5 Things Every First-Rate Business Writing Training Provider Should Do
You know how to choose a plumber, a dentist or a dating website. You have rating services, friends and colleagues who will happily make recommendations when the garbage disposal jams, your molar speaks up unexpectedly, or your date seems to be thirty years older than the posted photo suggested.
But what do you do when you need a business writing training provider? You want someone who will bring real, quantifiable value and not waste your time or suggest outdated approaches.
Here’s what you do. You can rate providers using five questions that have both general and business-specific answers. Your business writing training provider should be able to satisfy you that it does these things for all of its clients and can do precisely what you need for your own situation.
Ask these questions of business writing training providers
Can you connect your writing strategy with improved ROI?
Why change your approach to business writing if there’s no connection to improved ROI? When learners complete their work with your business writing training coach, you should see immediate improvements in their writing, including:
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A clear, persuasive bottom line, usually on top of the document
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Headlines and other formatting that make the document readable, scannable, actionable
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A clear, logical business case that includes all necessary information, but nothing superfluous
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Action items that pop
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Deadlines that your eye can find in seconds
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Positive, professional tone and style
Do you teach a strategic process that is easy to remember and apply?
Unfortunately, some business writing training programs seem more interested in catchy acronyms for the program than solid results for you. (Really? BRITE WRITE?) After a workshop, can learners tell you what the steps are for the new approach? Are they logical, or do they nest uncomfortably inside each other? Can learners use the approach a few days later, without a facilitator hovering over them?
Do you provide personal learning plans for ongoing development?
We all have individual weaknesses in our writing. Usually we do most things well and some things poorly. Skilled facilitators for excellent business writing training programs can pinpoint each learner’s improvement needs and suggest action items the learner can take to improve those skills. Otherwise, why not just have them all watch a video?
Do you identify business issues and strategic goals before training?
Focused, targeted business writing training programs begin with immediate relevance to learners’ jobs because the provider has worked with you to identify your own challenges and goals. Do you need to improve responses to sales letters? Write more persuasive proposals? Improve written customer service? Your provider should ask you about your targets and plan with you to meet them.
Do you diagnose where ineffective writing may be getting in the way of business results?
Whatever your line of business may be, it probably isn’t diagnosing the impact of ineffective writing on business results. Your provider should have a reliable, tested approach to finding the negative impacts and developing solutions for your specific needs.
Buyer beware: business writing training providers are numerous
Like plumbers, providers are many and vary widely in quality of performance. You’ll be wise to ask these five questions before choosing the provider for your training. Now if only they worked for dating sites!
