How Covid-19 Jump-Started Innovations to Supply Chain Logistics

Why You Should Hire A Freelance Copywriter

25/5/2022

You Don’t Have Enough Time To Market Your Business

Marketing your logistics company takes up all the time you have. You’ve put in place systems and procedures that regulate how things get done. You delegate functions and responsibilities to your staff, and, as a senior executive, you oversee the operation.

You hardly have time to consider promoting your business, gathering more customers and securing more sales. Without presenting your products and services to the outside world you will lose ground to the competition that is hungrily seeking to acquire your share of the market.

The perennial problem every Marketing Director faces is how to fit all that into the operating regime. For the small or medium-sized company, setting up an in-house marketing department is often out of the question. To outsource the work to an advertising agency can be costly too, and you will usually be required to commit financially to a term contract.

You could, of course, draw up promotional material in-house. That will achieve a result, because your staff would be qualified to write grammatical English without spelling, punctuation or typographical mistakes. (So long as the written material is styled appropriately and is thoroughly edited and proofread — and that’s not a simple task).

But there are consequences that flow from that arrangement:

firstly, it is not an effective use of specialist staff that they are engaged in company matters outside their immediate specialisms;

secondly, the opportunity costs of diverting specialist staff from their intended duties to undertake tasks of a different specialism are high.

You Need A Trained Specialist

You studied and trained to obtain your qualifications. You have put in a mountain of effort to acquire the knowledge and skills to market your company. It will have taken you years to gain sufficient experience to reach the position you now hold.

Copywriting too requires study, training and practise. It is a craft and a specialism.
Whoever seeks to be a copywriter must have a keen interest in words and writing — writing of a particular kind. Not the prose of a novelist or the reportage of the journalist.

In fact, to compile text for a business that is both promotional and informative is to combine the novel’s imaginative story-telling with the journal’s objective, accurate and credible fact-telling. It should also be striking in order to attract and retain the reader’s attention, and persuasive where the aim is to turn the reader into a purchaser.

That requires an ability to instill text with power and an understanding of the appropriate writing style for the assignment at hand, and for the particular business client.

Text for a website page that seeks to sell to the visitor differs from that in an informative email or newsletter.

Different again, is a white paper that describes a new product with objectivity and proof; or a case study recording a purchaser’s success story of how the company’s services helped overcome problems that had remained unresolved and had affected performance.

So, what is the solution?

The Freelance Copywriter Can Help Build Your Business

Supply chain and logistics businesses today, both large companies and small enterprises, are finding that hiring a good freelance copywriter provides a satisfactory solution to achieving effective business promotion — either to supplement an existing team or as a responsive, flexible and cost-effective means of preparing business material as and when required.

The independent copywriter offers a number of advantages over the in-house or agency alternatives:

the freelancer gives a personal service and is approachable;

the freelancer is responsive and offers a flexible service that can more easily be tailored to the particular needs of the client company;

the freelancer offers exceptional value for money because he or she need be hired only when required, thus avoiding those overheads associated with fixed employment or the rigid terms advertising agencies seek.

the freelancer offers a single point of contact when queries arise; and the solo entrepreneur possesses a business sense that will please you.

Treat the freelance copywriter as a guide who can lead you in the direction of marketing success. In the final analysis, it will by your message that will go out to the market. The freelance copywriter can craft that message on your behalf and will focus on furthering the interests of the company.

Nick Fielden Copywriter www.nickfielden.com.au

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How Covid-19 Jump-Started Innovations to Supply Chain Logistics

5/2/2021

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An Industry Unprepared for the Unprecedented

Of course, during the year 2020 there came severe disruption before improvements were brought about. And before the disruption there was nothing to prepare companies to make the immediate and necessary adjustments that covid-19 compelled them to introduce.

Nevertheless, and fortunately, it’s also true to say the laggards were in the minority. Indeed, what has impressed many commentators, and has caused some to write lyrically of the resilience of the global logistics sector, has been the often imaginative response of businesses in the face of unprecedented challenges to their operations imposed by a deadly virus.

Perhaps what has been most striking about the coronavirus’s appearance on the international stage has been the immediacy of its effect on global supply chains. Never smooth-moving of their own accord, these complex, necessarily diverse networks have always required tweaking to achieve flexibility. Suddenly, however, a viral spanner was thrown in the works, fracturing all current systems put in place to achieve planned and regular freight delivery.

The constraints, lockdowns, closures, prohibitions, and widespread strictures imposed by bewildered governments all contributed to a state of growing arbitrariness. Temporary port closures resulted in en-route consignments being delayed or rerouted from their intended destinations. Passenger flights were cancelled willy-nilly, resulting in severely reduced belly-freight capacity. Customs clearance times lengthened as border-control protocols were more strictly enforced. The imposition of physical distancing, hygiene practices and sanitisation regimes caused initial uncertainty and inconsistency between businesses, and sectors within supply chains.

There was initial confusion amongst road transport hauliers when the Government of Western Australia eventually introduced its ‘Covid Safety Guidelines — Transport, Freight and Logistics’ in August 2020, some 5 months after WHO had declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic.

The newly introduced safety rules required freight and logistics workers to attend for covid-19 testing within 48 hours of entering Western Australia, if they had not been tested in the previous 5 days. Thereafter, they should be tested every 7 days. Helpfully, the Guidelines omitted to include the locations of official testing sites, although a contact number was given where further advice could be sought.

Suddenly, logistics businesses had to think even more quickly on their feet. They immediately needed to secure new and diversified supply chain routes, to accommodate expanded demand and changes in end-consumer behavior; they needed to think even more laterally and, at the same time, to keep costs under control.

Is This the Start of a New Beginning?

As I write, there are indicators, both actual and seasonally adjusted, of a November 2020 upswing, year-on-year, in both worldwide air cargo levels (1.6%)1 and the new export orders component of the PMs’ Index (3%)1. Pre-Christmas shopping led to strong sales (up 5% yoy)1, especially online transactions.

These are, of course, to be expected, and include additional retail ‘events’ such as Black Friday (principally in the U.S. but also now amongst European and other western consumers) and Singles’ Day in China. Without doubt, the news is heartening at a time of much uncertainty and insecurity, both economic and political.

Those encouraging figures, together with other supporting data generally, have strengthened the hand of a growing cohort who seek to gainsay the pessimists in the freight forwarding and logistics arena. The doomsday protagonists forecast a major economic decline in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic. They prophesy the end of globalization itself, no less.

In the vanguard of the optimists is Dr. Harry G. Broadman2. In the 30th June 2020 edition of Forbes magazine he states, of globalization’s purported decline, “That is a myth”. He goes on to argue that, on the contrary, covid-19’s origins in China, and that country’s lockdown to prevent further spread of the virus, have acted as a catalyst for innovation.

These events have had the effect, he said of “spurring businesses around the world to further diversify international supply chains, to re-double their efforts to mitigate risks while continuing to exploit opportunities across global markets”.

Broadman sees technological innovation, such as ‘the internet of things’ (IoT) (through which every-day devices communicate with one another) and digitalization, as adding value to existing, traditional logistics firms and as the saviour of the logistics sector.

At the same time, he reminds the reader to appreciate the resilience of established enterprises: he reminds us that while digital logistics technology companies are more light-footed and innovative than their traditional counterparts, the latter are long on industry expertise, are experienced at cultivating and nurturing trust with their customers, and have long-standing partnerships with other actors.

Broadman is not alone, and other ‘cup-half-full’ business strategists see a bright future for the logistics and freight-forwarding sector. A renaissance, even. They argue that control of operating costs is the paramount key to business survival and subsequent success. They see technological improvement as the means to streamline business operations and to keep a lid on costs. They cite vehicle tracking as an example.

A logistics business, whether large or small, with a fleet of haulage trucks can benefit hugely from introducing a system of automated data collection relating to vehicle usage. This would include recording fuel consumption in real-time combined with gps-based vehicle identification and location.

By these two means alone, each vehicle’s delivery itinerary can be planned according to the shortest, least congested and speediest route, thereby saving fuel and vehicle maintenance costs. It would also facilitate additional deliveries, thereby increasing productivity and, again, effectively reducing costs.

The same data can give insights in to driver behaviour and driving style, both of which can have a bearing on fuel consumption. In those circumstances, additional driver training can be given, for the benefit of both the business and the employee/contractor.

In summary, therefore, we see that an unintended (but welcome) consequence of the covid-19 pandemic has been an upsurge in logistical digitalization and technological innovation that together promise a healthy future for the freight forwarding and logistics sector, and for cargo transportation and delivery generally. The extent to which that future is realized will, of course, be the subject of ongoing interest and debate.

1 © International Air Transport Association (IATA), 2019. Air Cargo Market Analysis, November 2020. All Rights Reserved. Available on IATA Economics page.

2 Harry G. Broadman in Forbes magazine, ‘Digitalization Is Upending Global Logistics, Now Augmented by Covid-19’s Social Distancing Imperative’, dated 30/6/2020.

Dr.Broadman is, amongst other things, a global business strategist. He has served as the lead U.S. negotiator for the establishment of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) (which covers cross-border transactions for all services sectors) as part of the founding of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 1995, and earlier when he had the analogous role for the negotiation of the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

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Selling to Another Business — Why Copywriting is the Key

10/1/2015

Business-to-Business Marketing Communications

I’ll start by describing what business-to-business (B2B) marketing communications do. Broadly, they are the means by which a business promotes the sale of its product or service to other companies who need that product or service in the course of their own business operations.

B2B marketing communications range from advertisements and direct-mail packages to white papers, case studies, emails and the company’s website. And press releases.

They underpin direct sales by seeking to generate ‘leads’ (ie enquiries arising from the B2B marketing material) that the company’s sales representatives can then pursue to turn the ‘lead’ into a purchase.

There is an important characteristic of B2B marketing that distinguishes it from business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing, as occurs in the retail trade. That is the importance of informing and educating the prospective business purchaser (‘the prospect”) about the product rather than constructing a sales pitch that relies on hyperbole.

Why the distinction? Well, your business prospect will not be persuaded by a sales headline such as, “The Acme water pump would have solved all Noah’s problems.” If the pump is a component in the prospect’s own product then you can rest assured he or she knows just as much about its required features as you do, and what level of performance to expect.

There are also matters such as the size of expenditure likely to be involved, and that business purchases are always subject to budget considerations that are usually decided upon by more than one individual in the prospect’s company.

So you need to address the business prospect on level terms. You need to impress him or her with accurate, detailed technical information that can be backed-up:

First, explain to the prospect the purpose the product will serve and what problems it will solve.

Next, you must point out the advantages and benefits the product offers, thus improving business performance and (equally important) making the prospect more effective. (See more below).

Then describe in detail the product's features (ie what it's made of and how it works) in order to explain how your product manages to solve problems better than the competition.

Finally, persuade the business prospect of what you say by proof — test results, reviews, testimonials by customers.

This question of evidence to support your claims for the product or service is frequently overlooked in the promotion exercise. The more factual data you can produce to verify the merits and qualities of your product, the greater your Company’s credibility and the more likely your business prospect will be persuaded to consider a purchase.

Why Copywriting is the Key to Business Marketing

The Dual Personality of the Business Buyer

Let’s say, for instance, that you are the Warehouse Manager of a medium-sized wholesale distribution business. You are sitting at your desk. The company MD has agreed a budget for the purchase of a fleet of new forklift trucks in the warehouse. You have been assigned the task of presenting three alternative vehicle-types to the Finance Director, with a recommendation for one of them.

What are the thoughts going through your head? What are the problems, requirements and preferences associated with running the warehouse that come to play when you consider this new acquisition?

To begin with, I imagine that you will approach the matter from both the company’s view point and from your own. You will have business priorities and personal priorities, each of which you will apply when considering the pros and cons of any particular vehicle model.

Your first concern, of course, will be to ensure the company benefits from the purchase. (After all, your future within the company will probably depend on it.) But you will also be seeking opportunities to either improve your own efficiency or to make your duties less onerous.

For instance, you may not recommend a forklift that is priced attractively and has an improved load-bearing capacity if it is less easy to handle than the existing forklifts or if your drivers require lengthy retraining. These latter factors will impinge on your operating budget, and you will also have to placate your disgruntled warehouse staff.

In this sense, you possess a dual personality — you will look to ensure the purchase of new the equipment produces a balance of benefits to both your employer and to yourself as manager.

This essential piece of perceptive understanding is not widely recognised. That is why only a well-trained copywriter is capable of preparing promotional business material that is effectively persuasive.

To overlook the split-mindset of the business buyer, by focusing on a product’s benefits to the company alone, means that only half of the concerns that prey on the buyer’s mind will have been addressed. Such an oversight might mean the difference between a sale and a missed opportunity.

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What I Do First - to Make Your Business Look Great

21/10/2014

Collaboration First and Foremost

It comes as a surprise to many business owners to learn that the act of composing a written assignment takes up no more than a third of the copywriter’s time, and sometimes less. By the time I sit down at my keyboard to compile the text of an email, a case study, brochure, newsletter or white paper the bulk of my work has already been completed.

I will have spent much time consulting with the client's experts accumulating a wealth of background information about the company, the project in hand, the product or service to be promoted, the target buyer, the expected result of the project, and more.

In other words, what takes up most of the copywriter’s time is the research, the interviews and other information-gathering — even to understanding the style and tone of the written material that the client company prefers.

Get To Know The Client Company and The Project

My first task is to learn about my client Company. This includes becoming familiar with the industry within which it operates, its structure, its ethos and how the Company management pictures the enterprise itself.

My initial step will be to meet an executive or senior manager who possesses experience of working in the Company and who associates closely with it. He or she will be able to give me an overview of the Company and its activities. I will also need to learn the tone of the Company’s ‘voice’ in its written documentation. If a style-guide exists, this should give me a good idea of what syntax and English usage the company prefers.

My next step will be to interview those members of staff who are most intimately involved in the project — the experts who can describe with most clarity and depth what features the product possesses, and what benefits flow from those features. Does the product have a unique attribute that distinguishes it from the competition? How has the product performed during its trials, and what problems have arisen? What steps has the Company taken to overcome those problems? What customer support does the Company offer post-purchase, and what warranties are attached to the product?

There will be a host of additional enquiries I will need to make, of which the major ones are:

What is the nature of the project?

What copywriting assignments will the project include — perhaps a combined press release, product brochure and white paper?

Will the Company engage a graphic designer? (The design and layout aspects of the promotional document are best assigned to a specialist).

Who is the targeted readership

Has there been a similar project in the past? What were the results? (I shall need access to the documentation relating to the earlier project).

What is the subject-matter of the project — the product or service?

Has its development been fully completed?

Do I need to consult with any other experts to fully understand the nature of the project and its subject-matter?

What are the anticipated results of the project?

What is the deadline for the project campaign, and how soon before that deadline will the finalised copy be required?

Research and Research

The copywriter needs to acquire as much knowledge about the product as possible in the time available before the deadline for the copy’s submission. The project team can suggest sources of information from within the Company where internal memos, technical documents, product specifications, engineering drawings, business and marketing plans, reports and proposals reside.

Where the product is a further development of an existing model, there will be plentiful sources of data, reviews, customer feedback and trade articles outside the Company.

An acquired familiarity with the product enables the copywriter to describe with greater technical detail and competence its features, new or improved, and the corresponding benefits to the user. When writing the promotional text, I will need to substantiate with hard evidence whatever claims I make about the product or service. When independent reviewers have tested it and have objectively assessed its utility, those views will carry weight in the eyes of prospective buyers and will add credence to my white paper, email or brochure.

The Product Document

As a general rule, and regardless of the nature of the promotional material to be written, my copy will contain references to the following aspects of the product or service:

Purpose. Its name, and a description of its function.

Features. Components and their uses, especially innovations that give an advantage in efficiency, running costs, performance, safety and environmental impact.

Benefits. The advantages to the user, especially those that are unique. These give added value to the product’s features compared with the competition.

Compatibility. The ease with which the product operates within existing systems and regimes, and the extent to which the product avoids any associated operating changes.

Stand-Alone Operation. The extent and degree to which the product functions without the need for ‘optional extras’. If add-ons are required for improved performance, is the product available in configurations that include them?

Trial Usage. If the Company offers to demonstrate the product’s uses, mode of operation, safety features and requirements, the prospect will need to know what arrangements have been put in place.

Cost. The price to be paid for the standard model, and the differences in price dependent on early or postponed settlement, or by instalments. Similarly, for variant models.

Method of Purchase. If the purchase is online, what is the website address? It should contain a detailed enquiry form to facilitate the purchase. If through the sales department, the Company should give the name and contact details of the person responsible. The product name and number should be stated, together with any discount code. The aim is to make the purchase procedure as trouble-free as possible.

I Am An Equal-Opportunity Copywriter

I apply the same degree of application, thoroughness and attention to detail, no matter whether I am writing text for a fold-over brochure or a white paper of 10,000 words. Size does not matter, as far as I am concerned; and that applies to my Company client as well. I wish to do the very best that I can whether I have been hired by a publicly-listed company or a small family business.

The greater the effort I apply in garnering background information and understanding the product or service, the stronger and more credible will be my copy. That will be good for my client, and frankly it will be good for me too. I obtain a great deal of personal satisfaction from knowing I have done my very best in compiling an informative and persuasive piece of writing, written in clear and concise English, and which is accurate and thorough. That is what providing a professional service is all about.

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Do You Know Enough About Your Customers?

15/9/2014

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The Business - Customer Relationship

I wanted to add the word ‘Recognise’ as well as ‘Know’ to the heading to this post, but then I realised I could go on and also add ‘Understand’. If I did so, that would turn the headline into a questionnaire. Nevertheless, each of those words does represent an element of a strategy that a business needs to implement in order to succeed.

You can look at it this way - every business depends for its success on acquiring and then cultivating its customers or clients. To do so requires establishing and developing relationships with them. That involves knowing, recognising and understanding each one. It is not enough to draw up a ‘customer service’ policy that sets out the standards by which the business will carry out its work. As necessary as such a policy is, it overlooks how the company will acknowledge and treat the individual customer. I make this point because, from my own experience as a solo entrepreneur, I recognise it is not always understood how necessary it is to regularly reach out to your customers or clients in order to keep attuned to their expectations and requirements.

Nurturing and Cultivating

I am not suggesting that a business is unlikely to recognise the connection between its customer-base and profitability. What I am seeking to emphasise is that you should recognise the importance of focusing upon your customers or clients in a selective way. They do not comprise a homogeneous group. If they did, the task of maintaining a relationship with them would be made easy - you would need only to establish a simple, unsophisticated program of identical direct emails and newsletters.

But that won’t do in a world of wider and instant information-gathering, where it has become so important for a business to distinguish itself from the competition. It is of little purpose to claim superior expertise because quality standards are rising in all spheres generally. Do you rely on your heritage and your established reliability? That’s ok if you have a history of good work, but it does not assist the recent start-up. In any event, proof of past performance is not a guarantee for the future.

How then to spotlight your special strengths? The simple truth is that people welcome attention and useful information that is given on a regular basis. Let your business be known for maintaining an informative and enquiring relationship with your clients. Be the business that most actively seeks feedback about how you met your client’s expectations. Make a point of enquiring about what other services he or she might look for in the future. Differentiate between clients according to their wants and expectations, and by doing so you will nurture and cultivate a fuller relationship. Keep your clients informed of your services or products and what initial assistance or advice you can offer without charge.

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Writing Clearly Is Not Always Plain and Simple

24/8/2014

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Introduction

The Plain Language Advocates group in LinkedIn has recently been discussing the absence of plain English in legal documents. The legal profession, of course, is renowned in every culture worldwide for the convoluted language it uses in its writings. It is accused of seeking to obscure from the general public what it really means to say by employing legalese and Latin maxims not generally known to the man-in-the-street.

If I was to suggest this is a mistaken belief and that the lawyers are badly maligned, I would probably be rounded upon with howls of derision. In part, those howls would be justified. But only to an extent. Certainly, verbose and convoluted language is difficult to read, and any author is duty-bound to aid the reader in understanding his text.

Simplicity -v- Accuracy

However, the law draftsman often faces a dilemma when having to choose between simplicity and accuracy. What is written simply can easily fail to provide a fully comprehensive statement about a legal matter despite its appearing to be comprehensible. By that I mean everyday expressions, when used in a legal context, can have a definition both wider and more subtle than a layman might believe. So the lawyer must ensure that, when confronted with expressions that possess a common meaning and at the same time hold a specific legal constitution, he takes the precaution of expanding on the colloquial usage to encompass its full legal significance.

For Instance...

To illustrate what I mean, I have taken two words from the current Consumer Affairs Act of Western Australia, which covers matters relating to consumer protection. The words are in common usage but within the Act each has a prescribed meaning, which either goes beyond what is generally understood or includes matters that might surprise you. They are:

· Supply (of goods)

Under the Act supply has the usual and expected meanings associated with the word in everyday speech, such as to sell, exchange, lease and hire. In addition, it also includes the ‘exhibition’ of goods for sale, exchange, etc.

In other words, when a motor dealer places a car in his showroom for people to view and admire he is understood to supply the car to a viewer. I doubt very much whether the regular driver realised his car had been supplied to him before he had chosen it. But for the purposes of consumer protection it is thought better for the meaning of supply to encompass wider acts by a seller than is commonly used. This is a benefit to the consumer. But for a lawyer who advises a client who displays his goods to the public, the legal interpretation of the word under the Act poses an obligation to go beyond merely simple language

· Consumer

We are all consumers at one time or another, in the sense of acquiring goods and services, and the Act includes such persons who purchase, hire or lease, or borrow money to do those things. In addition, the Act includes house buyers and tenants.

What might not be understood by the average shop keeper or real estate agent is that the Act envisages a potential consumer falling within the consumer ranks.

Now I have not practiced consumer protection law, but I imagine the courts of Western Australia have taken it upon themselves to explain what constitutes a potential consumer. Perhaps he or she is a ‘browser’ inside the shop inspecting the goods on display or a ‘window shopper’, or merely someone who has the thought of buying something. I don’t know. Clearly the Act casts its ‘consumer’ net widely, and the advisory lawyer to a business man who serves consumers would be wise to ensure his client knows the full extent of the net.

It's A Two-Step Process, Not One

It seems to me that the debate surrounding the legal profession and its avoidance of plain, lucid language has focused too much on the errant use of legalese. So long as ‘affidavit’, ‘ultra vires’, ‘heretofore’ ‘ lodgement of claim’ and the like are off the page and have been replaced with simple words more generally understood, it seems to be argued that all will be well.

I hope I have illustrated that this is a simplistic approach. I believe a further, simultaneous step needs to be taken – an acknowledgement that within legalese lies the essential meaning of the law because it bears the recognition of the courts, and that simplicity of language alone is not the key to a proper understanding of its intent.

If I may suggest an IT analogy, legalese is akin to the HTML code used to build a website. Its transformation into the text and other webpage content is the plain, clear language that we all wish to read. You don’t see the code because it is hidden, but it is essential to the creation of the webpage and without it there would be nothing to read.

Nick Fielden Copywriter

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Written Clarity

1/6/2014

Introduction

If you have something to say, a message you wish to pass to another, it is unwise to muddy your text with words that obscure their meaning. Words need to be chosen for the ease with which the reader understands them. Don't use words that are ambiguous or stilted, stiff or pompous — they will not be received sympathetically. A reader does not willingly read what lacks the simple facts that plain clarity contains.

A Clear Message Gives A Focused Image

Expressions that confirm clear diction or clear meaning are enthusiastic. They emphasise the positive: the wireless operator shouts enthusiastically that he hears you loud and clear; that there was no disturbance over the airwaves, that there was no interference in the signal. “Message received and understood.” - the procedure was a success because each aspect, every component was clear.

The same applies to the visual. A photograph is said to be picture-perfect if it depicts exactly what the viewer anticipates. The picture he visualised in his head is confirmed by the recorded image. True, a photograph may not represent reality – it may even deceive – but with perfect focus it exposes itself to scrutiny, and the deception may well be self-revealing.

An idea contained within an image must be as clear as daylight. The viewer is anxious to understand, to obtain meaning, inspiration and knowledge. He would like to say, “I see what you mean”. He wants to get it.

Familiarity Breeds Comprehension

On the page, an idea is contained in the written words. Each one of those words serves its individual purpose. Its role is to contribute to the totality of the idea. If any word is misused or is out of place, it clouds the intended meaning.

A sentence, a paragraph or a chapter can be misjudged or misinterpreted if the words chosen by the writer are not readily picked up by the reader. The words must be familiar. The reader must feel at home with them if he is to read on. The writer is therefore only a word or two, a sentence at most, from losing his reader’s willingness, his desire, to continue. Plain writing instills comprehension which, when you think about it, is what a reader expects before all else.

By either the voice or the written word, we rely on clarity to comprehend. Your website message, your newsletter, email or your brochure must be crafted so it is understood as you intended. Its structure, its content, its emphasis must all be apparent on first reading.

There is no room for doubt on the web. The reader rapidly scans your page, flicking through the text. What you give him to absorb must be unambiguous - in that way the written text will throw light on an empty space.

Craft Your Message With One Reader In Mind

Here is the most important thing to recognise – your words, carefully chosen for their precision, must also be written for your particular reader. He will usually be a layman, unfamiliar with the technical language of your profession or specialism. He or she will feel uncomfortable, intimidated even, by a writing style that contains jargon. Jargon is not user-friendly. It is the 'slang' of the specialist, and it is with the specialist that it should remain. Your reader needs to feel at home in your company; do not make him feel a stranger.

This can be difficult to accept, I know. The use of plain, common and ordinary words to convey your message can seem a poor relation to the language with which a professional is familiar. After all, you may argue, my business is not ordinary, in the sense that it is not understood widely and commonly. How can I persuade a prospective client that I am a skilled professional if I explain myself in words of common usage?

The answer is that unless you do speak to your prospective client on equal terms, very soon you will alienate him. He or she may imagine they are compelled to accept advice conveyed in language they do not fully understand. But as soon as they learn of a competitor of yours who does speak without technicalities or terms of art, you will find you have lost them. Your client will appreciate your professionalism when you demonstrate you know how plain words are the best communicators.

Nick Fielden

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Remote Working For Professional Businesses

23/5/2014

How Green Strategies Can Help Keep You In The Black

Introduction

Remote access technologies exist that perform various tasks for businesses both large and small. They enable branch offices to utilise systems at the head office; mobile staff can access and upload information from remote locations such as a hotel room or the client’s office; they can also allow staff to work remotely from home and access documents, emails and applications on the company’s server.

Green Strategies and Employee Benefits of Remote Working

In the same way remote access technologies can provide software service support without the need for a technician to drive to the client’s location, so your staff can remain at their domestic or other work station.

A staff member who leaves the car parked in the carport is doing a favour to the planet by helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and airborne particulate pollution. One less vehicle on the freeway to the city is one step towards reducing congestion. Multiplied hundreds of times by other business employees staying off the road helps reduce the stress of driving suffered by other commuters. Travel time and fuel costs are saved; the vehicle will incur less wear and tear; parts will require replacement less often and visits to the service station will be less frequent.

There is a general consensus in the business world and among researchers that those who undertake remote working enjoy benefits to their well-being not shared by their office-bound colleagues. These include:

A less hectic start to the working day. The commute to work, by either private or public transport, costs the employee both time, money and a degree of aggravation that only increases as the freeways and the trains or buses become more congested over time. To be spared that commute allows the remote worker to enjoy enhanced freedom from stress, which can only prepare him better for the day’s labours ahead. He or she will also enjoy more time with spouse and children or, if single, he or she will enjoy more flexibility in arranging time with friends.

Working hours for the remote employee can become more flexible, so he or she is not subject to clock-constrained periods of attendance in the office. So long as the necessary work is completed in a timely fashion, it matters little to the company when that work was carried out. Meanwhile, the employee may deal with unexpected events on the domestic front. If he needs to sit at the computer at night or in the early morning in order to make up time, there is no difficulty in doing so. As a consequence the employee manages to juggle office and domestic matters in a co-ordinated way that minimises stress and utilises available time more efficiently.

Staff who are more stress-free and relaxed tend to be more motivated in their work. Not only is this a benefit to the employer, but, as I imagine all of us recognise, if we look forward to doing a good a job to the best of our ability we complete the task with a sense of satisfaction. This can only add to one’s sense of well-being.

While staff well-being might not at first appear to fall within ‘green’ benefits, it is surely true that a more contented and motivated employee, who is spared the ordeal of commuting, will require fewer visits to the GP on account of stress and stress-related illnesses. That means a smaller call on resources required to counter that stress or other illness, such as the prescribing of medicines, blood tests, scans, etc. All these procedures consume finite resources that will be saved if an employee’s working regime is conducive to greater health.

Benefits of Remote Working for The Employer

Improved Productivity

Typically, commuters in developed countries spend over an hour per working day travelling to and from their workplace. According to studies in 2011 by the OECD and United States Census Bureau (as reported in The Economist magazine) your staff-member who walks from his or her kitchen to the study to turn on the computer will have already spent an extra 6.25% working time than his commuting colleagues when they sit down at their desks. (This assumes the remote employee continues working until the office staff leave after an 8-hour working day). In fact, remote staff stationed at home are less likely to be clock-watchers, and more concerned with finishing the task in hand.

In 2013 Stanford University conducted a study of Shanghai call-centre staff working from home. (Does Working From Home Work? Evidence From A Chinese Experiment ). The study found that staff productivity increased beyond the mere extra hours worked. According to the study paper.

The performance of the home workers went up dramatically, increasing by 13% over the nine months of the experiment. This improvement came mainly from a 9% increase in the number of minutes they worked during their shifts (i.e., the time they were logged in to take calls). This was due to a reduction in breaks and sick-days taken by the home workers. The remaining 4% improvement came from home workers increasing the number of calls per minute worked. In interviews the workers attributed this gain to the quieter working conditions at home.

Reduced Employee Attrition

One of the reasons the Chinese company was interested in the study was because the turnover rate among call-centre staff had consistently remained around 50% per year, which was typical of the call centre industry in China. Training a new worker cost about six weeks’ salary, and there were additional costs of advertising, and vetting and interviewing new employees. Shortly after the commencement of the study, the attrition rate among remote workers fell below that of office-bound staff, and the difference was statistically significant. By the end of the experiment, the total attrition rate among the remote workers (17%) was less than half of that among the other staff (35%).

On the other side of the same coin there is a related benefit to the employer: the market for potential employees grows considerably if the job will be carried out remotely; distance from home to place of work is no longer a consideration for the prospective employee. This not only gives the employer a greater selection of candidates but provides the opportunity to single out more who are highly qualified. With a larger pool of job-seekers to choose from, the number of elite candidates is likely to increase proportionately.

Reduced Fixed Overheads

Staff who work from home do not occupy office space, thus enabling the company, upon lease renewal, to either rent a smaller area of space or (if permitted) to sublet the freed-up office area. Savings in rental and building management charges can be significant for companies in prime locations.

There will commensurate savings in the cost of office furniture and equipment, utilities, stationery, building taxes and even cleaning expenses. Of course, the additional costs incurred by the employee working from home will need to be reimbursed by the company. These would include:

obtaining authority for the home to be used in part for business purposes, and any associated increase in domestic taxes;
a proportion of any rent paid by the employee, or equivalent rental value;
any increased home and contents insurance premiums on account of the business use;
increased utility and heating costs;
a charge for use of the employee’s equipment and furniture.

No doubt the company would seek to offset these charges against the savings in travel costs to the employee.

Some Disadvantages of Remote Working

While I have emphasised the benefits of remote working, there are nevertheless some potential disadvantages for both the employer and employee:

productivity will not necessarily improve if the employee is found to be inadequately self-disciplined when unsupervised. This problem, however, can be quickly identified by the use of tracking and recording software that monitors when the employee is active on the computer, and stores data that will translate into productivity figures.
an employee who, having been accustomed to the company of office colleagues, may find the solitary life of a remote worker to be a lonely existence. Some staff need the proximity of others to motivate them in their work. Where creativity is an important element in the operations of a department, staff may well function at a higher level of motivation and imagination if they are in the company of others whom they can bounce ideas off. An otherwise imaginative employee could find his or her inventiveness drying up if left without the stimulus that the company and co-operation of like-minded colleagues offers. Here, technology will not be of much help. Instead, the departmental head must closely and personally monitor any such member of staff to ensure lethargy or discontedness doesn’t creep in.
security of company information and statistics may be at risk. Again, technology can come to the rescue - for instance, confidential documents can be encrypted so that only staff with the necessary key can decode the contents.

Summary

Remote working can be a revitalising innovation for a small business. For some companies it rapidly has a positive effect on output, and offers tangible cost savings so that revenue figures increase and invigorate the balance sheet bottom line. For others, the promise of improved staff morale and an upward drive in the company’s performance may not materialise, not in the short term at least.

It would be wise for the decision-makers to take a cautionary approach. Most important of all, the company should take active steps to ensure that the views of all those who will be involved in the change of working arrangements are listened to. It will involve a confidence-building exercise on the part of management.

However, no matter how limited or otherwise the scheme is initially, it is fair to say
remote working will increasingly grow as a game-changing and flexible way of running a small business.

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Nick Fielden Copywriter www.nickfielden.com.au

Plain Language

15/4/2014

The Hallmark Of A Controversial English Judge
Who Would Not Allow The Law To Get In The Way Of Justice

A brief introduction to the background and character of the man, the subject of this piece, would be useful I think.

He deserves more space than I devote to him here as he was a man of contrasts: of incongruous libertarianism while prejudiced against early black immigrants sitting as jurors (he suspected they lacked familiarity with English customs and culture) ; he was a stuffy conservative who upheld the property rights of unmarried couples. Where he saw fit he was a contrarian fighting for the rights of the ordinary man, especially when disadvantaged by social or financial circumstances.

If he observed a defect in the law that caused injustice, he did not hesitate to contrive a well-reasoned argument for overturning it. Above all, he wished to make the law understandable by the use of precise and plain English.

It is seldom that the name of an English judge is, in his day, as well known as those of politicians and celebrities. Indeed, Lord Denning, Master of the Rolls, was a celebrity. What’s more, it was a status he did not shy from.

He first came to public recognition during the Profumo Affair of the early 1960s. This notorious scandal involved a Harley Street osteopath, Stephen Ward, who introduced a Government Minister, John Profumo, for sex with a young attractive woman, Christine Keeler; and a Soviet Naval Attaché, Captain Yevgeny Ivanoy, who was in a relationship with Keeler.

Profumo lied to the British Parliament about the affair and, when found out, was forced to resign in a storm of espionage and scapegoating. The osteopath, Ward, was charged with living off immoral earnings (of which there was scant evidence). When giving testimony in the trial the young woman, Keeler, revelled in the publicity, denouncing her erstwhile sugar daddy. Ward committed suicide. Some still claim it was murder by the security services and, after all these years, the matter remains unresolved and under official review. The Soviet Naval Attaché, Ivanoy, was recalled to Moscow before the tangled affair became public knowledge.

The Government appointed Denning to submit a report on the matter, concentrating on the scurrilous rumours surrounding the affair. The 70,000-word ‘Denning Report’ was published for public consumption in September 1963 and became an instant best seller.

A Brief Biography

Alfred Thompson ‘Tom’ Denning was born in the southern English county of Hampshire at the beginning of the last year of the 19th century; he died in the last year of the twentieth. As good a span of life, you might say, that any man or woman could reasonably expect and which most of us are denied. His beginnings were lowly - he was born into the family of a draper, one of six children.

Throughout his years of education and tuition Denning relied upon the award of scholarships and bursaries to take up his school place, his admission to university and to the Inns of Court to train as a barrister. He was very bright, earning separate first class degrees in pure mathematics and in law at Magdalen College, Oxford and winning top place in his Bar exams.

Denning could have avoided military service during the First World War on account of a weak heart. However, Denning was a willing recruit and successfully enlisted. He survived WW1 and on demobilisation he completed his interrupted studies at Oxford. He saw his future as a research fellow at All Souls College, Oxford but came unstuck when his pronunciation of Latin was held to be inadequate. Just as well, say many, as academia’s loss was undoubtedly the judiciary’s gain.

The judgments of Lord Denning are well worth reading because of the development of the law that he pursued in such areas as trusts, the powers of public bodies, contract and tort. He was elevated to the House of Lords, the highest court of appeal, but he soon saw the position of Law Lord as too constraining: he would sit with four fellow Lord Laws so that his individual influence was diluted. Moreover, he became frustrated with the insufficient number of cases submitted for final appeal.

When the position of Master of the Rolls became vacant he made known his willingness to ‘step down’ and put his name forward. The Master of the Rolls heads the Court of Appeal. The number of appeal cases was large and varied. Denning could choose which case to sit on, and to select the two other judges who would accompany him. He would be in the driver’s seat.

But rather than describing Lord Denning’s undoubted (and often controversial) contribution to the common law, this musing is aimed at revealing his love of plain language that spoke directly to the public without legalese, without jargon.

A Case In Point

I have chosen to reproduce verbatim a part of his judgment in a case that I have no doubt he chose deliberately to hear. It includes elements of his life that were significant to him as a Hampshire man — a rural village, the game of cricket and the importance of the local cricket club in binding a village community together.

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE

COURT OF APPEAL

ON APPEAL FROM THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE

QUEEN’S BENCH DIVISION

DURHAM DISTRICT REGISTRY

Royal Courts of Justice
6th April 1977

B e f o r e :
__________________

THE MASTER OF THE ROLLS (Lord Denning)

LORD JUSTICE GEOFFREY LANE

and

LORD JUSTICE CUMMING-BRICE

MILLER -v- JACKSON
____________________________
Crown Copyright ©

THE MASTER OF THE ROLLS: In the summer time village cricket is the delight of everyone. Nearly every village has its own cricket field where the young men play and the old men watch.

In the village of Lintz in the County of Durham they have their own ground, where they have played these last seventy years. They tend it well. The wicket area is well rolled and mown. The outfield is kept short.

It has a good club-house for the players and seats for the onlookers. The village team play there on Saturdays and Sundays. They belong to a league, competing with neighbouring villages. On other evenings after work they practice while the light lasts.

Yet now after these 70 years a Judge of the High Court has ordered that they must not play there anymore. He has issued an injunction to stop them. He has done it at the instance of a newcomer who is no lover of cricket.

This newcomer has built, or has had built for him, a house on the edge of the cricket ground which four years ago was a field where cattle grazed. The animals did not mind the cricket. But now this adjoining field has been turned into a housing estate.

The newcomer bought one of the houses on the edge of the cricket ground. No doubt the open space was a selling point. Now he complains that, when a batsman hits a six, the ball has been known to land in his garden or on or near his house. His wife has got so upset about it that they always go out at weekends. They do not go into the garden when cricket is being played. They say this is intolerable.

So they asked the Judge to stop the cricket being played. And the Judge, I am sorry to say, feels that the cricket must be stopped: with consequences, I suppose, that the Lintz cricket club will disappear. The cricket ground will be turned to some other use. I expect for more houses or a factory. The young men will turn to other things instead of cricket. The whole village will be much the poorer. And all this because of a newcomer who has just bought a house there next to the cricket ground.

I must say I am surprised the developers of the housing estate were allowed to build the houses so close to the cricket ground. No doubt they wanted to make the most of their site and put up as many houses as they could for their own profit. The planning authorities ought not to have allowed it. The houses ought to have been so sited as not to interfere with the cricket. But the houses have been built and we have to reckon with the consequences.

Denning goes on to argue a case in law:

I would, therefore, adopt this test: Is the use by the cricket club of this ground for playing cricket a reasonable use of it?

To my mind it is a most reasonable use. Just consider the circumstances. For over 70 years the game of cricket has been played on this ground to the greater benefit of the community as a whole, and to the injury of none. No one could suggest that it was a nuisance to the neighbouring owners simply because an enthusiastic batsman occasionally hit a ball out of the ground for six to the approval of the admiring onlookers.

Then I would ask: Does it suddenly become a nuisance because one of the neighbours chooses to build a house on the very edge of the ground - in such a position that it may well be struck by the ball on the rare occasion when there is a hit for six? To my mind the answer is plainly No.

The building of the house does not convert the playing of cricket into a nuisance when it was not so before. If and in so far as any damage is caused to the house or to anyone in it, it is because of the position in which it was built.

Suppose that the house had not been built by a developer, but by a private owner. He would be in much the same position as the farmer who previously put his cows in the field. He could not complain if a batsman hit a six out of the ground - and by a million to one chance- it struck a cow or even the farmer himself. He would be in no better position than a spectator at Lord’s or the Oval or at a motor rally.

At any rate, even if he could claim damages for the loss of a cow or the injury, he could not get an injunction to stop the cricket. If the private owner could not get an injunction, neither should a developer or a purchaser from him.

What impresses me about this almost lyrical judgment by Denning is that he writes in a conversational style that makes the reader feel he is addressing them alone. You could be sitting beside him while he explains events like a storyteller, in words that are clear, to the point and readily understood. You are left in no doubt why he opposes the claim by the house-owner. You may not agree with his view but you are left in no doubt why he held it.

As it happened, his fellow judges did not agree with Denning although the claim for an injunction was dismissed. Instead, the cricket club was required to pay £400 in damages for nuisance caused to the house-owner.

But Denning’s preferred outcome was, nevertheless, achieved: the Lintz cricket club was not prevented from playing on their designated cricket ground, and life in the village was to that extent allowed to continue as it had done for a century past. Most would agree, I think, that a greater justice was done.

Obituary Tributes

Denning's judgments in case after case performed the feat, achieved by no other judge, of speaking directly and compellingly to ordinary people in well-constructed and lucid prose. Concepts which lawyers had struggled to articulate, clashes of doctrine which seemed insoluble, would emerge in his judgments as crystalline statements of principle. The Guardian, Saturday 6 March 1999 14.05 AEST

Denning's style, whether in his judgments or in his books, was always simple, clear, vigorous and direct. He used short sentences in which adjectives, sometimes even verbs, were at a premium; and he liked to present the facts in the form of a story. The Telegraph 12:01AM GMT 06 Mar 1999

_______________________________________

Lord Irvine of Lairg then Lord Chancellor, said that the name
of Denning was a ‘byword for the law itself. His judgments were models
of simple English which ordinary people understood’
Cambridge Scholars

__________________________________________

Lord Donaldson, his successor as Master of the Rolls, said that Lord Denning was ‘always looking to see whether the law could be improved and had a particular regard to those whom he regarded as the underdog. He was a very great communicator, and put forward his views in words which the ordinary man in the street could fully understand, and which the tabloid reporter could report’.
Cambridge Scholars

_____________________________________________

1 I went back to Oxford for a day or two to try for that most coveted of academic awards - a fellowship at All Souls. I could answer the legal questions all right, but we had to read Latin aloud. My pronounciation (sic) was mixed between the old and the new. That did not suit that stronghold of classicists. So I joined the distinguished company of ‘Failed All Souls’! Like the more numerous company of ‘Failed BA’.
- Lord Denning The Family Story [London 1981] pp 38-39.

This admission deserves comparison with a sketch performed by Peter Cook, ‘Sitting on the Bench’:

“Yes, I could have been a judge but I never had the Latin, never had the Latin for the judgin'. I just never had sufficient of it to get through the rigorous judging exams. They’re noted for their rigour. People came staggering out saying, ‘My God, what a rigorous exam’ - and so I became a miner instead. A coal miner. I managed to get through the mining exams - they’re not very rigorous. They only ask one question. They say, ‘Who are you?’, and I got 75% for that."
- Peter Cook Sitting On The Bench [Fortune Theatre 1961]
Tragically I Was Born An Only Twin - The Complete Peter Cook ed. William Cook. [London 2002] p 45.

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Gardening and Cultivation Part Two - The Worms That Turned (Belly-Up)

2/3/2014

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My February Musing (see below) contains Part One of Gardening and Cultivating. In it I refer to my ‘worm farm’ in which I breed worms to improve the very poor quality of my garden’s soil here in Perth, Western Australia.

Of all the creatures whose existence are crucial to the growth of edible crops on this planet, the bee and the earthworm are prime contenders. Of the two, I suggest the worm is the more essential. The bee is, indeed, the most prodigious pollinator of flora, but it is not alone in this. Other insects also acquire pollen (perhaps by accident rather than the "be-all and end-all" design of the bee) and fertilise plants on their travels. But the worm alone excretes a waste product essential for the healthy development of plants. Without this lowly creature there would be no agriculture, no horticulture, no domestic vegetable garden.

The ‘worm farm’ comprises three tiered plastic trays, with perforated bottoms plus lid, resting on a base tray standing on four legs which acts a reservoir. (Only two tiered trays are needed at any one time - the third tray is used for rotation purposes.) A worm consumes organic matter that passes through its system and is converted into the most essential waste product on our planet. It is capable of eating the equivalent of its own body weight every three days, which is much to its productive effort.

Without the ‘casts’ that the worm expels from its body the Earth’s top soils would remain infertile. By digesting organic matter the worm accelerates the process of decomposition many hundred times, and the end-product is a sterile compound material rich in chemical nutrients essential for the growth of plants upon which human life depends. The worm cast also contains micro bacteria that continue to break down undecomposed organic material. It provides a continuous process of soil enrichment and water retention, which is a real and present problem in Western Australia.

I acquired my worm farm at a seminar given by a commercial worm breeder sponsored by our local city council. So eager was the council to encourage recycling and composting that a 50% subsidy was offered towards the purchase price. In addition to the tiered-tray structure, there came a kilo of worms (several thousand of the little creatures) and a supply of worm casts to fill a tray and to kick-start the process.

The principle of the system is to place the worms in the top tray, with the worm casts in the tray below resting on the base tray. Shredded paper and other fibrous material is placed in the top tray and sprinkled with water. This assists decomposition and maintains a damp, cool environment that the worms require to exist, eat and propagate. Blended vegetable peelings, tea leaves and coffee grinds, even dog hair, can be fed to the worms. They will consume this feed and the shredded paper. Their progress can be observed as the fibrous mixture becomes inundated with tiny black strings - the worm casts that gradually replace the original contents of the tray.

Together with the liquid I use to sprinkle over the top tray, I add cardboard egg cartons that have been soaked in a bucket of water. The cheap fibre quickly dissolves and the mixture turns into a grey, organic soup that is easily digested by the worms, thus not only watering the tray but adding to the worms’ diet.

This liquid drains through the perforations in the bottom to the tray below containing the worm casts. Organic material is dissolved in the liquid as it passes downward, together with micro bacteria, that drips down to the base tray where it collects in the reservoir. The base tray is so designed that the liquid flows towards one end where a tap can be opened to drain this ‘worm tea’ into a container and stored. It is an excellent feed for plants, and reduces the need for purchased fertiliser.

I referred in the heading to this Musing to a calamity involving the loss of worms. It was almost catastrophic and I came close to wiping out my whole stock of worms. I have mentioned that it is important to maintain a damp environment within which the worms are contained. This to ensure the worm’s mucous membrane is maintained in good condition, failing which it will dehydrate. The process of evaporation also helps to keep the trays cool. This is a part of my daily routine in looking after the worms to which I pay particular attention, especially during these hot summer days.

I have positioned the worm farm on the southerly side of the house, under the eaves, to minimise its exposure to direct sunlight. I discovered to my cost over one weekend that this was not sufficient to keep the temperature of the tray contents adequately cool if the daily watering did not take place.

This occurred when late one Saturday afternoon while gardening I dislocated my right hip. (I had had the hip replaced 12 months earlier due to osteoarthritis, and it was the prosthesis that popped out). I fell to the ground and was completely immobile. An ambulance arrived and whisked me to the emergency department of our nearby hospital. The prosthesis was relocated and I remained in hospital overnight for observation.

The following day proved to be the hottest of the summer, reaching 44 degrees C. Encapsulated in the tender care of Fremantle Hospital I was unaware of this. I expected to be discharged by midday. I asked my wife to water the vegetables and other plants which I reckoned would not survive until evening. I gave less thought to the worms. I anticipated they could survive a day without watering as their trays were invariably damp and reasonably cool upon my daily inspection.

It was not to be. When I did eventually arrive home that afternoon I found the top two trays devoid of worms. They had all dropped down to the base tray, some clinging to each other in a writhing mass; others had already drowned in the worm tea that filled the reservoir. I carried out emergency extraction of those worms still alive, sprinkled water on the top tray and piled on the surface mounds of ice cubes to reduce the ambient temperature.

I was lucky, I had lost no more than half of my worm stock. With lots of TLC over the days following the survivors recovered from their trauma and, as nature often responds to a disaster, they were more than usually fruitful thereafter and multiplied so that their numbers increased to normal within a couple of weeks.

I will shortly return to Fremantle Hospital to have a revision carried out to the hip prosthesis. I will probably remain an in-patient for about a week. As our summer temperatures still remain high I am giving my wife a thorough course in worm farm maintenance and preservation.

Mea culpa; lesson learnt.

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Nick Fielden Copywriter www.nickfielden.com.au

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Plain Language

The Hallmark Of A Controversial English Judge
Who Would Not Allow The Law To Get In The Way Of Justice

Gardening and Cultivation Part Two - The Worms That Turned (Belly-Up)

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The Hallmark Of A Controversial English JudgeWho Would Not Allow The Law To Get In The Way Of Justice

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The Hallmark Of A Controversial English Judge
Who Would Not Allow The Law To Get In The Way Of Justice