Poor Writing Costing Businesses $30,000/Week, Survey Finds

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - Sept. 16, 2014 - PRLog -- According to a survey of managers in a variety of businesses, poor writing and inarticulate communications are costing businesses almost $30,000 per week, or over $1 million per year. The survey showed that both internal and outgoing communications were responsible for causing confusion that resulted in lost sales and work hours. Experts agree that if current trends continue, it will only get worse.

Pete Geissler, a writing and communications consultant located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, said, “Bad writing costs big money: in lost sales, in lost work hours, in bad contracts, in disgruntled customers. They’re absolute subtractions from the top and bottom lines — lost revenues and profits.”

The director of internal communications at a Fortune 500 company commiserated, “I could relate countless examples of communications from top executives that misdirected entire divisions, which resulted in staggering drops in productivity and profitability.” The director of a nationwide consulting firm attested that “poor writing has lost contracts and lost opportunities to negotiate premium prices on contracts already in house.” The CEO of a small manufacturing firm said that “between lost contracts and customers, I fear that poor writing could cost us our business!” One survey respondent averred, “If we could eliminate all poor writing, we could double our earnings!”

Mr. Geissler said that there is good news among the bad. “As horrendous and unnecessary as these costs are, they can easily be converted to profits with good, articulate writing and speaking, skills that any engaged employee can learn.”

Pete Geissler taught professional/technical writing at Duquesne and Carnegie Mellon Universities, the Engineers’ Society of Western Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh Technology Council, and various consulting and manufacturing companies. His book, The Power of Being Articulate: Your Words Can Make You Wealthy and Happy, demonstrates conclusively that quality writing and speaking are keys to success in business and life. It is available in bookstores and for sales in bulk to businesses from the publisher.