Widows and orphans – the importance of good grammar, punctuation and presentation

A few years ago, I was working with an agency who had an impressive automotive portfolio. Some of which kept us very busy and was very profitable. Some of which was less so, but were excellent portfolio clients that attracted other clients. Some spent very little. Mercedes-Benz, in particular, was one that spent very little and we were, somewhat, pigeonholed in the services we provided for them. I identified that this was an opportunity for growth and duly set about engineering an opportunity with them. After a few weeks, we were invited to pitch for a piece of work and, as is the way, there was a short timeframe and lots of work to be done. The team and I found the hours we needed and we pulled together a pitch. It was a reasonable pitch – not a great pitch. At that agency, we were lucky enough to have two writers on the payroll. I booked some time with one writer who was particularly pedantic and asked them proof-read the presentation – not only from a grammar, punctuation and spelling perspective, I also asked them their opinion on the pitch and if they could contribute with any insight they had on the brand. This had not been done at this agency before and was queried. I pointed out that the pitch was not mind-blowing but, as a brand, Mercedes-Benz were meticulous and contribution from this individual may add some value. We proceeded and there were some grammar and punctuation corrections as well as some interesting insight. We added it to the presentation and off we went to do our pitch.

A few days later, we got the call that we’d won the pitch and celebrations began. After working with the client for a few weeks, I was with the client and referred back to the pitch intimating that it probably wasn’t the best pitch they received and queried why we’d been chosen. There was some positive feedback around the content of the presentation and the individuals who presented it. But, one comment stood out – namely, “attention to detail. There were no grammatical errors or punctuations or spelling mistakes. If you can look after your own house, you can take care of ours”. The hour or so with the writer had given us the edge – lesson learned! As an aside, both the writers wanted to be included in all pitches from then on – and they were! From that day on, it has always been an important feature of every pitch I’ve been involved in – and here are my pet hates along the way:

1. Ampersand – you need to press two keys for an ampersand and three for the word ‘and’. It’s just plain lazy. Stop the habit.

2. Oblique strokes (forward slashes) and gaps around them – don’t get hung up on ‘house style’ or think it’s easier to read. It’s not and it’s just plain wrong.

3. Numbers – there are numerous protocols around when to use a number or write the number as a word. These hinge around a number of things like what you are numbering – kilograms, years, miles etc. – and when you should stop using numbers and start writing them as words – 100 or one-hundred etc. I have no preferences other than using one protocol consistently. My recommendation is, find one that works for and stick with it.

4. Hyphens, Em-Dashes and their misuse – hyphens join words and are used to separate syllables of a single word. There are no gaps in their usage. An Em-Dash is a punctuation that can be used instead of parentheses, commas, colons, or quotation marks in a sentence. There are gaps around them. It is that simple. Oh… and a hyphen is not used as a bullet-point. This is because it is not a bullet-point and if you have to use a hyphen or an Em-dash in the sentence of a bullet-point, it just looks confusing.

5. Centrally justified content – whilst on the topic of ‘confusing’, this topic is all about marginal gains. Putting it simply, if you cannot read it easily, you cannot absorb it efficiently and effectively. The advent of digital means that, in some media, it has become an acceptable practice to centrally justify content due to the device it is being viewed on – and for a number of other good reasons. Indeed, it can be found on my own website. However, I never found a book where pages are not left justified – and there’s a reason for that. The writer wants you to quickly understand what he’s written. So if you when it comes to a slide deck and alike, try and avoid centrally justify content if you want it to be read with ease and absorbed quickly.

You may choose to debate some, many all of the above – and there are other grammar and punctuation topics that we can agree or disagree on… and that’s cool. Just remember though, if you want to grow your business and working with high profile clients like Mercedes-Benz is part of your plan, using good grammar and punctuation might just be the difference between winning and losing that important pitch. It was for me.