Writing for business is no different than writing a story, you need to know the outcome, how you want things to turn out. That is what you’re selling to the reader, your vision of how they are to respond. In the case of mystery its good triumphing over evil, in romance it’s always happily ever after. In your reports or advertising sales copy its usually value for money.
There are usually set topics that need to be covered to make the story complete. In a report you require a background, explanation of the issues, who the players are, implications and supporting information and a recommendation. In novels you need history, converging stories, a hero, dramatic interaction, lots of discussion and a damned good ending.
To write a spellbinding report follow this formula.
- Background = history and summary of issues
Why are we doing this? Has it been tried before? Has there been complaints made in the past? It’s all about doing your research, asking the right questions and supplying the answers.
Your summary is like the synopsis on the inside of a book jacket or for those with eReaders it’s the description on the sales tile. People need to get a feel for what you want them to think about and what they are about to embark on. This sets the pace and the plot, or in the case of a report the issue and the risk level. They will continue reading if you have emotive statements like, “without this change people may die”, or “if we don’t do this now we might lose millions of dollars”. People always put safety and heavy monetary losses high in their list of worries.
- Who the players are? = The hero and the cast.
Every player in your report needs to have their information laid out for people to read and understand. There needs to be compare and contrast to show the layers and texture of the report.
3. Explanation of the issues = converging stories
There is always a problem to be solved, which is how the world works. Spell out the issues, the risks, the people who are going to be a pain your behind.
Take the reader on journey through the processes you went through and the options you looked at. There are always two sides or more to a story, have you considered them all?
- Implications – lots of discussion and dramatic interaction
Dramatic interaction or intrigue, in most cases it’s your options, what have you considered, how did they compare, what are their risks? A book that keeps your interest has twists turns and evokes emotion. Include outrageous options in your projections, the weird and the gorblimey can help add focus and clarity to pointing the reader towards your well thought out conclusion. There is usually a highly overpriced or severely underpriced tender or competitor, one has gold plated options, the other usually hasn’t included or even considered some aspects of what you require or just overlooked them because it was too hard. All things you need to analyse and tell the reader to lead them to the same conclusion as you.
- Recommendation
Give them what they want; do they want a happy ending? Of course, do they want to see the villain in handcuffs and the heroine swooning at the man who saved the day?
Give them no option but to be happy with what you decide. People can read it when you put your heart and soul into something. Even if it is a report for work.
How does story telling or report writing relate to mentoring? Good question, I’m glad you asked. Mentoring is all about sharing your heart and soul and inspiring others to succeed. Your mentor might be a bit like your hero, they know your background, they understand the players in the game, they can usually add to your converging stories with their own experience, they are there to discuss implications and interaction and best of all they will allow you to discover your outcome, your recommendation and help you format it so there is positives for all.
Are you looking for help to find your story teller? Secret Mentor Business might just be the eCourse for you.
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