Whether you are a seasoned writer who needs a bit of a refresher or someone who just found out the importance of business reports, we’re here to help!
Maybe you have the entrepreneurial skills to craft one of the most fantastic business your team or investors have ever read. This step-by-step guide will help you get started and offer you plenty of tips which you can incorporate into your business writing.
Create a plan
A team of professionals within your organisation will read your business report, so you should treat it with the same finesse and dedication as you would an office project. It’s essential to create a plan on what to write before you begin gathering information and performing research. Indeed, you must have a blueprint in your mind of what you wish to accomplish.
By taking this simple step, you’ll have a clear idea of what you are going to write. If you refrain from doing so, you will have a complicated, tedious and lengthy report on your hands.
Identify the aim and type of report
Every piece of business writing requires a goal you wish to achieve. You may not have the knack of a scribe, but you can still use the power of language to fulfil your aims.
Not every business report is the same. This may not seem like common knowledge when you’re cutting your teeth in the industry, but you will eventually come across formats suited for different occasions or particular templates meant for a specific audience.
Draft a business report template
When you start composing a report, it can help to draft a template, which can then be reused for future business documents. This can also save you time in the future. Here are aspects you should include in your draft:
- Title page: Title of the report, authors name and the date.
- Business summary: A section to highlight the significant findings of the report. It should be brief and used mostly in long reports.
- Introduction: A statement for infor ming the purpose of your writing and outlining what you have achieved.
- Findings: The primary body of the text that shares ideas, information, statistics, opinions, judgments and other relevant data. The findings should be separated into paragraphs with subheading.
- Conclusion: What did you find? What are your recommendations? Are you appraising the situation? Your conclusion is critical to the success of the report.
- Bibliography: A list of all your sources and cited works that were used to complete the project.
- Glossary: A glossary of terms might be suitable if a business report is being extended to others unfamiliar with the characteristics of the industry.
Insert infographics and visuals
Imagine reading a 100-page business report full of words; even the most dedicated industry veteran would find this monotonous and dry unless the entire report was full of humorous insights. But your comedy should not be included in your business writing. Therefore, the next best thing is inserting infographics that will act as a visual aid for crucial data or recommendations. Most experts would agree that colourful graphs and charts are usually the go-to sources for visuals.
Use concise language
Business writing is different from academic writing. The former relies more on the principle of ‘time is money,’ while the latter focuses more on expanding the minutest of points. Business writing requires getting to the nitty-gritty as soon as you can. Although you should incorporate formal language and precise terminology in your overall report, you should still attempt not to be so, well, dull.
Package your report
The best thing you can do for your thoroughly researched and well-written business report is this cherry on top: polished packaging. What better way to present your complete writing to your team or clients than by inserting it in a nice-looking folder, organising the report in a binder or printing your genius on fine paper? You want to look as sharp as possible, and how you choose to package your report will put you, and your firm, in a positive spotlight. Remember, you will mostly work solo when producing these documents, which does require you to tap into your entrepreneurial spirit and fall back on your wits.
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