I received an unusual compliment last week…
“Andy, I love the way you write bullet points”
(Yep – I hadn’t heard this sentence before, either)
The bullet points she referred to included:
- Brilliant first impressions – how to grab attention immediately and impressively
- Proving our value–add – how to persuasively articulate our value-add, so we impress everyone we speak with
- Differentiating ourselves – how to ensure we stand-out as different to – and better than – the competition
I asked her why she liked them. A summary of her feedback (in bullet points, of course!) was:
- Key point upfront – each bullet’s short summary upfront meant she could skim-read them first. That gave a good overview. She then read the detail of the bullet(s) she was most interested in
- Punchy writing – there were enough words, so it made sense. But not too many – or the Bullet Point would have been a Bullet Rant
- It’s unusual, so it stands out – she said: “I haven’t seen bullets written like this before. So it stood out as different. And how often do we see things that are different? Sadly, not often”
- Minimal bullets – every point was relevant. She asked if I’d considered including others, and chosen not to. Which was very astute – that’s exactly what I’d done
I wasn’t expecting to do a Tuesday Tip on bullet points.
Who would?
But I thought the feedback was insightful and useful. I hope you do too! Please let me know…
Action Point
If you like this way of doing bullet points… use it.