No Matter How Smart You Are, Your Mistakes Can Cost You A Lot of Money! - Karen Bradley

Attention email composers, bloggers and content writers (just about all of us):

I was instantly inspired to write this article after reading an article titled," Poor Writing Is No Laughing Matter." As a business owner, I can most definitely relate. I find myself repeatedly reminding my staff that grammar is extremely important and it does in fact matter. Not only is it a direct representation of you, but your entire organization too! Each and every person should take pride in their writing. You may not realize you are being analyzed by your writing skills and grammar, but trust me, you are!

I can especially appreciate the part of the article where it stated, "Good grammar is credibility, especially on the internet. In blog posts, on Facebook statuses, in e-mails, and on company websites, your words are all you have. They are a projection of you in your physical absence”.

Here at Dealer Synergy, we teach our clients the importance of the "Science of Communication", which states that there is only a 7 percent communication effectiveness through text and the words we use. I repeat, only 7 percent! Yet, for most dealerships, it is the highest form of communication used and emails are constantly being sent out with poor grammar, shorthand and misspellings. Let's think about this for a second. We expect our customers to trust us with the second largest purchase they will make in their lifetime, yet we can't even press spell check or proofread our work before we send it? We live in an industry where perception is reality. Heck, we live in a world where perception is reality! Don’t let a false perception of you become an undeserved reality.

Here are a few of my personal tips:

ALL emails should be created equal. Show respect for the person on the other end of the email (the receiver). I don't care if you are writing an email to your 4 year old child or the President of the United States. Treat them just the same!
Practice good writing and grammar habits, ALWAYS. This includes Facebook, Blog Posts, twitter (as long as you can still remain within the character limit) and even text messages! As we are all aware, it is much easier to develop a bad habit than to break one!
The spell check button is your best friend. You wouldn’t ignore your best friend, would you? We’ve all heard the phrase “you only get one shot at making a great first impression”. What impression are you making on your prospects? Or better yet, what impression are the other people in your organization making on your behalf?
Do not use shorthand with your prospects. It may seem like the coolest and latest thing to do, but please do not type "u" instead of "you", "yw" instead of "you’re welcome", or "ttys" instead of "talk to you soon". Or “Mr. Customer, I was hoping to get you the 411 on the car you wanted, but smh, I checked our inventory and it is GFN.” You get the point.
Invest the time. I recommend reading through your email 3 times before hitting the send button. Check for both spelling and grammar corrections. Spell check will not identify the difference between to, two and too. They are all spelled correctly, but defined differently.
Read the email out loud. If you stumble on a word or phrase, the reader will too.

The use of correct grammar, punctuation and spelling pertain to more than just email correspondences with your prospects. Any form of communication visual to the public eye should be examined thoroughly. This includes, your company website, email templates, Social Media posts, blog posts and even your recruiting initiatives!

No one is perfect and not all of us are English majors and professional writers, but if you follow the tips above, you will have the best shot at making the best first impression possible. We may not be seeking out a Pulitzer Prize, but why can’t we make our prospects feel like we are?

If you would like to hear more on this subject, have comments or questions, please email me at karen@dealersynergy.com. Thank you for reading!

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Comment by Jeff Simonton on December 6, 2012 at 9:22am: This post made me smile. I'm consistently amazed by the abundance of poor grammar in professional settings. Allow me to also note that this is a rare thread which reads well without a plethora of grammatical errors.

Comment by Michal Lusk on December 5, 2012 at 10:22pm: I cannot tell you how many times I have received emails from professionals in the automotive industry that were so poorly written and full of grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors they were tough to read. Your advice to proofread three times is spot on. Read once for obvious errors, a second time to make sure the words actually convey the meaning you want, and a third time just to make sure. Keep in mind that without the context of body language and voice tone, sometimes the words we choose just don't quite say what we want. Thanks for sharing!

Comment by Michael Baker on December 5, 2012 at 3:58pm: How should I attempt to cascade this pertinent discussion to Dealers/GMs? This as well as other discussions from your and Sean's astute consultative/marketing realm needs to gain access to more dealers, as 'Dealer's-United' is for them, to assist them...

Comment by Karen Bradley on December 5, 2012 at 3:54pm: Michael,

It amazes me too! Asking the prospect for their preferred form of communication subconsciously creates a win-win between the prospect, or established consumer, and the dealership personnel. The prospect is being contacted in a way that they are most comfortable with and the dealership's contact ratio will increase as a result.

Comment by Michael Baker on December 5, 2012 at 3:39pm: Karen,

It amazes me to this day as a Dealer for some 25 years, and digitally engaged for the past 12, that most staff in franchised operational Sales and Service Depts. do not inquire to prospective or established consumers for personalization, what medium of communication is desired: Via Text, E, or Telephonic, in the service drive,or when on the phone(sales and service both)....

Comment by Karen Bradley on December 5, 2012 at 3:24pm: Thank you, Alan! You are spot on!

Comment by Al Mosher on December 5, 2012 at 9:24am: Excellent article, Karen. Poor grammar is and always has been one of my pet peeves. If you are going to take the time to do something, do it right. Nothing can negatively influence the receivers impression of you as competent and professional like poor spelling and bad grammar.

Comment by Michael Baker on December 4, 2012 at 8:58pm: Great astute correspondence Karen, and Thank You. As we both know with 10x as many prospect coming into the service drive each day at Franchised dealerships, the opportunity is 'even more so' in that realm. Say hello to Sean for me, please.

Comment by Karen Bradley on December 4, 2012 at 4:56pm: Hi Michael,

You are correct in saying that text is one of the strongest forms of communication for generation Y and you have a very valid point. I would have to resort to the same answer I gave for the usage of emoticons. It depends on the customer and what part of the engagement cycle you are in. As a Franklin Covey Certified Trainer and facilitator, the 5th habit immediately enters my mind. It is very important to diagnose before you prescribe. Specifically, you need to seek first to understand your customer, then to be understood by your customer. We cannot just assume a customer with a birth date post 1981 would prefer to communicate via abbreviated text, nor can we afford to. Every dealership is unique with its own circumstances, so if you have seen a lot of success with doing so, I would make it a part of my engagement process. You can ask them a question like…Mr. Customer, I am here to make your car buying experience the easiest and most convenient possible so I ask, what is your preferred method of communication? But if you do get the person to respond that way, make sure that the text is used for the sole purpose of selling a phone call. You never want to attempt to sell the vehicle through a text communication medium. Lastly, you can't lose something you never had. So, if you have tried everything under the sun to communicate with a generation Y prospect with no avail, why not try it?

Comment by Michael Baker on December 4, 2012 at 3:39pm: Karen+,

As the Y gen(18-30) continues to be a dominant buying segment in our marketplace, with text being the predominant medium of communication, do you support the use of abbreviated text communications once known the prospective client is in that age realm?