Business Courtesy and E-mail Attachments

Sending of arbitrary e-mail attachments in a business environment without notice is inconsiderate.  Why you ask?

Contrary to what popular belief seems to be, you should not just attach anything, at any time,  to an e-mail and click Send. Well, you can physically do so but that doesn’t mean you should.  You could reformat your hard drive and erase all your files too, but you don’t do that do you?

Not all files are meant to go through the e-mail pipeline. High resolution photos, PowerPoint and Excel files come to mind. And what if the other side doesn’t have PowerPoint or is on a Mac? You would know this if you asked first.

Building business relationships is about courtesy and respecting others time. I receive on average of 10 highly formatted resumes, Power Point presentations, Excel spreadsheets and RFQs every day of the week. No where on any of my sites do I even hint that I’m hiring. I’m not — I’m a one woman show!

Power Point presentations and RFQs for me to quote projects (that one can tell are being forwarded to numerous parties without respect for anyone’s time) certainly doesn’t lend to me viewing these folks as those I will be able to work with efficiently. Especially considering I am clear about my time constraints and how I work on my site that was either not read or just ignored. Blindly sending these type of attachments — without any personal comments directed specifically to me or my services, does not encourage me to consider these projects. Actually it is a big fat red flag.

Another bad habit that is becoming increasingly apparent is because we are working evenings or on weekends that we think can send unasked for attachments to others who most certainly are not in the office.  Refrain from sending files of any kind, especially the ones megs in size, outside of business hours when the other side is most likely not there to receive your files. The exception would be if you had a previous discussion with the recipient and let them know you would be sending the attachment outside of business hours and they were okay with that.

Before you send your attachments always ask who you are sending to what format works for them and when would be the best time to do so to ensure they are there to download them and keep their e-mail flowing. 

While some may think they can send attachments when it is convenient to them alone, it really isn’t a choice. It’s proper technology use with a dash of courtesy. Ask first… That’s all you have to do to be viewed as a business onliner who gets it, wants to get it and thinks of others besides themselves.  That’s called tech savvy!

Some More Info for You:

1. Unannounced Business E-mail Attachments
2. Top 3 E-mail Attachment Considerations
3. Business E-mail Attachment Reminder
4. Ask Before Attaching Huge Business Files
5. Business E-mail Courtesy and Politeness