As a business owner, do you have to where all the hats?
“Hey, what’s one little typo? Everyone makes ‘em, most people never notice them. And I always use spell checkers.”
That’s how most people feel when I go on and on about typos. And when I give the usual suspect examples (they’re, their, too, to) I sense as many yawns as at the latest Schwarzenegger movie.
But when I spotted this headline, I thought I’d try one more time to show how devastating one little word can be to your credibility.
The caption above is from an email from a business coach with seemingly very impressive credentials. He is a certified business coach, with 25+ years in corporate America. But it seems to me that the impact of his headline decimates his credibility on many levels. (I have my own list of reasons it is so off-putting; you can create your own.)
And to add grammatical insult to homonym injury, here is another error, albeit a more common one, in the text: “That’s why I insist on a few complementary meetings first.”
Yes, many make that same mistake and many will not even notice it. But this pattern of errors from someone who wants to guide your business success is different from typos in a pitch from a florist or accountant. Proposing to be a business coach does presuppose some degree of literacy.
Perhaps I’m just being cranky—my blood sugar may be low because I have not yet eaten breakfast. But still, be careful out there.
Got the idea?
“Hey, what’s one little typo? Everyone makes ‘em, most people never notice them. And I always use spell checkers.”
That’s how most people feel when I go on and on about typos. And when I give the usual suspect examples (they’re, their, too, to) I sense as many yawns as at the latest Schwarzenegger movie.
But when I spotted this headline, I thought I’d try one more time to show how devastating one little word can be to your credibility.
The caption above is from an email from a business coach with seemingly very impressive credentials. He is a certified business coach, with 25+ years in corporate America. But it seems to me that the impact of his headline decimates his credibility on many levels. (I have my own list of reasons it is so off-putting; you can create your own.)
And to add grammatical insult to homonym injury, here is another error, albeit a more common one, in the text: “That’s why I insist on a few complementary meetings first.”
Yes, many make that same mistake and many will not even notice it. But this pattern of errors from someone who wants to guide your business success is different from typos in a pitch from a florist or accountant. Proposing to be a business coach does presuppose some degree of literacy.
Perhaps I’m just being cranky—my blood sugar may be low because I have not yet eaten breakfast. But still, be careful out there.
Got the idea?
Amen! Grammar mistakes erode trust. When you make enough of them, readers question your knowledge on the subject at hand. If you want to market your business successfully, you need a strong command of the English language!
Posted by: Matt Brennan | January 25, 2013 at 10:26 PM