For this first installment of the guest interview, I wanted to talk to someone that was in a very competitive industry…and that’s what I received. Due to policy issues, I had to keep some anonymity with his full name and company (i.e., fair or not, he would be looked on as speaking for the entire company, when in fact, he is just solely giving his personal opinion).

My guest is James H., and he works at a very reputable Silicon Valley technology company that provides an array of products that, no doubt, you are using or will use in the near future. The following is a Q&A session conducted via email, in which James offers his feelings about written communication within his industry.

The Goods

Luis Bonilla: What is your job title and what are you responsible for?

James H: I’m a team lead, and I manage a small group of people who support both our internal teams and external customers on a number of product offerings.

LB: In a percentage, about how much of your day-to-day communication during work is written? (It can include emails, presentations, letters, documents, forms, etc.)

JH: I’d say about 80%. Even if I have wall-to-wall meetings during the day, I’m constantly on email and chat. Email is probably the most important method of communication within my company and it takes up quite a bit of my time.

LB: What is your personal impression or thoughts when you read something from a co-worker that has horrible grammar, spelling mistakes, or a lack of professionalism?

JH: It doesn’t leave a very good impression, of course, but it also has the potential to waste my own time and energy. For example, if I’m sent an email or presentation that doesn’t make sense because it contains errors, it may require me to follow up when I probably wouldn’t have needed to if the person had edited their documents more closely. Because of this, I frequently ask my own reports to run any important material past me or by a peer to ensure these types of errors are caught.

LB: Are there any safeguards or quality control of outgoing documents to customers or business partners? If so, what are they?

JH: It depends on the outgoing document, but a lot of people have to sign-off on customer-facing material. Marketing, PR, and legal are the usual players. As a result, we’re able to keep any external documents very polished, even if it requires a bit of iteration and extra time beforehand.

LB: On a scale from one to 10, with 10 being extremely important, how important do you feel it is to have your company’s message or product clearly stated and free of errors on websites? Why?

JH: Again, it depends on what it is, but in most cases it’d be a 10. Even something as seemingly casual as our company’s blog is checked and re-checked to assure it’s error-free. This is not only important because of the professional message it conveys, but it’s also important because a spelling or grammatical error (depending on what it is) can lead to misunderstanding or confusion. Even small mistakes can cause a post to be taken the wrong way.

LB: What do you think would happen to your company’s reputation if they were to continuously distribute/display emails, documents, and other forms of written communication that had grammar errors?

JH: It would probably damage our reputation as well as our bottom line. For example, some of my co-workers spend time pitching our products to prospective clients. If the collateral that they used contained these kinds of errors, our sales people wouldn’t be taken too seriously and it’d hurt our ability to close deals. Because our industry is very tight and word spreads quickly, it’s safe to say that our reputation would take a hit fairly quickly.

LB: While researching companies for certain products or services, does their website text (or message) play a role in your interest? Would incomplete sentences or dearth of intelligibility cause you to search for alternative websites/companies?

JH: While it wouldn’t necessarily turn me off completely from a company’s product or service, it wouldn’t do them any favors either. In today’s extremely competitive market, when everyone is jockeying for position in growing, crowded arenas, I don’t think companies can afford to take that risk, personally. And if a client is making a choice between two offerings that are extremely similar, sometimes something as seemingly small as this could sway them in one direction.

Interview Summary

I’d like to thank James for his willingness and time for this interview. So, were my questions somewhat biased? Perhaps. But I feel that the questions allowed James to offer some key insights on how companies within the technology industry view the importance of clearly written communication on day-to-day tasks, as well as for company image.

Additionally, some of these questions aren’t really in the forefront of business people’s minds as they are writing website text, displaying products, marketing their ideas, and so forth. It is imperative to have your company (your brand) display professionalism, whether internally to save man-hours or externally to save clients and business.

Luis D. Bonilla
luis@wordszilla.com
Wordszilla, LLC