Professionalism in non-Business E-mail Situations

It is important that one take into consideration with each and every e-mail they send using their business e-mail address, what is appropriate from choice of words, to level of formality as well as intent and tone.

Especially, particularly and most importantly for business e-mail, there should be the highest concern for these issues. But what about e-mails that are not necessarily business oriented but require you be professional as well?

How about communicating with your children’s teachers and school personnel? These may not be “business” e-mails per se, however, how you choose to communicate with educators will give an indication as to what is important to you as a parent and a business owner.

Or how about when contacting a service provider or company for home repair work or services? Just as with your child’s teachers, they too will form an impression based on how you communicate with them. By keeping the networking mindset into play, you just never know who may be a new potential customer for you!

Do you e-mail or IM in curt or incomplete sentences? Does your tone reflect you feel your time is more important than theirs? Do you come off as one-sided or demanding?

Wouldn’t it be a shame if a service provider you hire makes note of your dot com e-mail address and visits your site to see that you offer a product or service they could use but your use of technology has already turned them off?

I understand we are all busy and that email and the IM environment is not conducive to much more than short blasts. I also understand that there is a big difference between business and personal communications. But when using your business e-mail address for non-business related communications, it is important you realize that how you act and how you communicate can reflect upon your business.

You need to communicate in full, grammatically correct sentences at all times when using your business e-mail address.

Showing courtesy and respect in your e-mails and IMs when communicating with other professionals on issue not directly related to your business, will speak volumes about what it may be like to do business with you. And may even land (or lose) you more business in the process!