Business E-mail and TANSTAAFL

When I first went online well over a decade ago, TANSTAAFL was the first acronym I ran into that I had no idea what it meant.

Most know about the commonly used acronyms like LOL (Laugh Online or Laugh Out Loud) and FYI (For Your Information). There are a ton of acronyms in existence that are not used as much (or used only within groups of folks who know what they mean) so to use them arbitrarily wouldn’t be a good idea.

When using acronyms in your business e-mail only do so sparingly. The “if you wouldn’t do it on business letterhead…” rule applies here too. Taking this approach helps to allow you stand out from the rest who take shortcuts thereby minimizing the professionalism and clarify of their business e-mails.

You also need to consider if the person other side will know what that acronym means. Otherwise what’s the point? Be very careful to not use acronyms with those you don’t know very well because you don’t know what they know and cannot assume they’ll understand your abbreviations. Acronyms are a very informal mode of communicating and when used in the wrong venue could be viewed as inappropriate or distract from the intent or meaning of your e-mail message.

A good rule of thumb is to use acronyms sparingly while always keeping in mind the intended party and situation. These are just a handful of acronyms I’ll use and only in less formal communications with those I’ve communicated with for some time:

BTW = By the way

TIA = Thanks in advance

HTH = Hope this helps

FWIW = For what it’s worth

LOL = Laugh out loud

If you are not sure of what an acronym stands for, use my favorite site:

AcronymFinder.com

HTH!

BTW, TANSTAAFL stands for “There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch”. And boy does that apply to business success!

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!

Before You Click Send…

So many misunderstandings because of misinterpreted intent happen in business e-mail every single day. Many who experience these situations end up stopping by BusinessEmailEtiquette.com and ask for my help and advice.

Usually at fault is one side or the other not paying attention to what they are doing (inadvertently sending to the wrong contacts) or rushing through the typing their e-mails (not spell checking or ensuring proper tone is relayed).

We all need to slow down and take a deep breath! E-mail is one thing that never benefits from a rushed approach.

On this very site I have available the Top Business E-mail Basics that folks who come to this site seeking answers do not read and instead e-mail me their questions about. These issues can go along way to avoiding unnecessary misunderstandings in your business e-mail while allowing you to look like the professional that you are.

Read and apply! HTH!

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