Write on Time: Keep Those Kudos Koming

by Melody Brumis EBSTC Senior Member

Melody Brumis has been a contract writer and active East Bay STC member. Recently, she embarked on the adventure of starting a small business with her friend, Adrienne Tange.

Write on Time Solutions, LLC is a technical writing company that creates clear, concise and accurate technical documentation or Web content — always on time and on budget.

When I told my partner Adrienne that I was writing a column about kudos, she said, "Great! What's a kudo?"
"A kudo," I replied, "Hmmm. Kudos … words of praise for a job well done." Is that all?

What?

My Random House College Dictionary circa 1980 defines kudos as "praise; glory." I turned next to Wikipedia which defines it as fame and renown resulting from an act or achievement. Extending kudos to another individual is often done as a praising remark.

Where?

Where do they come from? Kudos for you as a technical communicator may traditionally come from bosses or project managers. On the TechProse Web site, I found a different twist. The kudos, also called testimonials, came from its consultants. Joy Montgomery, an East Bay STC member, starts her Web site, Structural Integrity, with kudos from the vice president of Operations. And the QES Corporation Web site displays kudos (which it calls letters) from their satisfied customers.

How?

How do you get people to write kudos? I've been gathering kudos for our Web site, and I can tell you one thing: Be sure to get your kudos right after doing a project or, perhaps, in the middle of a project. When you're hot you're hot, and when you're not you're not.

You may want to trade kudos with a boss or a peer. Luckily for me, I was able to e-mail the project manager from one of my last big projects. He was also looking for kudos for his work, so we agreed to trade.

You should also create an easy way for people to praise your work. Here are three suggestions:

• Send out a simple three- or four-question survey. For example, Survey Monkey lets you create a free online survey. Include a free-form question about the documentation. Would you recommend Write on Time Solutions (WoTS) to a friend or associate? If so, what would you tell them about working with WoTS?
  
  
• Provide an easy way for customers to e-mail their kudos to you. For example, on its Web site, QES Corporation solicits responses from satisfied customers, and includes a link to generate an e-mail message.
  
  
• And, finally, since we are in the writing business, we can offer to write our own kudos. The lead writer at my last contract asked me to write the kudos, and he put his name to it.

No matter your source, be sure to ask for permission to post the kudos.

Why?

Why do you gather kudos? You gather kudos so that you can use them to market yourself. Sometimes it's as simple as keeping e-mails that praise your work, your team's work, or your company's work. You can publish your kudos on your Web site, in your resume, and on social networking sites like LinkedIn, so that your customers can see the breadth of your work

So, let me end with this: How was my writing? Call 1-707-396-0794 and tell me.

Melody and Adrienne are writing this column to help you achieve small business success. If you have questions, e-mail them at info@writeontimesolutions.com. They will address your questions in future columns.