Business Writing Training

We offer business writing training and assessments that deliver strong writing skills and improved results for the entire workforce—from CEOs to managers and administrative staff.

Training Programs

In addition to creating custom programs, we currently offer four timely topics in formats ranging from one-hour presentations to half-day seminars:

1. Effective Business E-mail: Get it opened and get results! (webinar or on-site)
2. Kick-Start Your Writing—and Finish with a Flourish (webinar and on-site)
3. Write Attention-Grabbing, Traffic-Building Reports, Proposals, Articles, Blogs—Whatever You Write at Work (webinars and on-site)
4. Your GPS for Success: Grammar, punctuation and style! (webinar and on-site)

Detailed outline of our training programs

1. Effective Business E-mail: Get it opened and get results!

Today, business e-mail is like the Wild West—desperate for some law and order! For starters, people dash off e-mails with little thought about their readers’ needs. As a result, surveys show that 30 percent of all correspondence is written to clarify previous correspondence. (What a waste of time, energy, and creativity!) We’ll tackle this and other common problems such as poor organization, lack of courtesy, jumbled contents, and no calls to action.

Who should attend:
All employees who write business e-mails and who want to achieve outstanding results—in less time.

You’ll take away how to:

• Overcome dread and procrastination.
• Kick-start your writing.
• Plan and organize effective messages.
• Write attention-getting subject lines (that get opened!).
• Use the most appropriate tone and style.
• Make e-mails easier on your readers’ eyes.
• End with impact to get the best results.
• Avoid the most common complaints and pet peeves.
• Know when not to send an e-mail.

2. Kick-Start Your Writing—and Finish with a Flourish

Learn how to overcome procrastination—one of the most insidious time-wasters at work—and write your business documents faster, stronger, better. This workshop shares proven techniques that help you get started, keep writing, and finish with a compelling call to action.

Who should attend:
Busy business professionals who want to enjoy better results—in less time.

You’ll take away how to:

• Kick-start the writing process.
• Plan and percolate for stronger results.
• Tap into your innate creativity.
• Imitate to innovate.
• Edit quickly.
• Finish with a compelling call to action.
• Take breaks to accomplish more!

3. Write Attention-Grabbing, Traffic-Building Reports, Proposals, Articles, Blogs—Whatever You Write at Work

In today’s world of TMI (too much information), your writing needs to grab attention and stand out. That means using techniques that make your blog posts, articles, Web copy, newsletters, and marketing materials exciting to write—and read—so you get the results, respect, and revenues you need.

Who should attend:
Business professionals who want to take their writing—and career—to the next level with innovative business-writing techniques. This workshop helps bloggers, marketing and public relations professionals, account executives, article writers, and speech writers get the results they want in today’s oversaturated media marketplace.

You’ll take away how to:

• Tap into ideas and solutions you didn’t even know you had.
• Use benefits to boost your impact.
• Ask powerful questions.
• Imitate to innovate.
• Tell stories to tap into emotions (where we buy and buy in).
• Create similes, metaphors, alliteration, rhyme (and much more!).
• Craft compelling calls to action and effective closings.

4. Your GPS for Success: Grammar, punctuation, and style!

Let’s face it: It’s been years since many of us were in school. It’s time to review the nuts and bolts of business writing. But this class is so much more than a grammar rehash. You’ll learn the writing process (which is not taught in most schools) so you can express your ideas in the most efficient and effective way.

Who should attend:
Business professionals who write on the job (from short reports and business e-mails to longer proposals and white papers) and need a review of writing fundamentals to improve their writing skills.

You’ll take away how to:

• Plan and organize effectively.
• Craft strong sentences and powerful paragraphs.
• Avoid passive voice.
• Adopt the appropriate tone.
• Fix 20 of the most common goofs and gaffes.
• Punctuate like a pro.
• Edit and proofread for success.

Assessments

Ever wonder how your business writing stacks up? Our writing assessments—Assess Your Success: Your road map to business writing that rocks!—offer personalized and confidential reports of your business writing skills. You’ll find that you’re doing better than you think. And those places you need to improve? The edits and comments you receive are tailored for you so you can focus on just those (rather than every writing issue). We’ve also made comments about where we’d like to see more creativity so you can write persuasive new-client proposals, in-depth sales reports, and compelling blogs.

Contact us for more details: director@afcbw.com

Just send us up to 600 words you’ve already written. We’ll deliver a thorough assessment of what you’re doing right and how you can improve. This personalized approach allows you to start writing faster and get better results—right away!

BONUS! Every Assess Your Success report comes with our popular e-book, Ten Myths Keeping You from Becoming a Powerful Writer.

Questions? Just contact us at director@afcbw.com.