{"id":974,"date":"2014-06-28T11:21:18","date_gmt":"2014-06-27T23:21:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/?p=974"},"modified":"2014-06-28T11:21:18","modified_gmt":"2014-06-27T23:21:18","slug":"to-finish-well-first-start-well","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/?p=974","title":{"rendered":"To finish well, first start well"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/?attachment_id=973\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-973\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-973\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Sydney-Hobart-300x255.jpg\" alt=\"Sydney-Hobart\" width=\"300\" height=\"255\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Sydney-Hobart-300x255.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Sydney-Hobart.jpg 414w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>\u2018Many races are won on the start line.\u00a0 To finish well, it\u2019s usually vital to start well.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>That was the opinion of one of the most successful sailing coaches I ever had the opportunity to work with.\u00a0 But it\u2019s also good advice for writers.\u00a0 Capture your reader\u2019s attention early; and keep them engaged right to the end.<\/p>\n<p>From where I sit, too many writers of business documents begin by \u2018warming their engines\u2019.\u00a0 Rather that coming right out and saying: \u2018Here\u2019s what we can do for you,\u2019 they waffle on for two or three pages \u2013 sometimes more \u2013 about \u2018the changing dynamics of the market space\u2019 or some such high-sounding twaddle.<\/p>\n<p>Recently, a client sent me a draft of her company\u2019s response to an RFP.\u00a0 \u2018What do you think?\u2019 she asked.<\/p>\n<p>I phoned her with my own question: \u2018Why did you wait until page nine to offer a solution?\u2019<\/p>\n<p>For a moment or two, she said nothing.\u00a0 I could picture her frowning at the other end of the phone.\u00a0 And then she said: \u2018Well, you know, I thought that we should establish our credentials.\u00a0 I thought that we should demonstrate that we understand the sector, where it is at, how it got there, where it might be headed.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u2018And do you think your prospective client would have sent you the RFP if they thought that you <em>did not<\/em> understand the sector?\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Umm \u2026 no.\u00a0 I guess not,\u2019 she said.<\/p>\n<p>Between the two of us, we cut and pasted and polished the draft, offering up the solution in the very first paragraph.\u00a0 We also crafted a final paragraph designed to leave the prospect in no doubt about what they needed to do next.\u00a0 Of course, that perfectly-crafted final paragraph would have been a total waste of time and effort if we failed to hook the readers in the first paragraph and then keep them reading right to the end.<\/p>\n<p>In the words of the distinguished author, editor, and publisher Sol Stein: \u2018A terrific ending will never be experienced by a reader put off by a poor beginning.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u2018Many races are won on the start line.\u00a0 To finish well, it\u2019s usually vital to start well.\u2019 That was the opinion of one of the most successful sailing coaches I ever had the opportunity to work with.\u00a0 But it\u2019s also &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/?p=974\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/974"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=974"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/974\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":975,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/974\/revisions\/975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}