By Troy Harrison — Sales Navigator
A couple of days ago, I was meeting with a long time client named Scott Hanna. He is the President of E3 XPS, a company that focuses on trade show exhibits and commercial spaces. He said something very profound, and it inspired this article (there will be a big hat-tip to that something in a bit). Our conversation was about writing skills – specifically, the fact that salespeople seem to be losing the ability to write well.
This is a big problem, because more of our communication is written now than ever before. When sales was primarily conducted over the phone and in person, our verbal skills were paramount. We had to write letters (on paper) every now and then, but mostly, we won sales with our verbal skills. Today, at least 50% of our sales communication is done via email, social media, text, and IM – all of which is written. And those communications are sloppier, less precise, and less professional than ever. This is a sales killer, so let’s discuss how salespeople can become better writers.
First of all, here’s something we need to understand. The fact that the communication is electronic does not relieve salespeople of the responsibility to communicate in a clear, precise, grammatically correct, and persuasive fashion. I see entirely too many “sales communications” that read like a 13-year-old’s Snapchat. This is ridiculous. And it’s not generational or age dependent; some of the worst offenders I know are in their 60s. Imprecise sales communication not only harms your ability to make the sale – it can cause problems with customer service and fulfillment downstream. There’s no excuse. So, without further ado, here are six ways that salespeople can become better writers (or you can help them, if you are their leader).
- Lead By Example. As I noted above, this problem isn’t confined to newer entries to our profession. I send and receive many emails daily, and I’m constantly shocked at the lack of punctuation, grammar, spelling errors, etc. by people who should know better. And I’m not just talking about salespeople.