Give your writing the conversation test.

After you have finished writing your memo or letter, read it aloud. Ask yourself if you would say to your reader what you are writing. Trust your ear. Wherever your writing is stuffy, wordy, or impersonal, rewrite it.

• Use contractions to warm-up your message and take the starch out of stiff sentences.
• Delete words, sentences, and phrases that do not add to your meaning.
• Make it personal. Speak directly to the reader, human to human. Remember people don’t do business with businesses; they do business with people.