Concise, consistent and contract-winning writing at Spinning Clock

When a team of creatives are all client-facing, writing needs to be clear, concise and accurate across the board.

The challenge

Staff at Spinning Clock range from graphic designers and animators to computer programmers and event planners. Everyone has direct email access to clients, so the company needed to make sure its writing was consistent.

‘We found that some people were good at sending concise emails, but not at grammar and spelling,’ says Don Turner, Managing Director. ‘Others didn’t know how to get their message across clearly. There was too much variety in our written communication.’

The solution

Emphasis trained the team in two groups to make sure everyone learnt the precise skills they needed to transform their written work. The course for the creative team and administrators focused on grammar, punctuation and proofing, with tips on planning, structure and readability. The remaining staff, including directors, attended a high-impact business writing course, where they learned and applied techniques for writing proposals, reports, letters and summaries.

A couple of months after the course, each delegate had one-to-one coaching to reinforce and build upon their retained knowledge.

The results

‘The main benefit is that we feel more confident in our writing skills. We have a much clearer idea of what our clients are looking to get from us,’ says Don.

The training also caused a shift in the way the company approaches the tender process. ‘I thought proposals had to be 30 pages long to show you’d put the effort in,’ says Don. ‘But a proposal should only be 30 pages if every page is concise and has a clear point.’

Writing at Spinning Clock has become more consistent. And the quality of written work continues to improve, with tangible benefits, such as winning the Change4Life contract – a nationwide campaign to encourage people to eat healthily and exercise more.