It may take you days to write a proposal, or organize your thoughts for a presentation. But the busy person you are writing for -the new client or customer, corporate executive or investment banker- more than likely has only ten minutes to spare.

Whether launching a new product, fishing for an investor, or introducing your company to a purchasing manager at a trade fair, you must be able to make your information leap to the top of the stack of faxes and overnight letter-packages, media kits and leave-behinds that are competing for attention. One can no longer rely on a clever design or fancy folder to do the job. In an era of standardization and key-word searches, what matters most is what you say.

First you will be targeted. You will select the purpose of your profile. Are you seeking capital, contract, partner, or a client/customer? This is the anchor of your profile, and if you organize your information around the purpose you are seeking if you target it to your audience (whether that be one person or thousands) you will naturally organize your presentation with that audience in mind.

Then you will be persuasive. You should hone your writing style, organize your thoughts into appropriate subject categories and zero in on the information that is most likely to persuade your audience to respond favorably.

Finally you will be brief. Your final document should fit on a single page, or two, including optional paragraph headers, your company logo and address.

A writing tool is only half complete in this multimedia world, if it does not assist you to take your company to the next level, a kind of primer on style, that practically shakes hands with your audience -that puts your company profile on their desktops, in their briefcases, and in their faces.

The more you write, rewrite and refine your company profile -the more you think through your information, the words you use and your purpose -the more likely you are to find your Company Profile sitting on the top of your recipients in-box.