within a document that summarises the longer report in such a way that readers can quickly become acquainted with the whole report without having to read it all. It usually contains a brief statement of the content covered in the report, background information, concise analysis and main conclusions. It is intended as an aid to decision- making by busy people who may not read the whole report. Busy hull underwriters have been known to turn straight to the summary page!
Let’s come back to proofreading in more detail and consider its importance. Proofreading is a skill all of its own. Before you click print or send the email, you must ensure your report has been carefully proofread for grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, punctuation and technical inaccuracies. Remember just one comma in the wrong place can change the meaning of a sentence and could have profound effects. An obvious point, but if you use spellchecker make sure it is the one for the country you are based in. You would be well advised to consider outsourcing the task to a skilled proofreader. You may not always spot your own mistakes, but someone else in your network might.
There is online proofreading software available, some of it free, which IIMS recommends. All can help to improve your text, spell checking, punctuation and will correct any grammatical errors in your reports.
www.grammarly.com/ Proofreading
http://www.editorsoftware.com/ StyleWriter.html
www.prowritingaid.com/ Proofreading/Try-Now
Always present your report professionally as presentation matters and counts for a lot. If supplied in hard copy, spiral bind it - do not staple - and use a front
and back cover. Emailed reports should be in pdf format only that are harder to tamper with rather than a word document. If you do it right it will be the best and cheapest form of advertising you do. But another word of caution, use normal type fonts and not fancy, hard to read ones. The best and most popular options are serif fonts such as Times New Roman, Palatino, Georgia, Courier, Bookman and Garamond.
So what if it all goes wrong?
If your client is unhappy with the survey and/or report: - Don’t ignore the problem as it will not go away.
- Make a plan to resolve the matter quickly before a complaint reaches IIMS as is often the case.
- Contact your insurer immediately for advice.
- Talk to the client and consider mediation.
- Try to come to an amicable conclusion.
Good client care goes a long way and remember excellent communication and politeness is key to resolving issues. Making an enemy of your client can only result in one outcome. And returning your fee is always a better, more palatable and cheaper option than facing lawyers and an angry client in court when the costs truly start to mount up!
In the modern world in which we live in, social media is becoming ever more prevalent and at times a menace. These days your client could leave a damning Google review on your web site listing following what they believe to have been a
poor report to vent their anger and publicise their discontent causing you potentially financial and reputational damage. Seems far-fetched? Well it most certainly is not. One IIMS member has had that happen to him recently and the review left was opinion based (not factual) and menacing warning anyone who should read it to avoid this surveyor at all costs. So in this instance, if it happens to you, what can you do and what options are available?
Firstly, you could invite the correspondent to withdraw the comment immediately, especially if it is not factually correct. You may consider writing directly to Google and asking for their help. Taking legal advice may be necessary and given that you will know the identity of the person who has left the bad review, you could threaten to sue them for defamation of character unless they withdraw it. And as a last resort you could remove your website from Google taking with it the bad review, but this is not recommended.
In conclusion, just remember this simple rule when writing your reports. Tell them three times.
Tell them what you’re going to tell them (your introduction)
Tell them (the body of your report)
Tell them what you told them (your conclusion and report)
This article is an extract from the three-hour online Report Writing course, broadcast by IIMS two or three times a year. If you want to brush up or improve your skills in this area, watch out for details of the next one.
The Report • March 2018 • Issue 83 | 43
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