How to Get Your Ideas Across, Side Two (Part One)

By Jason Stewart  - February 28, 2008

Continuing my Education in Business Communication, Circa 1970

I came across an old record album from 1970 this past December … A Nations Business ‘Executive Seminar in Sound’ – How to Get Your Ideas Across. I listened to side one last month, and still remain intrigued by how much things stay the same in the face of tremendous change.

Borrowing my description from last time, the recording focuses on how to best communicate your ideas at work in order to “win friends and influence people.” It features the general bullet-pointed highlights of each “lesson" on the back cover of the record, with the actual recording featuring a narrator hammering the points home in between skits and vignettes demonstrating the theme of the track. Here’s my take on the first half of side two:

Band Five: The Successful Negative
Scene - A diligent and conscientious employee is repeatedly frustrated by his boss’s wishy-washy responses to his proposals. Ultimately, it becomes clear that the best kind of boss is one who can firmly say no without crushing the spirit out of his employees. Here’s how NOT to say “no,” from the back cover of the album:

• Don't feed false hopes with the procrastination answer (ie “maybe next quarter”) 

• No beating around the bush
 
• No passing the buck, or blaming someone else for the “no”
 
• Avoid the apologetic “no” which holds out hope for a “yes”

Positive approaches to saying "no"

• Say it, THEN explain it   
 
• Maintain interest in the idea by finding other channels to use it
 
• Give realistic encouragement to keep trying

This track actually made me think of how I deal with vendors that approach me, and how honesty really is the best policy. Rather than push them off a few months at a time with a “we’ll see” response I tell them exactly why I am not interested in their offer. I have found that many of them actually come up with creative offerings that fit my needs, or come back to me first when something changes that is more in line with my interests. This can be an advantage when you are booking advertising or email list rentals.

I get treated better because I don’t waste their time. 

Band Six: Tons of Words on Oceans of Paper
Scene -  A corporate lunch room where two unacquainted worker bees sit next to one another. Worker number one comments how worker number two seems out of sorts, to which number two replies that he is swamped with paperwork and doesn't know how to catch a break. Number one says that number two should "...do what I do, and send it all to some guy named Kraddick in finance." Number two replies ... wait for it  ... that HE is Kraddick from finance! Play predictable sound effect now.

Aside from the hilarity, the track goes on to offer some very good, albeit dated advice on how to avoid drowning in your correspondence: 

• Thinking on paper is a useful aid but a poor way of getting your ideas across 
 
• Not every letter needs to be answered
 
• Find the simplest way to reach people with a message
 
• Don’t write a personal letter if a form letter will get the job done
 
• Develop writing skills for your job, but use professionals when needed

I say that the scenes are dated because they talk about printed memos and business letters and corporate message boards - the kind that hang on the wall with pieces of paper hanging from them. I know! Crazy! It even mentions placing a “mimeographed slip in a pay envelope" which is dated on SO many levels in this age of printer/scanner/copier/fax machines and direct deposit. I had to check wikipedia to refresh my memory on a few items.

The "thinking on paper" bit refers to how so much of the correspondence we receive (or, dare I say it, marketing collateral we read in our email or online) could be trimmed down to a fraction of its size with little to no impact on the hard content of the piece. People have a tendency to ramble in their writing as if they were "thinking out loud," which can be dangerous as well as just plain boring. I also like the bit about not needing to answer every correspondence, and asking yourself "what will be accomplished by replying to this?"

Selecting the medium for your message can also be challenging for, for both marketers as well as for internal communications. Email is great, but how many times have you found that people just didn't read that extremely well crafted and exhaustive email you circulated...you know, the one that answers all the questions they are asking you now, face to face?

Don't ever assume that a simple email campaign or note to your colleagues is going to solve all your problems. Consider "throwback" methods like picking up a phone, direct mail or faxing a letter to a prospect or colleague every once in a while.