Let the dog do the barking
by Ron Jette
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 My mechanic has a sign on the wall that lets his
customers know, in advance, that he is
the expert: Our rates are:
$80 per hour for repairs
$95 per hour if you watch
$125 per hour if you help
The unspoken message is that if you are going to hire him,
you'll get out of the way and let him work his magic. (And it is magic.) You wouldn't want a librarian fixing your car or a plumber
doing surgery, right? Few would argue with this logic. When you hire a professional--whether they're fixing your website or repairing your car--take advange of their expertise. As marketer David Ogilvy used to advise,
"Don't buy the dog and do the barking yourself." |
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FEATURED
CLIENT:
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From the time your alarm clock rings in
the
morning until you switch out the lights at
night, you are touched by the plastics
industry at every turn.
As one of
Canada's fastest-growing sectors--its value
has doubled to almost $9 billion in just 10
years--the plastics-processing industry must
constantly find new ways to attract
workers. Leading the charge in that regard is
the Canadian Plastics Sector Council, a
national not-for-profit organization located
right here in Ottawa.
This partnership of
industry employers and employees was
created to explore and address emerging
human-resources issues in the plastics
sector.
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Quotables
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"We really enjoyed
working with your
writer. He did an amazing job of spinning our
text into marketing copy that is easy to
understand."
Cybele Trottier-Vogelsang
Transport Canada
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QuikTips
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consistency -- The English language is in a constant state of flux. For many issues, there simply are no hard rules.
How do you punctuate a vertical list? (It depends.) Should you use a comma before the word and in a list of three or more items in a sentence? (We don't but many do.) Should you use italics or quotation marks to set off a word? (It's up to you.)
The key is to determine what you are going to do and then stick with it. Inconsistencies turn readers off, even if they don't realize it.
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