Dear High Achiever:
I haven’t counted lately but, I easily send/receive over fifty emails a day. Actually, I’m certain it’s closer to triple digits. Most of my emails are sent to schedule a conference call, for a client consultation, or to set up a selling opportunity.
I start off following fairly standard email etiquette rules. And generally I stick to these standard email rules until I’m certain I’ve developed a personal relationship with the recipient. Then I loosen up and share a bit more of myself through my own flair of spacing, hyphens & punctuation … Get it? It’s a personal style that I like and often get favorable comments about.
For Your Information & Benefit: I’m listing my top 15 email etiquette rules/tips. (There are more. Master these first.)
Top 15
Email Etiquette Rules/Tips:
1. Be concise and to the point
2. Use proper spelling, grammar & punctuation
3. Make it personal
4. Do not overuse the “high priority” option
5. Do not write in CAPITALS
6. Read the email before you send it
7. Be careful using abbreviations and emoticons
8. Be careful with formatting
9. Do not ask to recall a message.
10. Do not copy a message or attachment without permission
11. Do not use email to discuss confidential information
12. Use a meaningful subject
13. Use active instead of passive
14. Avoid using URGENT and IMPORTANT
15. Avoid long sentences
Ask the Post Office. It’s no big secret that emails, text messages and instant messaging have quickly become and are likely to be the cornerstone of our communication for who knows how long. So the quality of your written messages is as equally important as the quality of your voice messages — which probably could use some fine tuning as well, so let me address that sore spot for a moment:
“Your call is important to us.“ Oh sure. Then let me talk to a human being NOW. I can hardly believe it when I call someone and their voice message states, “I’m either on my phone or away from desk.” Or, they tell me what day it is and every item and business meeting in their Outlook calendar. You and I don’t care about someone else’s schedule and we don’t care if they are on the phone or in the restroom. What we do care about is how quickly they get back to us.
You’ve got mail - and opportunity. You and I have a tremendous opportunity to create positive impressions with every message we deliver. The voice message thing is so ubiquitous that, when we get a dumb earful, we pretty much suck it up and move on. But the written word - even, and maybe especially, the quickly-tossed-off email message - is one of the most overlooked opportunities for branding and marketing on the planet. When I say marketing, I don’t mean in-your-face selling with every message. I mean subtle and unobtrusive, yet effective.
Two simple examples: One I use every day, the other at least once a week. Both have created thousands of dollars of revenue for me and have assisted me in starting and maintaining long term relationships with like-minded people, many who started out as prospects, became clients and are now personal friends. There is nothing better than doing business with like-minded positive people who are also friends. It makes going to work like a day at the beach.
Example #1: Every day I get two to ten comments on my signature at the end of my email messages. Every comment is positive, fun and/or inquisitive. It starts a different dialogue and takes our relationship to a more personal level. At the very minimum it is setting an expectation and branding me as an upbeat, positive guy - It’s intentional. Here it is:
Make it your “Best Year Ever!”
Eric Taylor
Chief Inspiration Officer
732.761.9930 ext. 114 - Energized Office
732.761.0064- Fast Fax
Self Improvement Online, Inc.
Empowerment Group International
This signature does four very important things. Its sets a level of expectation for the person reading it … It sets an accountability level for me … It brands me (Chief Inspiration Officer) and my product(s) - especially the Best Year Ever! Program … It promotes two very important websites. I’m getting a lot of bang for my buck in every single email I send. In summary, this standard signature close:
•· Sets Expectations
•· Provides Branding
•· Is Positive, Fun, Energetic
•· Creates revenue
I like that.
I also create this weekly e-letter (I guess you noticed.) But here is what is important about my e-newsletter. Each message of mine (and Geoff’s) is between 800 to 1,200 words, the perfect amount of words that Google likes when they send their spiders crawling for content. You see, each FYI I write for you, is also an article that I can submit to hundreds of other websites looking for good content. This means that at the end of each year I have 52 articles spread out all over the web.
Now, you may be asking, “Well, what is so important about that?”
Fair question. Besides the thousands of FYI subscribers reading the newsletter each week, there are potentially thousands of others reading the article somewhere else on the web. Of course I love that my stuff is being read. But what’s equally as important is the second example I want to share with you.
Example #2: If you’ve noticed, at the end of each of my FYI newsletters is a short bio with my title, links to my websites and a description of what I do. Here it is:
Go Out and Make it YOUR “Best Year Ever!”
Eric Taylor is the Chief Inspiration Officer of SelfGrowth.com and founder of New Jersey based Empowerment Group International. He delivers more than 100 energized and interactive keynotes, workshops and seminars each year to corporations, associations and tradeshows. He is the author of the Energy Passport, Co-creator of the Best Year Ever! Personal Empowerment Program and Co-author of The Complete Sales Training Encyclopedia. Eric can be reached at 732.761.9930 ext.114 or email Eric@SelfGrowth.com or Eric@EmpowermentGroup.com.
Just a pile of “birdseed” that no one reads? Nope. Not by a long shot. If you’ve been with us for a while this may have become kind of invisible to your eye. But it’s news to every new reader. And it has “tickler value” for all you regulars who may have a notion that I offer other services than a personal development newsletter. In a nutshell then, it’s a free commercial that generates thousands of dollars in product sales and speaking gigs.
So here’s my Chief Inspiration Officer challenge and question for you: What can you do in your emails and email signature to elevate your prospects, clients and friends perception of you? How can you enhance your personal branding and marketing right now? You CAN jazz up your signature — even if you are a toll-booth attendant on the New Jersey Turnpike (perhaps Chief Director of EZ-Pass Removal Committee makes sense?)
Start making positive impressions today. And have some fun while doing it. If your voice message is as bad or boring as your email signature you have an opportunity. Just think, with a cool email signature (and maybe with a tweaked voice mail message) you have the opportunity to brighten up someone’s day even when you’re “on the phone or away from my desk.”
Go Out and Make it YOUR “Best Year Ever!” - I get two promo’s today!
Eric Taylor is the Chief Inspiration Officer of SelfGrowth.com and founder of New Jersey based Empowerment Group International. He delivers more than 100 energized and interactive keynotes, workshops and seminars each year to corporations, associations and tradeshows. He is the author of the Energy Passport, Co-creator of the Best Year Ever! Success System and Co-author of The Complete Sales Training Encyclopedia. To get complete details about Eric’s background, his products and services, visit Eric Taylor’s Blog and review Eric Taylor’s Profile.