Communicating with brevity
At our Kyocera SA Dealer Sales Kick-off Conference in May, Sales and Marketing Director, Jimmy de Waal emphasised the importance of communication through smart, essential content that is provided concisely and efficiently.
Effective communication is a topic we keep coming back to in our newsletter, mainly because it is essential to preventing misinterpretations and conflict, managing expectations and maintaining the “delicate dance of engagement” (message of the week sent on the 29th of January 2024) between KDZA, our partners and our customers.
While this may seem obvious, any writer or orator will tell you that getting a point across succinctly is challenging and time consuming. A fact that Jim VandeHei, co-founder of the successful start-up Axios, and co-author of Smart Brevity sums up by saying: “It’s harder to be simple and smart than it is to be complex and foggy. People are long-winded and process-y by nature. The only way you can really have simplicity in your communication, work culture or operations is to have a sharp idea of what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, and when we’re doing it by.”
Smart Brevity is a useful resource offering transformative methods for punching through the noise to get people’s attention. In the book, VandeHei and Axios co-founders and co-authors Mike Allen, and Roy Schwartz share their guiding principle “Brevity is confidence, length is fear” as well as the communication formula built and used by Axios journalists to prioritise essential news and information and communicate it across almost any format.
The formula includes:
- Start with a muscular tease that grabs attention with six or fewer strong words.
- Explain what recipients need to know in the first sentence.
- Explain why it matters.
- Offer a choice to go deeper by providing more optional context.
- Most importantly: Think about one thing you want people to remember – not more.
Taking time to apply these principles includes gaining a clear understanding of the 5w’s and an H (Who, what, why, when, where and how)”. Once we have this, our communication will automatically embrace simplicity.
As we strive to improve our communication, let's take inspiration from Mark Twain, who wisely said, “If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.” This reminds us that investing the time to refine our messages not only shows respect for our audience’s time, but also enhances the clarity and impact of our communication.
I encourage everyone to reflect on how you can incorporate brevity into your daily interactions. Whether it’s in emails, meetings, or sales presentations, let’s challenge ourselves to be clear, concise, and impactful. Together, we can foster a culture of efficient and effective communication, driving success and growth for KDZA and our partners.
Sharon Peché - Marketing and Communications Manager - KYOCERA Document Solutions South Africa
