Improve Sales by Proofreading

by Don Dewsnap

Published on this site: June 12th, 2006 - See more articles from this month

When you think of all the different factors that go into making a sale, it is easy to feel overwhelmed. Quality of product, advertising, personal contact, word of mouth, referrals, websites, price, delivery, repeat customers, branding, quality control, and a host of others, plus all of their subdivisions, add up to more than any one person can learn or control.

One common denominator does exist: quality. If each individual factor leading to sales is done well, sales will follow. Conversely, if sales are slow, one or more factors are not being done well. Even referrals and word of mouth follow this rule, because no one refers another to a product if the product is not of high quality.

Fortunately, one person can learn about and control quality.

High quality is not a natural state. Even in nature, flawed specimens far outnumber perfect ones. High quality is a created state, and as such, is the result of human intention and effort. Of the two, intention is far and away the most important.

Every business survives on its sales, and its sales are the result of the efforts of everyone in the business. Logic dictates, then, that each and every person involved in a business must have the intention of producing high quality at whatever he or she does. This goes for everyone, from the janitorial assistant to the CEO.

Lack of quality is far more noticeable than quality. You don't notice a clean fork, but you see a dirty one. Similarly, a potential customer may not notice how clean a salesman's hands are, but will be put off if they are dirty.

The same principle applies to every communication your business puts in front of the public, from a website to a letter to an invoice to a billboard to a print or electronic media advertisement. Flaws and errors will be noticed. They will scream, "Low Quality!" at the recipient.

It is true that many people will shrug off an occasional error as "only natural," and not let it influence their response. This is a good thing, since absolute perfection is almost unattainable. The problem is that tolerance for errors varies from person to person, and with each error, more people reach their tolerance limit. In general, every error reduces the number of potential sales.

Maybe you cannot personally control every salesman's sales pitch, and every manufacturing process, and every statement sent to a customer, but you can control or help to control errors. If you are the head of the business, you can demand quality control procedures and reports. If, like most people, you are situated within the company, you can point out errors when you see them and demand that they be corrected. After all, lower sales reduce your job security.

Here is something anyone working in a business can do: Proofread. Make sure your own letters go out without spelling errors. Look over your company website and point out any errors on it to the person who can correct them. Read your company literature and do the same thing. If you are in the accounting department, make sure customer names and addresses are spelled correctly and if not, fix them. Everyone in a business deals with printed words at some point. Everyone can proofread those words.

Show this article to the head of the business, the owner or CEO or Chairman of the Board, and request that some kind of procedure be set up so anyone in the business can submit an "error report" about anything they notice in the business, whether or not it is in their department. These error reports should go to a specific person whose job it is to make sure the error is corrected as a high-priority action, with a copy of the report going to that person's senior (generally the head of the company or very close to it) so it cannot be shuffled under a rug.

A custodian notices that a shipment went out with a misspelled word stamped on the carton. The custodian telling the shipping department about it probably won't result in any change in procedure, and a similar error will happen again. Only someone in authority can demand a change in procedure, which may be as simple as an extra line on the shipping report attesting that the carton stamps have been proofread and are correct. Then if it happens again, whoever attested to those carton stamps can be corrected so they understand the importance of the action, and it won't happen a third time.

All errors are preventable. In most cases, simply double-checking and attesting to quality is sufficient to prevent errors. Proofreading errors are some of the easiest to prevent, which is great, because they are also some of the most costly to make.

Any business that allows any proofreading error found on its website to go uncorrected, or that allows any advertisement or other communication to reach the public with a spelling or grammar error in it, should start looking for more competent management or resign itself to lackluster sales and eventual failure.

Most businesses should at least consider adding a professional proofreading service on a retainer basis, for day-to-day communications, for manuals and for promotional products. Excellent professional proofreading may not be dirt-cheap, but it is far less expensive than the lost sales caused by its absence.

 Don Dewsnap works with Writer Services www.writerservices.net in providing proofreading, writing, editing and other services to publishers, businesses and writers. You can email him at [email protected]