Writing Skills
Without some skill in writing, reports will appear unprofessional. The good news is that writing skills can be improved. Check with learning centers, universities, community colleges, or continuing education centers if you want to brush up on your skills. The fees are low, and you can find courses that concentrate on business writing. Libraries in some cities have set up adult education programs, as have nonprofit organizations. Of course, you can always go back to school. Online schools, such as the University of Phoenix, have classes designed to teach writing, not necessarily leading to a degree. However, should you want a degree, an online program provides flexibility for the working professional.
If you have a learning disability or an aversion to writing, hire someone to make sense of your reports. Nothing turns a client away faster than slipshod report writing. How can anyone know whether unseen aspects of your business are professional if the part that is visible, your report, is weak, unorganized, sloppy, or full of misspellings?
Investigative report writing consists of the six basics taught in school:who, what, where, when, why, and how. Your investigation answers these questions. If you can't articulate who you investigated, what you found, where, when, and how you found it, and why it's important to your case, your investigative efforts are of little use to any client.
Today's private investigator can't throw a case together and rush to the next. Because information is his business, he must be capable of relaying that information in a clear manner. Professionally written communication, or the lack of it, can directly determine the size of fees that clients are willing to pay.
