Professionals Do Not Forward E-mails Without Comment

Almost daily I receive a business e-mails that are forwarded without any comment from the Sender. Am I to take action? Do you have a question? Is your time more important than mine that you don’t feel you need to take the time to type a nice greeting, a simple sentence or two in regard to why you are forwarding that information and what you would like me to do with it?

In the course of going through this morning’s e-mails through my WordPress Consulting company, I received four such forwards today. All four, I assume, want me to do something with the information within the e-mail. But if I assume incorrectly — and that has happened — about what they want me to do (or more accurately assume I would do), I’ve wasted my time.

Unfortunately, if I assume incorrectly from the client’s point of view, I am not to charge for my time to redo what it is they really wanted that they didn’t take the time to verbalize. So, as a policy, I do not consider forwarded e-mails a “work order” or direction to do what I assume should be done and to charge accordingly.

I’ve had that happen in the past. “I didn’t know you would do all that…” or “I didn’t know what was involved…” because I took action based on the e-mail they forwarded with no comment or direction. That’s where including comments like: “Hey, Judith — can you check this out and let me know what is involved? Thanks for your help!” works wonders. Heck, it took me only a couple seconds to type that!

In most cases, I consider forwards without comments and FYI — to be filed away for future reference. If the topic is that which I know requires immediate action, to avoid any possible misunderstanding, I then send a follow-up e-mail asking for specific direction. An e-mail that could have been avoided if the Sender had just taken the time — and courtesy — to let me know why they were forwarding and what they wanted me to do.

The moral of this story is something many seem to forget. Part of business e-mail etiquette is not just thinking about how time strapped you are at the moment. It includes thinking about the person on the other side — who, by the way — may be just as time strapped as you are.

Business professionals know that no one person’s time is more valuable than another persons. You build solid business relationships by not being “all about me” but by considering the other side and reflecting that by taking the time necessary to type a simple sentence or two to ensure your requests or inquiries are explained and understood.

How do you handle e-mails that are forwarded to you without any comment as to why they are being forwarded to you?