Business Owners, Please Proofread Your Print Material

DISCLAIMER: I am not perfect. I misspell words all the time. This is just a heads-up to anyone who has their name associated with anything in print because those words are a direct reflection of your business. Now, with that being said, here's my story:

I got home from the office the other day to find a business flyer hanging from my front door. As I approached the door, I was thinking "Chinese Delivery? Candidate/politician? Pest Control? Eviction Notice?"

I was wrong on all counts: it was an advertisement for a roofing company. They were working on a house on the next block and, as businesses do, they were trying to drum up more business in the area (you have to admire their marketing tactics!).

I have no problem with people leaving flyers on the door - it gives me an opportunity to reach out if I need their services, and I always have the option of throwing the advertisement in the recycle bin.

I saw that the ad was for a roofer, which made me take notice: the storm we got a while back tore some shingles from the roof, so maybe this was my sign to get something done about the damage. I was interested - until I read the flyer.

No one proofread this thing. Run-on sentences, no punctuation, misspelled words - the flyer was painful to read.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to shame anyone (if I were, I would have left the name and phone number for all to see), it's just that: 1) I would hope that the business owner, if not well-versed in grammar, would reach out to someone who is well-versed in putting together sentences before this thing got printed and 2) I would hope that this flyer was printed in someone's garage because if this comes from a local printer, I would be leery of using them.

I would assume that this company does fine work. I drove by the job site listed on the flyer and it's a good-looking roof! The yard was clean with no debris or tire tracks and, as the flyer stated, they have a good rating on the Better Business Bureau's website. Their website is easy to navigate and it looks great - very professional. But, this flyer hurts my brain (and I just have a high-school education).

Business owners, please use a reputable printer (Hulco and Lowry's do great work) or at least run the flyer proof by a friend or two before clicking "Print", it could get you more business.