STAFF BIOS THAT AREN’T BLAH

A current client asked me to rewrite the staff bios they use on their website and in printed items. Some of them were out of date. Some didn’t make a whole lot of sense. Some lost track of the bio’s relationship to the goals of the firm. They lacked a consistent voice and tone, and, well, they felt a bit trite and forced. For this small business, full of heart, the owners wanted to introduce their staff to potential clients in ways that echoed the businesses’ brand and celebrated the staff members, using language that was interesting and inviting to read.

I enjoyed meeting each of the staff members, interviewing each for about 20 minutes. During our time together, I asked lots of questions, and ended up with great notes, capturing each of their unique traits and the different ways they each found themselves in the industry.

There’s nothing formulaic about the bios I wrote. They are dynamic and creative and communicate the businesses values without overtly stating them. Now, the bios really do show these staff members to be a cohesive team, and well-suited to work at this particular business and for their particular clients.

This is the kind of simple change that can make a real difference. Bios are one more way to tell clients what kind of experience they’ll have with your business, and you certainly don’t want them thinking you’re just like everybody else. Nobody wants to read a resume in paragraph form. People want to feel like they learned something about a person when they read about them, and not just their history, but also their energy and interests and motivations.