Respect Your Business Contact’s Time
How you email will provide a window into how you run your business. A successful business includes a healthy does of efficiency. Efficiency is critical to growing and nurturing relationships and new opportunities.
Making certain efforts accomplishes this. And shows that you do in fact respect and value the time of those who you communicate with.
This week I had one client’s email thread go beyond 20 emails. All on the same subject. Much of which was due to just sending one thought at a time in lieu of providing all the information they were seeking answers to from the start.
Be Concise
Take your time to gather your thoughts before emailing and clicking Send. You want to do your best to ensure that you can convey your message in one concise email.
All too often I see business onliners sending off one sentence thoughts. Followed by another, then another, then another, then another…
Is that how you run your business? One random thought at time? No, you plan and strategize.
Be Thorough
Make your best effort to provide the details you believe the other side will need. It certainly doesn’t build confidence to type a one-liner email and then a moment later communicate a clarifying message. All because you obviously didn’t think the entire topic through.
Doesn’t lend to the perception that you run a ship-shape-shop does it? Makes one wonder what else you may be possibly winging.
Disorganized
This communication style reflects the inability to organize your communications. Unorganized businesses make doing business with them more difficult. Who gravitates toward that?
When bombarding the other side with unorganized blurbs you make communicating with you a chore. Your goal should be the exact opposite.
It benefits all sides to take the time to ensure smooth communications with the least amount of emails possible. By being diligent, detailed and thoughtful. Doing so will avoid the negative perception of your organizational and communication abilities.
Not to mention this additional time spent will help to avoid unnecessary emails — and misunderstandings. And the other side more work, emails and effort.
Cover All the Bases
When you send requests to others, think the whole topic through to ensure you are sending one email that covers all the bases. As much as possible at the time.
There will always be questions and requests for additional information. However, when you do your best to anticipate that as much as possible you show that you are a contact that will be easy and reliable to work with.
You’ll show a respect for the other side’s time that will most certainly be appreciated. As an added benefit you will actually be able to organize your own emails better — because there will be less of them!
