BUSINESS WRITING ESSENTIALS: - PART 5 of 5
Part 5: "Business Report Writing - The 7 Critical Steps"
This Free mini-course is sponsored by:
http://instantbusinessletterkit.com
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Hello Affiliate:
Here's your final installment of "Business Writing Tips and Tricks"
mini-course.
Pay attention to this one! I burned up a few brain cells
boiling down 25+ years of report writing, both as a staffer
and a consultant, into the 7 critical steps listed below.
ABOUT BUSINESS REPORTS
People often cringe at the thought of writing a "business
report". Granted, these are somewhat more complicated than
business letters, but if approached in the right way,
writing a business report can be a straightforward and
reasonably painless process.
There are a number of different generic types of business
reports including: general business report, business plan,
business proposal, marketing plan, strategic plan, business
analysis, project report, project analysis, project proposal,
project review, financial plan, financial analysis,
and others.
Although the technical content and terminology will vary
from report to report, depending on the subject and industry
context, the actual "report writing process" will be
essentially the same. Whether it's a short 10-pager, or a
major 100-plus pager, that "process" will invariably involve
the same fundamental steps.
The following seven points are what I consider to be the
essential steps for writing ANY business report. Follow
these steps carefully and you won't go wrong.
7 TIPS FOR WRITING BETTER BUSINESS REPORTS
1. Confirm Exactly What the Client Wants
This is a very important initial step. Whether the client is
you, or someone else, be sure that everyone is talking about
the same thing in terms of final outcome and expectations.
When determining this, always think specifically in terms
of the final deliverable (usually the final report). What
issues must it address? What direction/guidance is it
expected to give? What exactly will it contain? What bottom
line are they looking for?
2. Determine What Type of Report Is Required
This is another key initial matter to clarify. There are
a number of different types of business reports. Although
there is usually overlap between the different types, there
are also important differences. For example, do they want:
a business plan, a business proposal, a strategic plan,
a corporate information management plan, a strategic
business plan, a marketing plan, a financial plan, or what?
Know exactly what type of final report is expected from
the outset.
3. Conduct the Initial Research
Once you know exactly what the client (or you) wants, and
the specific type of report they are looking for, you are
ready to conduct your initial pre-report research. This
stage may be as simple as collecting and reading a few
background documents supplied by the client, or it could
involve developing questionnaires and conducting detailed
interviews with the appropriate people. It will vary with
each situation. The Internet of course, can really simplify
and shorten the research process, but don't forget to
double and triple check your sources.
4. Write the Table of Contents First
In my experience, drafting the Table of Contents (TOC),
before you start writing the actual report is the single
most important key to developing a successful business
report. This document can normally be done before, or in
parallel with, the first phase of project information
gathering. This should be more than just a rough draft TOC.
It should be a carefully thought out breakdown of exactly
what you imagine the TOC will look like in the final report.
Although this takes a certain amount of time and brain
power up-front, it really streamlines the rest of the
process. What I do is to actually visualize the final
report in my mind's eye and write the contents down.
This really works! This TOC then becomes a step-by-step
template for the rest of the process.
Sidebar:
===============
If you're writing the report for an external client, it's
a good idea to present the draft Table of Contents to them
at this point in the process and get their approval. This
will force them to think it through and confirm what they
really want at this point. Once they have agreed to a TOC
you will have their "buy-in" for the rest of the process,
thereby significantly reducing chances of any major changes
or reversals at the final report phase.
===============
5. Do Any Additional Research
After thinking through the TOC in detail, you will know if
any additional research is required. If yes, do this extra
information-gathering before you sit down and start to
actually write the report. That way, once you do begin
the writing process, you will have all of the information
needed at hand and you will not have to interrupt the
writing process to conduct any further research.
6. Create the Skeleton Document
A trick I always use when working with MS-Word is to create
a skeleton document first. That is, before you actually write
any of the text, enter the entire Table of Contents that you
have already developed into MS-Word (see Point 4), heading by
heading, including sub-headings. At this point, the document
is essentially a sequential series of headings and sub-headings
with blank space between them. Then, have MS-Word generate
an automatic Table of Contents that exactly matches your
planned TOC. You're then ready to start filling in the blank
spaces after each heading and sub-heading in the body of the
document, with text.
7. Write the Report By Filling In The Blanks
That's right, by filling in the blanks! Once the TOC skeleton
framework is in-place as per the previous step, writing the
actual report becomes almost like filling in the blanks.
Just start at the beginning and work your way sequentially
through the headings and sub-headings, one at a time, until
you get to the end. Really! At that point, with all of the
preparation done, it should be a relatively straightforward
process.
BUSINESS REPORT TEMPLATES
Business Plan Writing
I've developed a lot of business plans for clients over the
years. These critical business documents are typically
time-consuming and difficult to research, structure and write.
I've always found that working with an actual business plan
as a template is the quickest and most effective way to
develop another business plan for a new venture. If you
are interested in working from the real thing, check out
the following link.
http://writinghelp-central.com/business-plan.html
Business Proposal Writing
In addition to business plans, I've also developed a lot
of business proposals for clients over the years. As
anyone in business knows, a well structured and well
written business proposal is critical if you hope to win
that next big project or contract. I've always found that
working with an actual business proposal as a model is
the quickest and most effective way to develop another
business proposal, even in response to a completely
different request-for-proposal. So, if you are interested
in working from the real thing, check out the following
business proposal link.
http://writinghelp-central.com/business-proposal.html
Business Letters, Forms, and Templates
My writing toolkit, Instant Business Letter Kit, focuses on
business letters, forms, and templates. It's a comprehensive
business writing toolkit that combines "how-to" tips, tricks,
advice, and pointers with over 100 fully-formatted real-life
templates for writing any type of business letter that you
can download into your word processor and use as you choose.
This Kit includes a Bonus Chapter on how to write Business
Reports, as well as a Special Bonus eBook containing Business
Forms and Templates ranging from, invoices and purchase orders,
to minutes of meetings, and trip reports. Whether you're
involved in small business, your own business, or large
business, if you need help writing business letters, you
could easily make this Kit your business writing style guide.
http://InstantBusinessLetterKit.com
Well, Affiliate. That's it for Part 5 of "Business
Writing Tips and Tricks".
I hope you picked up some useful information that you'll be
able to apply to your business letters and/or reports.
On Jul. 15, 2008, I'll be sending you one final post-course
wrap-up e-mail.
Watch for that one. It includes a SPECIAL BONUS FOR YOU.
All the best,
Shaun Fawcett, M.B.A.
P.S.
DON'T FORGET to keep an eye out for your Special Bonus e-mail.
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Copyright (c) 2005, Shaun R. Fawcett, All Rights Reserved.
mailto:shaun@writinghelptools.com
http://www.WritingHelpTools.com
http://www.WritingHelp-Central.com
http://www.InstantBusinessLetterKit.com
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