5. Writing Accuracy is Becoming a Habit

The team have really got into the habit of using Grammar to Go to improve their own accuracy, eye for detail and interest in getting the written word just right.

It was nearly a fortnight after my day at Phil’s offices before I heard from him again. I had been extremely busy with enquiries about Grammar to Go, and had only just finished explaining the service to another interested company, when my phone rang again. It was good to hear Phil’s voice – and particularly good to hear him sounding very upbeat.
“Actually, I have an invitation for you. “
“Oh yes?”
“We’re exhibiting at ExCEL later this week. Fancy coming along? Tickets are free if you register as a guest on our website...”
I logged on later that day – and was surprised to see that Phil’s company site had undergone some pretty significant changes since I had last visited it. The text on the homepage was much punchier – fewer words, with very clear messages. And whereas the right-hand column had previously housed a lengthy product descriptions, this had now been replaced by three bold product offers: short, crisp titles and a single line of descriptive text underneath. I was impressed – it looked very slick; a great improvement on the previous version. I made up my mind to mention this to Phil when we caught up at the exhibition.
On the day of the exhibition itself, I arrived at ExCEL early enough to register, grab a quick coffee and stroll around the other stands before the halls started filling up. Wandering through the aisles, I picked up a few leaflets and brochures from some of the exhibitors. They were fairly standard – nothing that made any one stand out more than the others.
Finally, I found Phil’s stand. They’d managed to secure a very good spot – not far from a coffee vendor, and with three open sides. The backdrop consisted of two large, mounted printouts explaining the services that Phil’s company provided. Perspex carousels were positioned at either end of the stand, each crammed with brochures and flyers.
“Great stand, Phil! Looks like your team put a good deal of work into this!”
Phil laughed, shaking his head.
“Would you believe it – just three days! It was all very last minute... we only secured our spot last Tuesday afternoon, and our printer needed all the materials from us by Friday in order to get these huge printouts to us for the start of the exhibition. So our graphics team literally had three days to turn it all around!”
“Needless to say, it’s absolutely word-perfect...no prizes for guessing why!”
“Absolutely – actually, there’s a funny story there. Before going to print, we received a proof from our printer – and they’d accidentally mis-typed three words from our originals. Our graphics guys picked the mistakes up immediately. That would never have happened before we started using Grammar to Go. The best bit is that they remember the rules and advice – the way Grammar to Go is presented is easy for everyone to understand.”
I nodded, happy to see that my service was having such a widespread effect in Phil’s office.
“I’m so pleased, Phil. Mind you, it looks like someone over there could use a bit of help...”
Phil and I turned to watch an unfortunate scene at a nearby stand, where a red-faced young man was unhappily removing all of the flyers from their display units.
“I wonder what the problem is? I hate being nosy, but he look s pretty upset... perhaps I’ll go and ask if he needs any help...”

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