Professionals are more pressed for time than ever. You must be able to deliver your message succinctly to cut through the noise and make your mark. Brevity is the new standard in business today, says author and entrepreneur Joseph McCormack.

In his new book Brief: Make a Bigger Impact by Saying Less, McCormack argues those who thrive in today’s attention-deficit economy are masters of lean communication, which gives them a competitive edge. Their ideas are heard loud and clear, and they always stand out from the crowd.

“Successful people demand brevity and don’t tolerate it when it’s missing,” writes McCormack. “Busy people quickly lose patience when their peers and subordinates cannot get to the point. If you’re buried under hundreds of emails and are in meetings all day, you don’t have time to waste on people droning on.”

Brevity is so much more than the conciseness of expression. It’s a fine balance between the length of the message and its ability to cause a person to act on it. According to the author, to craft brief and persuasive messages you must master three main areas: awareness, discipline and decisiveness.

Awareness

Brevity can be difficult to master for several reasons, so it’s important to be aware of the situation at hand. Perhaps you are overly confident in what you are saying or comfortable taking up the other party’s time. Sometimes it can boil down to sheer carelessness or unpreparedness. No matter the reason, it is essential to get to the point or risk losing your audience’s attention.

According to McCormack, the average person speaks about 150 words per minute, much fewer than the 750 words per minute the human brain can process. It’s easy to see how a listener’s mind can wander if you’ve failed to draw them in. Be sure to let the other person know what you’re about to say will only take a moment of their time, and be clear, concise and compelling. They’ll be less likely to tune out if they know your idea is packaged tightly.

Discipline

You need to exercise discipline when crafting your message. Preparing an outline of what you are going to say will keep you organized and increase your ability to put everything into context. Don’t be afraid to build in elements such as short stories or visuals, and incorporate humor if possible.

Plot out your BRIEF presentation using the following steps:

1. Background – Outline the background of why you’re speaking today


2. Relevance – Deliver the headline with your takeaway message


3. Information – Set out three key points or elements you’ll be discussing


4. Ending – Signal you’re finished and outline your next steps


5. Follow-Up – Anticipate any questions and finish by covering those points

When having a conversation, there are also ways to keep it on track and under control. Allow the other person to speak and listen with interest, and when a natural pause arises, jump in with open-ended questions to hone in on the information most important to you. Never approach a conversation like a monologue.

Decisiveness

Timing is everything, and knowing when and where to deploy a compact and quick statement can really pay off. Simple and intentional moves like keeping an email short enough it can be read in 30 seconds, or setting the time limit on a meeting to 20 minutes can dramatically increase engagement. In fact, McCormack notes if you say less, people are more likely to agree with you, which can pay big dividends on a sales call. Here’s 10 key moments when you should deploy a succinct strategy:

1. Meetings


2. Social media and email


3. Presentations


4. Sales Pitches


5. Explaining big ideas


6. Information conversations


7. Hiring interviews


8. Delivering good news


9. Delivering bad news


10. Giving updates

There’s a good reason that McCormack uses the catch phrase, “Be better. Be brief.” Distractions abound, so set yourself up to be heard.

“Treat brevity as responsibility, empathy and respect; become a lean communicator,” writes McCormack. “Imagine if you had something important to share with someone who was running out the door to catch a train with little time to spare. Treat all people like that, even when they’re not in a hurry.”