Remember the old days when people could only interact with businesses over the phone or in-person, and most mailings were stuffy form letters? After booting up Word Perfect for DOS, you would painstakingly type your message and then drive the floppy disk over to your neighborhood print shop. That was a lot of work! Thank goodness for technological improvements (and Grammarly!).
Now, there are live chats, texts, emails, social media posts, reviews, comments, blogs, websites, and an increasing array of user-generated content. In today’s global community, there are countless opportunities to reach out to your customers and prospects both near and far. With communication methods constantly evolving, it is easier than ever to engage with customers, build relationships, and stay visible. Being top of mind when it matters most is priceless.
All of these options help you respond to needs and make customer contact quicker and friendlier. You can be with them wherever they are and whenever they need you. You have more freedom to show customers your company’s personality and more availability to offer quick service, which can lead to customer loyalty, referrals, and repeat business. Unfortunately, most of these innovations have one major drawback: most are written. They make it easier to broadcast grammatical mistakes, typos, and other embarrassing mishaps that can be preserved for years for the public to see, comment on, and maybe even make memes of – you’ve now gone viral, but not for the reason you wanted!
Most people expect and accept an occasional typo or grammatical error, especially in informal communications. However, if errors are frequent or glaring, they can reflect poorly on your business and hurt your credibility. Anyone can make mistakes, punctuate something incorrectly, or use the wrong word if they hurry or try to do too much at once. Anyone can have a bad day. The real problems come when someone just doesn’t know the rules. You could wait to find out, or you could consider a grammar assessment as part of your hiring process.
For example, does your candidate think quotes are for emphasis and don’t realize they look sarcastic?
We have the “best” customers!
Maybe they’re not quite sure how apostrophes work:
We have the best customer’s!
Or they may find contractions or homophones a little challenging:
Your going to love are company!
These are the types of mistakes that can be repeated over and over in customer interactions. Some people may not notice or care, but others definitely will, and the errors could be a mark against your company.
It can be hard to tell if a potential new hire is comfortable with the rules of grammar. Yes, occasionally candidates will send in resumes and cover letters riddled with mistakes, and that’s a pretty dead giveaway. Most people are more careful at the start, though. They run spelling and grammar checks and have people proofread their work. These candidates understand the need to be careful with grammar but may not have the skills you want. But how do you know before the hire? That’s where Omnia comes in.
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The Omnia Grammar Assessment is a simple tool that evaluates an individual’s knowledge of basic grammar concepts such as punctuation, spelling, and verb usage. It can help you identify potential problems from the start and shape your hiring decisions. Even if the job requires only minimal writing, the grammar assessment results can help you establish a training or professional development plan for the employee. If the position involves a great deal of writing, you want someone who can consistently follow the rules when composing emails, reports, letters, whitepapers, blogs, or social media posts or while providing online chat support.
If you’re thrilled about a candidate or want to promote an employee who doesn’t score high on the assessment (their potential is there, and they’re otherwise impressive), you can use the results as a training opportunity. After all, grammar is just a bunch of rules, and rules can be learned. The Omnia Grammar Assessment is another tool to help you find and shape your most important assets – your employees.
