Last month I received the following Facebook message on the Fan Page:
"In my business we have an online support group. We daily encourage and support each other. So many times I see consultants complain about not getting very many customers or teammates. It's not that they are not working hard- but, what I see is a lot of this:
'i m so frustrated! no 1 wants 2 sign up w/me. i tried this & that & nothins workin. i dont know what 2 do. i think ill just quit. wut do u think? any suggestions or advize?'
In other words, a lot of spelling and grammatical errors. Now, as a customer, I would be completely turned off by a posting with so many mistakes and shortcuts. And, as a person looking for a good stay at home job, I would run from this! It seems so unprofessional, and really immature."
I have to say, this bugs me too, and I was glad she gave me the idea to blog about it. I see it all the time when people post questions on the fan page or private message me. Honestly, I don't even like it when my teenage sons do this in their posts, and they aren't trying to impress anyone. I think it shows a complete lack of effort and frankly, it makes the writer look lazy. For a direct seller who obviously wants to be perceived as a professional to communicate in this way and care so little about the impression they make with their online presence completely baffles me.
If you've gone to school beyond about the third grade, you know how to diagram a sentence, where to capitalize and use punctuation, and how to spell. In fact, if you're typing on just about any computer made after 2005, your computer will smack you upside the head and say "Hey, you spelled that wrong" or "That's the wrong way to use a comma." Even if you're posting from your smart phone, virtually all of them will finish the long words for you and correct your spelling while they're at it.
So I have to assume that those who post paragraphs like the one above are doing so by choice, not because they aren't capable of creating a grammatically correct post. It's a bad habit, plain and simple. And in my never-to-be-humble opinion, one that doesn't serve you (at least not if first impressions matter to you). It might take a little longer to construct a sentence of which your high school English teacher would have approved, but the impact it has on your image and your influence over potential customers, hosts, and team members is definitely worth a the extra effort.
Then again, maybe I'm just old fashioned. What's your take on this?
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Well said, Melissa.
I couldn't agree more. If people want to be treated as professionals and wish for their business to grow to a professional level, they must BE a professional. I always say, "Be the leader you want to attract." If they want to attract leaders, business-minded professionals, good communicators, they must project those qualities themselves.
Thanks, Carrie. This has been a popular post and I think it’s because people see it as an easy way to bring this topic up by sharing the post without it coming directly from them.
I couldn't agree with you more Julie Anne. I have received a couple of texts from potential team mates that have looked like the text above. They would often turn me off but I couldn't really put my finger on why they did. Now I get it, because it wasn't professional but even beyond that, if they couldn't take the time to type me out a correct message how lazy would they be in their other efforts. With that being said, I do understand the younger generation has a different way of communicating than we did/do. I feel that many of them have a hard time separating their at home business with their at home social selves. I think that it takes some gentle suggestions and wonderful training (by you of course) to teach us to lead them in a professional and authentic way.
No doubt, Michelle.
Thanks, Patty. I agree totally.
Yes! Yes! Yes! This is so true and on-point.
With social media, many customers first impression of a business is their written language – if it's filled with slang, misspellings, and grammatical errors then why should they entrust you with their business and money. We treat mainstream businesses the same way and should hold ourselves to the same standard.
Julie,
I completely agree!! I used to be on a dating site, and if the person did not write in complete sentences, use correct grammar and spelling, I would not even respond to them. I believe our society gets so caught up in technology sometimes that we don't even know how to communicate in writing or in person any more.
Thanks for confronting the subject because as they say, first impressions are the ones that matter. People running their own businesses are even more in the spotlight and need to make good impressions!
Thanks,
Patty Thomas