Is Your Business Writing Holding You Back?

"I'm talking to you instead of drowning my sorrows in a pint of Chunky Monkey ice cream," said Tanya on the phone.

"That's a great flavor!" I said. "Which sorrows are you trying to drown?”

"I was so close on a great job," Tanya groaned. "I had two interviews. After the second one the recruiter said 'They love you! You're a finalist.' She said they’d want a writing sample. Someone in HR sent me an email message with the writing sample requirements in it

I wrote the sample last night and sent it back to them. I thought it would be fine. Then I got a no-thank-you letter this morning. The headhunter just called me and said 'They said they loved you, but it's a position with a lot of writing in it.' I'm devastated."

"I'm so sorry, Tanya!" I said. "Do you want a job with lots of writing in it?"

"I'd kill for one," she replied. "I'm sure I didn't make any spelling or grammatical errors in my sample. What else could they have been looking for?"

Business is changing fast -- faster than I've seen it change in thirty years. Business writing is changing, too.

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Stuck for words: 5 things not to say when a person is grieving.

Grief can happen at the least expected moments, it might be a teenager who has had his or her young heart broken, it might be someone who has just been diagnosed with a life threatening illness, someone who has lost an animal companion, someone going through a divorce – or who is grieving the death of a loved one.

Grief can take place anywhere, anytime and suddenly. We can be going along our merry way then suddenly something happens and our world is taken from us. Most people have no idea what to say or how to support someone in grief. We slip into general statements such as “Time will heal,” when right in that moment time may seem like a strange notion for the person grieving.

When my sisters’ husband died suddenly at the age of 38, and she was left to raise her 2, 4, 6 and 8 year old children on her own; she confided in me a few weeks after his passing “People miss him terribly and they try to say the right thing – but actually all they talk about is how sad they are – I find myself supporting them in
their grief rather than the other way around.”

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How To make Email Newsletters Awesome

Just recently, I have received some really bad and I mean really bad email newsletters from people and companies that I subscribe to and because some have been shockingly bad, I thought it would be a good time to give some pointers if you are not absolutely happy with your own.

We all work very hard creating email lists because as a marketing tool, they still really work and as long as you have the subscribers' permission, you own the list. Compare that to gaining huge amounts of fans and followers that you really don’t own if the platforms ever died, so always grow the two together

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My Formula for Handling the Daily Email Barrage: Delegate, Defer, Decide

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None of my nearly 200 columns here to date has been of the obviously popular ‘tips for better business’ variety, and with good reason. My business is public health, and my primary effort here is to make sure you hear about the studies you should, that the science is interpreted appropriately, and that an allowance is made for an application of sense. That’s my primary gig, and it’s a good one. In addition, I do occasionally indulge other inclinations- in the form poems, or philosophical essays. I think science and art help illuminate one another.

But I haven’t offered daily business or efficiency tips, leaving that to the many others here who write solely or preferentially on that very topic. But it occurs to me that we all share the business of information exchange, and in that area, I think I have something to offer.
The immediate prompt for this column was an email from somebody I don’t know expressing surprised delight that I had answered them. For the most part, despite a daily barrage of hundreds of emails, I always do. I get those gratifying replies fairly often from people who presumably had little hope of hearing back.

I have a formula for handling the daily email barrage that might work for you as well. The formula is: delegate, defer, decide.


1) Delegate: good and capable people work with and for me. I rely on them confidently. Whenever someone else has more time and/or more targeted interest or expertise to address a given email, I pass it along, letting the sender know. The key here is never to abuse this opportunity. Sometimes, I am very tempted to pass along an email just to lighten the load, but I really am the best one to deal with it. I grit my teeth, and deal with it on those occasions. When my colleagues and staff can rely on only appropriate messages reaching them, they remain committed to addressing them efficiently- and making us both look good in the process.


2) Defer: some messages simply can’t be addressed right away. They may involve a complex decision, a sequence of steps, or a document requiring detailed review. I have several dedicated folders to catalogue such missives, so I can move them out of my inbox and spare myself that intimidating clutter when I access my email. I generally send a quick ‘got it’ reply as well, to spare myself a subsequent “did you get it?” email, and spare the sender the worry that their effort went awry. I then set aside blocks of time to work on these projects, as I would any other. It’s worth noting that occasionally, a deferred message is neglected long enough to fade from memory. I tend to find that if both sender and receiver are willing to let this happen, the matter needed to die anyway, at least in the short term. Sometimes they are resurrected later when they make more sense and come with clearer marching orders.


3) Decide: this is the largest category for me. When I plow through messages, it’s always tempting to let many of them wait. But of course, while this batch is waiting, the next batch comes in. We might all long for the simpler, if less efficient, days pre-email, but this is our world now; the flow of information never stops. So fail to keep up, and your inbox will overwhelm you. I have colleagues who routinely fail to answer, because messages get lost in a huge backlog. To avoid this, I apply the discipline of prompt decisions. If the message is too vague to allow for a specific response, then that’s my reply: I need more detailed information to process this constructively. If it’s inappropriate, or I lack the bandwidth to help- I say that, and move on. Quick decisions are much like use of a muscle; they are conditioned with practice. Whenever you answer your emails-whether throughout the day, as I tend to do, or in dedicated bocks of time- you can cultivate a disciplined “read, decide, respond” approach to stay caught up. The benefits are that important messages always get a prompt response, nothing gets lost in the sauce, and you spare yourself the distraction of clutter.

The one other element in my formula is to think twice before sending an email. Emails beget emails, so every message sent means more time allocated at both ends. The fact that we can all but effortlessly shoot off a message doesn’t mean we should. read  More>>>>>>>>>

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Author:DAVID L.KATZ MD,MPH, INFluencer  

 

The Importance of Strong Partnerships BY: Meg Whitman

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Relationships with customers and employees are at the core of any successful business. But in today’s evolving landscape, strategic alliances, joint ventures and creative collaborations can be just as critical to success. At HP, we’re especially focused on the relationship with our channel partners – the distributors and resellers who bring our products and services to the marketplace every day.

In many cases, these partners are the face of HP, the team on the front lines helping us serve our customers. Many have been with us for decades, and today they contribute up to 70 percent of HP’s revenue. For those reasons, maintaining and developing strong partner relationships is one of HP’s top priorities.

Global Partner Conference

This week, we are bringing together more than 2,000 of HP’s partners from around the world for our annual Global Partner Conference (GPC) in Las Vegas. The event provides our partners with the opportunity to share their goals for the year ahead, preview new products and solutions, and align on our respective strategies.

Keeping these relationships strong and mutually beneficial is absolutely critical to our ecosystem and success. Look around your organization’s ecosystem. Beyond your customers and employees, who are your essential partners? Whether it’s your sales channel or collaborations with other organizations, the following principles are key to maintaining healthy business partnerships.

1. Start with Stability

Stability forms the foundation of any successful partnership. At HP, years of uncertainty – from inconsistent strategy to a revolving door of leadership – were beginning to wear down our partners. As a result, we made restoring stability the first step toward rebuilding our relationships. This included articulating a clear strategy and taking immediate actions to stabilize the business. We repaired our balance sheet, reduced operating company net debt to zero, and put in place a solid leadership team that understood the value of our partners.

2. Play Away Games

When it comes to building strong relationships, there’s no substitute for meeting people on their home turf. Over the past year, I’ve met with more than 1,000 customers and partners and the bulk of these meetings have been outside the walls of HP. Traveling can be time-consuming and expensive, but it can also be a strong signal of your commitment to a relationship.

3. Listen and Translate Words into Action

Establishing two-way communications is just one part of strengthening relationships. Words are great, but action is what matters. When I meet with partners, I always try to make our conversations about what we can be doing better for them, not the other way around, and then act quickly to address their needs.

4. Make It Profitable

When I first joined HP, I kept hearing from partners that our organization was too complex. Outdated tools, hard-to-navigate processes, and too many programs were making it challenging to work with HP.

To fix these problems, we rolled out new tools and removed bureaucracy to make it easier and faster to close deals. We cut in half the number of technical certifications and created role-based certifications that require significantly less time out of office. We removed gates and caps, enabling partners to begin earning rebates from their first sale and giving them access to unlimited earning potential. Meaningful incentives and a streamlined compensation structure are not only driving our business forward, they are making doing business with HP more rewarding.

Building strong relationships with our partners based on mutual respect and profitability doesn’t just benefit HP and our partners. It also puts us in a better position to help our customers win.

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