browsers’ not
‘readers’.

3. 2.
If—when writing a letter—the word
“you” is not the first word, or does not
appear in the first sentence,
start again.
The way to gain someone’s attention is talk about
them and things they care about. This simple rule
—put ‘you’ in the first sentence—forces us to think
about what makes what we have to say relevant to
our reader.

4. 3.
Sales is the process of getting what we
want by helping others get what
they want.
The word ‘sell’ comes from an Old English word,
‘sellan’, which meant ‘to give’. The best sales
people think of what they do as providing a
service: helping the customer solve a problem.

5. 4.
“A poor proposal focuses on the seller
and what is being sold. The best
proposals link everything to the
customer’s goals, needs, and
requirements.”
David G Pugh and Terry R Bacon
Now read that again.

6. 5.
We make decisions emotionally and
justify them rationally.
The best efforts of their procurement specialists
notwithstanding, clients will make decisions on
the basis of how they feel. Who do they trust?
Have confidence in? Who do they enjoy working
with? To succeed, we must provide the rational
arguments to justify the decision and also
engage their emotions.