4 Reasons You Don’t Get What You Want When You Email.

Have you ever sent an email that has been misinterpreted? Have you ever asked someone to do something and instead they did:

• Something very different from you expected
• A lot less than you expected
• A lot more than you expected

You don’t need me to tell you this is a large drain on time / resources; a drain that’s exponentially compounded because now you also have to follow-up and correct the situation with your customers and/or co-workers. What a brand nightmare. It’s like tying an anvil to resources throughout your company including customer service, employee satisfaction, productivity targets and of course your companies revenues.

You are not alone… and fortunately you can economically cut that anvil loose.

This waste of time and resources happens to most people… most companies… everywhere… and here are 4 good reasons why. Most people:

1. Read email by skimming – hoping to find a nugget of information or an action item they can act on… quickly. In essence they speed read email.
2. Write email based on our own perspective, knowledge and needs – not our audiences. This is a huge problem.
3. Read their email through a ‘Preview Screen’. Studies have shown that close to 60% of people do this.
4. Write and read almost all their email on a Smartphone or PAD which:

• Restricts our ability to absorb information – especially long messages
• Causes us to be very too brief when writing messages – see points one and two

Based on this, when you write an email a large number of your email will not be understood and / or acted upon as you wanted. Is this acceptable?  I say no. It isn’t for me. But if half of the problem is how people read your email, can you as the email writer help them understand so you get what you want? I say yes. You do have almost 100% control.

You Have Control.

You have the ability to manage the outcome so it works in your favour – and that means you make a very good impression and you get what you want:

• When you want it
• The way you want it
• In less time (because you get your answer fast and correctly and with only one email)

If you’re managing people’s expectations and are considering your readers needs and environment, and using email etiquette techniques you can manage your readers expectations. You can help your reader understand your message so that you get what you want when you email. Trust me – that is something I know.

Imagine the amount of time lost if 10% of your email are not understood (received or read). Imagine the time it takes to send a follow-up email and to correct the situation. Imagine the impact it has on employee morale and customer satisfaction.

I’m serious – stop for a moment and think about how much is being lost across your job and across the company.

Conclusion:  Don’t let email be a drain on resources and productivity

Email communication doesn’t have to be a drain on time, resources or productivity is going to change – in fact pressures for all of us to do more with less time and fewer resources… even though this is causing individuals stress and company’s money in lost productivity and therefore ROI. We should be trying to do more with more… like the Apple Store. And in that case customers are lining up to buy their products.

Make sure that when you are writing email (or leaving voice messages), you don’t give away your power. You have control; don’t give away your ability to be relevant to your audience and therefore get what you want. The best way to satisfy your needs it to be careful to address the 4 reasons why your email are not understood.

As an email author it’s in your best interest to write in a way that will help you message be clearly – and easily understood so you meet your objectives. Your next goal when you communicate is to build relationships with your co-workers, customers and suppliers than your competitors.

Imagine work being easier. Imagine work being more productive.

Happy communicating.

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If you enjoyed this post we think you’ll like: Bruce on Canada AM, Build Client Trust and Effective Business Email Writing Training.

Bruce Mayhew Consulting facilitates business writing, email writing and email etiquette courses.

Give us a call. We’ll listen.

www.brucemayhewconsulting.com

Be Amazing… At Work.

We are all amazing in our own way.

In this post lets discuss some of the workplace advantages and opportunities to impress ourselves, our bosses and to improve customer satisfaction so that customers will never think to go anywhere else.

Why should you be amazing… at work?

Being amazing is very attractive… to your customers and your boss. By being amazing you will FEEL GREAT and Proud. You will also:

• Be more creative, innovative, adaptable, and therefore efficient
• Provide enviable (and hard-to-copy), customer service
• Save time (yours and your customers)
• Reduce costs (yours and your customers)

All of these benefits also make being amazing financially rewarding. However, if you hold back there’s no way you can be amazing and show your passion for your work. There’s no way to give yourself AND your company that competitive advantage.

What can you do to be amazing… at work?

Leave behind your hesitations. It doesn’t matter if you are an introvert or an extrovert; some of the common workplace hesitations that may be holding you back are as follows:

• Being amazing is the same as showing off – which is VERY different
• Being amazing takes more time – it often saves you time
• You don’t have the corporate freedom – in many cases I bet you do
• You don’t know how to be amazing in a respectful way – that can be fixed… starting here

A friend of mine would be quick to point out that this is a list of reasons and fears. He would also say, “Leave them behind. Overcome them” Instead of thinking of all these negatives, think about all of the possibilities where you can embrace creativity to create the future you want. Just go do it!

An example of a small safe step

Get your team together (or get a blank piece of paper by yourself). Your goal is to brainstorm amazing ways you can provide great customer service – there are likely hundreds. Let all ideas be good ideas. Then prioritize your list. When you’re done, choose one or two ideas to implement. Don’t try to implement them all at once.

You might need some help or some training to accomplish your idea(s). You might need to create a few new templates. You might have to move furniture around your office. Don’t let those things hold you back – Just go do it! As soon as you have the confidence to show your strengths there will be no stopping you and the financial and personal payback will be many times your time and / or monetary investment.

If you have read many of my blog posts you’ll know I often give practical applications. So, since I specialize in Effective Business Writing I’m going to show you two practical email examples of how you can be amazing (without being egotistical).

Since 90% of our business communication is via email – polishing your email writing is an easy win where training can have a large impact on your whole team.

Email Example 1:

Before…

Yes, we have the latest iPhone in stock.

After…

Yes, we have the latest iPhone in stock in white and black.

We only have two in black so I have put one aside for you. Is that the colour you wish?

Email Example 2:

Before…

Here is the latest report for Mondays meeting.

After…

Here is a pdf. of the latest Sales report for Mondays meeting. Our October and November sales are 22% above last year’s volumes. Lets explore ways to continue this growth.

In the After… messages you have managed expectations and found simple ways to be amazing by thinking about what your audiences needs. By being amazing you have:

• Made your expectations clear
• Managed everyone else’s expectations
• Saved YOUR time
• Saved your audiences time

That’s how you build relationships and create loyal customers. Take a look at your email messages. Do they say you are amazing? Do they say you are taking care of the people who depend on you?

Conclusion:

Let flexibility, creativity and innovation happen. Being amazing is the only sustainable strategy to create long-term value. Anything less can be immediately copied by your competitors.

How can you encourage everyone to be amazing? By always looking for creative ways to delight. Being creative for the sake of creativity only satisfies your needs. But, if your main goal is finding new ways to delight your customers… being amazing (being creative) will bring you much success.

Happy communicating.

Bruce Mayhew Consulting is based in Toronto and facilitates business writing, email writing and email etiquette courses.

We are… Strategic   Branded   Relevant

Other Interesting BMC Articles: What Is Communication?, Measure Training Effectiveness, An Email Style Guide; Should Your Company Have One? and Effective Business Email Writing Training.

Give us a call at 416 462 1473. We’ll listen.

www.brucemayhewconsulting.com

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Create A Team of… Director of First Impressions.

I was inspired to write this post after reading an article in Fast Company©. The article reminded me of a conversation I had a few months back with a past co-worker.

He was excited that the staff he hired was more educated than ever before – but frustrated because his budgets were cut so his ability to help these great new people learn the culture of the organization and be productive team members was near impossible.

So, to all of you in the same boat (as my dad would have said), I offer you this perspective.

Your employees are your most valuable – and probably your most expensive asset. They are central to every customer experience.

Your employees are busy:

• Finding your customers
• Answering questions / concerns
• Conducting marketing research
• Designing new products / services
• Invoicing and collecting
• and more…

Yet your financial success is hanging by a thread. To be successful your employees have to find a balance between doing their jobs and always making good first impressions.

Customer Relationships Are Built On Customer Experiences

Successful reputations are no longer created only by marketing strategies. Your brand is determined by how each customer / prospect ‘feels‘ after they have contact with your employees. Then they decide if they will do business with… your employees / your company.

First impressions are made in 1 to 4 minutes and people make these judgments as soon as they:

• Meet your employees
• Read an email from your employees
• Sit through a presentation by your employees
• Visit your website… designed by your employees

So it’s important all your employees know how to be Director of First Impressions – no matter what their job is.

Yet training to be a great Sales Person, Advertiser, Product Developer or Accountant doesn’t include how to manage expectations or make good first impressions. When did any of us receive communication training?

At university I learned a skill but not how to write a short, to-the-point email or to create and deliver professional presentations. At home my parents taught me about values and work ethics… but not business etiquette or email etiquette.

And the problem is getting worse. An associate of mine is teaching a college course and was instructed by the college to grade his class on how well they seem to understand the material – not their writing or presentation skills.

Communication Challenges Cause Customers & Employees To Leave

Our most valuable assets are trying to be their best to make the company profitable using their education and skills… but are being frustrated because they are having trouble building relationships and getting their work done. They might even be creating enemies along the way.

For both employees and customers this frustration begins soon after their professional relationships begin. Feelings of not being appreciated and of not being given the service or opportunities promised. This frustration starts your customers looking for a new service provider and your employers looking for a new employer. This means a drain to your ROI as the investment you’ve already made in your customers and employees will be lost.

We all know it’s more profitable to keep an existing customer rather than to find a new one. Frederick Reichheld of Bain & Company reports that acquiring a new customer can cost 6 to 7 times more than retaining an existing customer. A stat I’ve seen many times during my career.

It’s also more profitable to keep a talented employee than to find, hire and train a new one. William G. Bliss estimates the cost of losing an employee is 150 – 250% of their salary. He calculates that for a company with 10,000 employees the cost of turnover equals $75 million (or $750,000 for a company with 100 employees)!

Investing In Your Employees Is An Investment In Your Company

If these last two calculations are even half true, it’s clearly economical to invest in employees and help them learn the skills they didn’t learn in school – as we’ve discussed: How to be Directors of First Impressions.

The benefit is that employees want to be productive, fulfilled and they want some stability. They also are fully capable of building the relationships customers want. Employees just need a bit of help to know how to communicate well in this electronic world they do business in.

Happy communicating.

Other Interesting BMC Articles: Email Writing Training, Measure Training Effectiveness and Good Email Bad Email.

Give us a call at 416.617.0462. We’ll listen.

Bruce Mayhew Consulting is based in Toronto and facilitates business writing, email writing and email etiquette courses.

We are… Strategic   Branded   Relevant

bruce@brucemayhewconsulting.com

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An Email Style Guide; Should Your Company Have One?

Since over 90% of most business communication and relationships are managed via email, now might be the right time for you to have an email Style Guide. In other words… create a policy guide that will do many positive things like:

• Establish e-guidelines and expectations that help employees provide consistent professional service
• Empower everyone to demonstrate your company’s unique style, products / services, brand
• Unite your employees in a Team Building exercise
• Support all levels of your company and your customers

And to add even more benefit, an email Style Guide is also a powerful orientation tool to introduce new staff as well as suppliers / contract employees.

As you consider this path, your first few questions will likely be, “What is the process?” and ”What will we end up with?” Well the answer to both questions is quite simple. You can focus on policies that outline:

• “What People Can Do”  Or
• “What People Can Not Do”

Because we live in a judicial society (more stick than carrot), the more common approach is unfortunately the later. My advice as a Toronto based consultant who provides email writing training, is that you choose the flexible approach and create a Style Guide that will be a positive influence and act as a guideline – not a rulebook. By focusing on “What People Can Do” you benefit by empowering your employees to make the right choices in many different situations.

Should Your Company’s Email Style Guide Be Custom?

Another question you might have is “Can I buy an off-the-shelf solution?“

To answer that question you need to look internally. Your products / services are unique. Your customer service is unique. Your mission, vision and values are unique. The way you do business and your unique value proposition is different from your competitors. Your customer mix and their needs are unique. So, should your email Style Guide be unique?

The way I am positioning this you already know I believe your email Style Guide should be unique to your company. Here is more detail why.

Your brand reputation is one of your most valuable assets – and because you and your employees communicate 90% of the time via email, it’s one of the most visible ways to live your brand… every minute of every day.

Using another company’s Style Guide is like moving into a neighbours home. Even in Toronto that just isn’t done. In a business environment, if you use policies that are not your own you force a disconnect between your core competencies, your customer service and your customer expectations. That disconnect will be felt every minute of every day by your employees and your customers… and that will result in you losing both employees and customer from frustration (both of which negatively impact ROI).

With virtually no more work this is also your opportunity to define your companies unique style for all electronic based communication be it email, email marketing, presentations, websites etc. Because they are all in the electronic world – they all pretty much follow the same guidelines.

By building your own email Style Guide you will also get maximum team-building benefit by seeing this process as a unique organization-wide opportunity. The benefit is to let all employees have impact – to allow everyone to join together and build a document that represents all that is best about your company / employees / product / service. That said, most companies will want to establish a design team, (a body of people who will collect and evaluate employee feedback with the corporate culture and corporate mission and vision for the future).

What Should Your Email Style Guide Include?

There is no definitive email style guide rulebook that must be followed to the letter. Every company is unique and as I suggested I believe your email Style Guide should be designed to match the unique corporate culture.

But, it’s nice to have a starting place, so the following offers a sample of email etiquette categories to be addressed.

1. Support The Visual / Readability:

• Agreed upon email signature structure
• Social Media references and graphics
• Agreed upon fonts, colours and layouts

2. How to Support Your Brand:

• Tag line
• Demonstrate corporate values and customer service promise
• How to treat ethnicity, gender, religious or racial references

3. Structure /  Composition:

• When to use To, Cc… and Bcc…
• How to quickly address the essential information (get to the point)
• How to manage multiple topics and / or multiple audiences

Conclusion

As you plan your email Style Guide and who will help you with this important project I offer you this one last tip.

In most cases when someone reads your email they are making a choice to invest their valuable time and talent. In almost every case the decision to read or not read your email is based on your email etiquette and the following:

• Your past email reputation (for being relevant, to the point, well written and polite)
• Your subject line
• What they see within the preview screen  (which is usually only the first few lines of your message). In fact – many people even answer based on those first few lines only

Make sure you create a helpful guide that everyone at your company uses to demonstrate they respect their audiences time as much as they respect their own time. If they do, your employees – and your company will be rewarded with respect, loyalty, better work relationships and greater ROI.

Imagine work being easier. Imagine work being more productive.

Happy communicating.

Click here to join our priority list of people who receive our latest Business Communication blog posts.

If you enjoyed this post we think you’ll like: Email Writing Training, Measure Training Effectiveness and Good Email Bad Email.

Bruce Mayhew Consulting facilitates business writing, email writing and email etiquette courses.

Give us a call at 416 617 0462. We’ll listen.

www.brucemayhewconsulting.com