Got told by my boss to not use such formal wording in client communications...

[Thomas]

Originally Posted by Piobaire

Keep your eye on the prize. That thing you get every second Friday.
(...)

I've heard of date night, but have never been able to keep it as religiously as you and Mrs. Piobaire seem to be.

 

[Piobaire]

Originally Posted by Thomas

I've heard of date night, but have never been able to keep it as religiously as you and Mrs. Piobaire seem to be.

I lol'ed.

 

[willpower]

Easy to fix - substitute "your" for "you're" (even "UR") and "loose" for "lose". You'll blend right in.


Sup! It's Unjung here, bitches. Ya'll wanna buy some **** or what?

Peace Out,

Unjung

 

[unjung]

Originally Posted by willpower

Easy to fix - substitute "your" for "you're" (even "UR") and "loose" for "lose". You'll blend right in.


Sup! It's Unjung here, bitches. Ya'll wanna buy some **** or what?

Peace Out,

Unjung

Is there an emoticon for kancho I can add to my signature?

 

[TheIdler]

Originally Posted by Davidko19

My boss came to me the next day and was like "Yea, you realize we have a warehouse full of people who barely have a high school degree and/or dont speak native english. Think of your audience" I felt like such a dipshit and learned more that first day on the job than in 4 years of college.
Another Brown grad?

 

[GQgeek]

I tend to be a verbose motherfucker by nature. I'm just thinking back to some of my communications with vendors and to be frank, I definitely write in a more direct manner when dealing with them. I get the same in return. When I'm dealing with vendors I don't want long-winded replies. It doesn't mean I type emails in r33t sp34k. At the same time, I have trouble understanding how the way you type in an email could make someone uncomfortable, but it is what it is. As someone else said, know your audience.

 

[Connemara]

A lot of my writing in my last job involved spinning (politics, what do you expect) so I got to used to big and obfuscating words.

 

[Milpool]

I write and speak for someone that has no high school education, in general. I avoid using complex words if there is a simpler word that works with the same meaning.

Even within my field, I try to keep the language simple and skip a lot of jargon unless there is no other way to explain it. Too many times, I've given someone the benefit of the doubt and assumed they knew their stuff well, only to notice they are starting to look really confused.

 

[kakemono]

The first presentation I gave to a client, I wore a tie and was told to lose it by my boss. Turns out all our clients show up in jeans and a polo. (engineering)

Cool story, huh?


...just thought it might add a little to the thread about gearing yourself to your client.

 

[Matt]

one of my best friends was recently told the same by his boss (also one of my good friends, I got him the job there).

Friend 1 is formal in his business communications by nature, and a lot of the time it just comes across as impersonal. He certainly doesn't mean it to be, he is doing his job effectively...however, you never build any kind of repoire with a client by using phrases like 'if there are any areas that you feel require clarification or amendment to either content or context, please let us know promptly' (copied n pasted from something sent to me by a supplier a while back) - when casualling it down to 'let us know if there are any changes you would like to see' feels more comfortable and personable to the reader....especially in client relations when so much of it is about building a relationship.

 

[StephenHero]

This reminds me of a good story. A guy I once worked with (architect) was at a firm in Denver a long while back that was contacted about designing a new farmhouse and work garage for a guy that had a big business making saddles in either Northern Colorado or Wyoming. The guy had called three firms and asked them to come to his current ranch to discuss their qualifications about designing his new place and he'd select "the best fit." So naturally, all the architects knew they'd be on a ranch and thought it would be wise to to play the part as "rugged outdoorsmen" hoping to get this guy's work via mountain-culture assimilation. They had all worn jeans and boots and **** and planned to talk up their roughneck past being raised by shewolves. When they got there, the guy just pulled out 3 rifles and said the first firm to hit a clay pigeon got the job. None had ever shot a rifle and a couple had to be taught how to load the thing but eventually somebody hit one after half an hour or so of taking turns. He said they left embarrassed for getting exposed like a bunch of dipshit posers, although he said the final project was really nicely done by the guy that won and the rancher was pleased.

 

[Eason]

I bet they wore red chambray with selvage scarves.

 

[lawyerdad]

Originally Posted by unjung

"I might recommend that you refrain from the use of such formal business wording. I know that this is both comfortable and familiar to you, but to [client] and [client], I can assure you that it is not."

So I have to make myself sound dumber to avoid alienating clients (and I'm in wholesaling, by the way).

Maybe the irony was intentional, but your boss's own writing seems overly formal, stilted, and convoluted.

 

[LabelKing]

What a moran.

 

[unjung]

Originally Posted by lawyerdad

Maybe the irony was intentional, but your boss's own writing seems overly formal, stilted, and convoluted.

His next sentence acknowledged that he does the same thing. This email was only in relation to one of our dealers, who shouldn't really be in this industry in the first place.