Proposals aka How to get what you want!!!

Proposals must answer the questions what, how, when and how much? In my research I found a more direct outline for preparing proposals, which may be easier for people to follow. The outlines included percentages of how much space a specific section should fill within your proposal. Giving percentages is something I found to be very helpful, since I am not familiar with proposals. I also found that it is a good idea to develop a preproposal and write a first draft. When discussing a point it is important to not over explain it. You want to just state it, support it, and then move on. Unlike the text where the appearance guidelines were only explained my research explained language that is not appropriate to use, such as might, could, ought, may, should, hope, will consider, and it appears. Just like the text correcting errors is significant and sometimes it is helpful to seek the help of an editor. Many tips on editing were offered on the websites I researched.
Organization is important to a proposal. Techniques for doing this include headings, marginal notes, sectional introductions and prefaces, summaries and appendices, outlines, charts and diagrams, which were stated in the text. Also check lists and planning sheets were made available to help in the organization process.
I found that is important to include a bibliography or a work cited within your proposal. Most of the research I found was the same as the text but just gave a more detailed explanation on each guideline for writing a proposal.

It's all about the clients what can you do for them... specifically

Tips on writing a good sales proposal can be found everywhere on the internet and believe it or not they all say the same stuff. Granted, it is all useful information. You will find all the tips you need to write a solid sales proposal. Examples were hard to find. This site, esmalloffice, however gave you enough examples in each section for it to make sense. I did find a video on youtube, but this lady was really annoying and all the videos were spilt into minute sections.

The tips that were given in most websites made it clear that you want to focus on the clients problems not your company's achievements. This guy seems to be pretty angry about it on his blog, secrets to a great proposal. You really want to save talking your company up until the end. You do however want to point out benefits over your competitors through out the proposal.

I never thought I would say this, but the best example you can find is in the book. Unless you want to sign up for a site or pay one hundred dollars.

Top ten reasons proposals fail is a good way to review your sales proposal. Make sure you can feel the clients pain and can help them. Make sure to sell the benefits for the client. Make sure it is well structured, good grammar and spelling, make it nice formatting and packaging. Lastly make sure there is a call for action at the end.

As you can see the main theme is that your company is there for the client and that they are not there for you. Make sure you do your research and understand what they need before you send it or you won't get the client.

Resume Tips

Hi all,

Found this article about phrases not to use on your resume on Yahoo today, and thought people might be interested. Hopefully we can discuss these suggestions later in the quarter in more depth!

Annie

Hey Good Lookin': Making Your Letters Pretty

Advice about how to format business letters is surprisingly unvaried. This is perhaps because letter writing has been in use much longer than other forms of business writing, like blogs and email, and has therefore had more time to become standardized. As a result, there are only a few minor departures from the textbook in the sources I researched. My presentation outlines the formatting suggested by the textbook, but the advice from the following sources is also beneficial.

One of the top sources on my list for all writing advice is Purdue’s Online Writing Lab (OWL). OWL suggests placing the writer’s address after the date, although most other sources have the date following the writer’s address. Another nitpicky difference is OWL’s distinction between “Modified Block” form and “Semi-Block” form. The book lumps both of these under the “Modified Block” category by stating that one may or may not indent the first line of the paragraphs.

One of the biggest variations I’ve seen in business letter formatting is what to include in the writer’s address. The textbook only includes the street address, city, state, and zip. Many other sources have the writer include his or her name and/or the company name. This seems to be primarily a matter of preference, and obviously won’t impact your letter’s professionalism in any way.

There are many sources on the Internet to help format your letters, but one of my favorites that I’ve found is UpWrite Press’s blog and video, which I’ve included below. UpWrite covers a number of writing topics in their blog.

I do want to touch on the use of formatting "wizards" such as the one in Microsoft Word. The templates in MS Word can be very useful and there are many different types available—from apologies to thank you letters. These templates even have the full body of the text completed for certain situations (e.g. "Apology for problem caused by another company." That's right, MS Word will help you pass the buck.) However, a basic knowledge of letter writing is still necessary despite this useful technology. Imagine an already angry customer’s ire at discovering the adjustment letter they were sent by your company is identical to the Microsoft Word apology template! Also, different situations require different formatting—particularly if you will be using company letterhead paper. So, feel free to use this helpful tool, but with caution.

UpWrite Press has created this very helpful video to assist you in your business letter endeavors.

Adjustment Letters (and dealing with cranky customers in general)

An adjustment letter is a company’s response to a complaint letter. The textbook provides pretty thorough information about adjustment letters. My presentation outlines the main points made in the text, but here are a few key points to remember:

 -Look at adjustment letters as an opportunity to build goodwill

 -Avoid sending a noncommittal letter. This says that you haven’t taken the time to investigate their claim and are not taking it seriously. Instead, investigate their claim and get back to them with an answer as quickly as possible

-It’s important to be sincere. Complying begrudgingly or overdoing an apology will make the company look bad and destroy any potential to build goodwill.

-Maintain a positive and friendly tone

-Don’t make a promise you can’t keep. Furthermore, watch your wording to avoid sounding like you could give the customer what they want but are choosing not to (avoid the words “grant”, “claim”, and “reject”)

-Always be customer-centered

 

Most of the information I was able to find online about adjustment letters reiterated what the book stated. Here are a few useful websites I came across:

Colorado State University's website provides a lot of the same information as our text (it stresses the opportunity to build goodwill and the importance of a positive approach), but it includes helpful information about how to draft and revise an adjustment letter with focus on objective and scope. It also provides sample letters.

Businesswritingblog.com features a post about "waging peace" in business writing. Lynn Gaertner-Johnston provides techniques for connecting with the reader, communicating negative messages kindly, and apologizing for mistakes.

Businessweek.com has an article that refers mostly to interacting with customers over the phone, but it provides some insight that is useful in dealing with cranky customers in general. This article stresses the customer-centered approach and provides a real life example of the difference good customer service and building goodwill can make.

Ehow.com Provides seven basic steps for dealing with customer complaints. It stresses that customers want to feel heard, complaints can help you learn to improve your business, and not to take complaints personally.

What are you conveying through your e-mails? Dorothy, we're not in Facebook territory anymore...

As college students, we come into contact with e-mails on a daily basis. In the current time of Facebook, AIM, Twitter, etc., sometimes it gets tough to draw the line between professionalism and entertainment. We're accustomed to not using correct spelling and grammar, posting about personal opinion, and using slang. When we communicate with professors and employers, though, we must remember to put our bad habits aside, and get back into "professional mode," which is sometimes hard to do. Much of the information that I have found about e-mail seems pretty common sense, but it never hurts to get a refresher on proper etiquette. Offending someone, appearing unprofessional, or being unclear could end up being a costly mistake.

I started my research by visiting the Business Writing Blog. I found Lynn Gaertner-Johnston's advice on e-mails very current and useful. Some specific articles I looked at were: A Disconnect in Email Subjects, Casual Email Loses Customer for Caterer, Does "Free" Work in an Email Subject Line?, Dear John et al., and When Lights Go Out on the Web. Much of her advice agrees with the content presented in the textbook, such as the importance of professionalism in e-mail discussed in "Casual Email Loses Customer for Caterer," and the importance of an appropriate email subject line in "A Disconnect in Email Subjects."

A few of Gaertner-Johnston's topics were not mentioned in the textbook, but I feel that they are worthwhile discussions. "Does Free Work in an Email Subject Line?" sparked my interest because it questions whether Emails whos subject lines start with the word "free" will get stuck in spam folders or if recipients will simply delete them. It is a topic that makes a lot of sense, but that I wouldn't have thought of on my own. "Dear John et al." explores the idea of using "et al." as a way to avoid listing many names in a greeting. Gaertner-Johnston advises against this practice, but offers some other solutions such as "Dear John and team members," or "Hello, Marketing team." I agree with such advice because as she mentions, not everyone knows what et al. means, and it isn't a very friendly or warm greeting.

One thing that she disagrees with the textbook on is the "24/7" aspect of the Internet ("When the Lights Go Out on the Web"). She talks about how sometimes when we don't receive an email from someone, we can't assume they didn't send it. She goes on to give an example of some of her emails getting "stuck in cyberspace."

This leads me to my next source of information: How to Write a Business Email. This site agrees with Gaertner-Johnston in that it encourages the writer to put their phone number in the signature of the email so the recipient has the option of making telephone contact if he/she deems it necessary (the textbook aims to "eliminate phone tag"). Most other advice on this site agrees with the textbook, but it is a good refresher. The information is bulleted and to the point, and there are some good examples posted.

The last place I looked was on YouTube, and I found a video tutorial that step-by-step edits an e-mail (ESL Business Writing Video - Email Tune-up 01). It covers everything from the subject line all the way to style and tone. It is about ten minutes long, but again is a good resource all-around, and I found it easier to watch, rather than simply read the information.

So remember, leave the LOLs and the gossip for your personal sites (although employers seem to be accessing them more as well), and stick to a professional tone when handling business matters--your future could depend on it!

Blog PREZIntation

Okay, so let me get this out there: I chose the 'BLOG' topic because, admittedly, I am addicted. I love to blog. So, in signing up for a key topic presentation I thought "OMG, how hard could this be? I LUV BLOGZ! because I think in AIM shorthand/lingo. I was also really excited to use PREZI (After signing up for my Prezi account and playing with it, I've come to the conclusion that Prezi is like the new iPhone and Power Point is like my old Cingular flip phone that didn't have web access).

"INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL BLOGS?! What in the world .." is what I thought after reading pages 142-148 of our book. I immediately took to Google to learn a little more about the internalization and externalization of blogs. I actually came across some really informative sites. It was a lot easier to find information on internal blogs (blogs designed exclusively for employee readers) than external blogs (blogs that are public relations tools).

First website I came across gave Seven Reasons for Your Company to Start an Internal Blog.

[****]

The next one I stumbled upon was Benefits and Uses of Team Blogs.

[***]

Lastly, I found Internal Blogs: So, Are They Different From External Blogs?

[*****]

All right, those asterisks are my pathetic attempt at rating each website by stars.

Here's my reasoning:

Blog #1: The main idea was this "proponents say an in-house blog can be like a bulletin board, communication tool and culture enhancement. Plus, it's better than tracking projects by e-mail." I especially liked the culture enhancement part. I felt like these seven reasons were coming from a professional place. 'Too much time wasted checking in with employees,' 'Organizational openness and accountability,' 'With blogs, the humble and the egotist both win' were some of my favorite reasons.

Blog #2: The main idea was "good communication and interaction is part and parcel of a successful team." You can't really argue with that and an internal blog allows that axiom to remain true. Group, sharing, discussion, etc. were the words that resonated with me. Better Business Blogging bolsters the belief that (internal) business blogs are beneficial for the team.

Blog #3: The main idea was "an internal blog has a “closed” audience from an organization that has its own culture, its own set of rules of conduct, its own politics. " Dennis Hamilton, the author of the article, says that "to be successful, the author (or authors) of the internal blog must be sensitive to these perimeters." I like this guys style. He's speaking from his own experience as an internal blogger when he's giving his advice. He also touches on A LOT of guidelines that the book touches on, which makes me feel that this man knows what he's talking about. Hamilton also kind of lays down some ground rules when it comes to blogging, like "if you value your job, your organization certainly must never be criticized."

Sorry I wasn't a tad more helpful on the external blog front. Everything I know about that, I learned from the book.

I'll leave you all with some words of wisdom about the advantages of internal blogging from Darren Cornish, Director of Customer Experience at Norwich Union.

(I give Darren ten stars for speaking from experience and for having an accent)

-Courtnie Elston