Ever get a business document that has coffee (or other) stains on it? It happens, but not to professionals who are serious about their work. It’s important to make sure your hard copy materials leave the department or office clean and undamaged.

Of course this seems to be common sense in an age where clean paper and quality printers are easy to come by. But consider, too, the fact that neatness also applies to the actual writing itself. Sure, we wouldn’t send out a document with smudges or stains, but what about typos? How carefully do we check for these?

Consider the difference a misplaced letter or two makes in a sentence:

• It is her that we find the real problem.
• Everyday we look for anyway possible to make improvements.
• It seams our department can’t never get enough resource s too farce though the charges require too be com mare efficient.

And you know what? Spell check and grammar check will not find a thing wrong with any of these sentences. But what about the recipient of a business document with typos? You might think a little spelling or grammar error, here or there, is no big deal. But it is.

True, not everyone will notice. However, it only takes one reader who’s paying attention, who may not yet be familiar with your company, to decide to forego doing business with you. After all, if you’re not careful enough to avoid typos like those listed above, you might be careless in a lot of things—and there are always plenty of other companies to choose from.

So, whether it’s a sales letter, business memo, email, report, or other correspondence, remember—neatness counts. And if you’re too busy to handle all the editing and proofreading yourself, consider a professional service such as Proof-Reading.com.