I am shocked by the poor grammar and spelling in some business correspondence, as an example I recently received this email:
“Hi,
I’m following upon my previous email to see if you would be interested in discussing about my primary email. It would be great if you can forward this email to the right person.
Apart from this aru you looking any think let me know i will get back to you more information as soon as possible and in most cases within 2 hours.
Let me know your targeted industry—and targeted area——[any sector ] based on that I will send few samplies.
I appreciate your time, Regards…”
This genuine email contains spelling mistakes, incomprehensible sentences, is addressed incorrectly (where is my name?) and those square brackets suggest that the proforma email has not been edited correctly.
What a waste of time and effort! The email did not generate a penny of business for the sender.
Whilst this is an extreme example many native English speakers make stupid mistakes: from CVs to business letters poor grammar and bad spelling simply close the door to business opportunities.
Another recent email contained the following: “…just a few hundred meters from Wetherby town centre…” I think they meant to say a few hundred metres, which is a distance, and not that you had to pass a few hundred gas, or electric, meters to get to Wetherby town centre.
Does this matter? Despite the many spelling and grammatical mistakes I make, I think it does. Mistakes give the wrong impression and therefore get in the way of winning new business and make you appear unprofessional. Take time to read and re-read your written work – does it really say what you think it says? Or does it say something completely different?
