How To Send And Receive Less Email

This year most of my email training clients have had the same main request; they want their employees to learn how to email effectively so that they send and receive fewer email. And no wonder since the average business person sends and receives over 100 email every day… many over 300 every day.

Email was once seen as a tool that would increase efficiencies and competitive opportunity. Today email is a great business tool we can’t do without. But more and more we’re using it as a crutch instead of as a catapult.

Email Icon (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The challenge is that the way we write email is decreasing our efficiencies, easily costing companies $3,000 or more PER employee every year in loss of productivity and opportunity lost… not to mention the loss to their personal and professional reputation.

How much time we spend emailing every day is astonishing. For example: if a person sends and receives 100 email during an 8-hour day (not accounting for lunch, breaks or meetings), they use email every 4.8 minutes.  If they send and receive 300 email they use email every 1.6 minutes. imagine…

Thankfully there are a easy steps we can all learn to use that will reduce email volume and be more efficient at work; here are just a few.

Use The Phone Or Walk Down The Hall

Sometimes even the most professional email is not the right solution. If we’re wondering how to email, the best strategy may be to pick up the phone – especially if there are issues that need to be brainstormed. The bonus is that conversations often build better business relationships and usually take less time.

Consider All Of Your Needs – And All Of Your Readers Needs

Too often we write email as a single thought – not a complete need or objective. Over an extended period of time (and countless email interruptions), we send email messages back and forth until we finally have discussed or shared (perhaps with some frustration), all the important points. When you write email, learn to bottom line your objectives and stick to the important issues – but cover all of them at once.

Write Great Email Subject Lines

Email subject lines are used as a primary resource readers use to determine if they will read your email now, later or never. Subject lines are also the first opportunity for you to make an impression. If you leave the subject line blank – or use a universal word like ‘Sale’ or ‘Meeting’, you risk being overlooked – all the time.

Value Your Values

Employees should know without hesitation the corporate and department values. They should also know how they can use these values to differentiate the company and themselves every time they write email or speak with clients, suppliers or their co-workers.

Conclusion

Email training is a fast and efficient way to turn email back into a catapult for your employees and business. When you know how to email, it’s a powerful business tool and a very sound investment.

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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What is Empathy?

I was recently asked ‘What is empathy?’ and ‘How might empathy at work impact business and business communication?’ They are great questions so I thought I would explore them here with you.

Empathy is the ability to ‘imagine’ what it would be like to experience what another person is experiencing. Empathic people are intuitive and often sense the unspoken needs, emotions or tensions of people. That said, it doesn’t mean empathic people agree with what they are sensing.

Empathic people often have terrific people skills and enjoy working with and helping people. In these cases an empathetic person becomes a knight in shining armour – coming to the rescue.

While empathy is a valuable business communication (or parenting), asset – it can also be a business challenge. It’s important for employees to always realize it’s important to care for the integrity of the business (brand, quality and reputation), while they support its customers / suppliers / employees. Therefore the empathic employee must look for the immediate value as well as the long-term value of all sides of every relationship.

Empathy Isn’t A Weakness

Empathy is sometimes seen as a weakness – an opportunity to take advantage of the caring person or company. While the manipulation of anyone is possible, there’s no good reason to isolate empathy as a character weakness.

The reality is that many great leaders have great empathic skills. Empathy is an asset because it allows great leaders to accurately motivate staff to perform in a way that satisfies both company and individual (staff and leader), objectives.

After reading Steve Jobs biography I expect he was quite empathetic (he always seemed to know what someones wants / needs were). But Steve Jobs had virtually no compassion for people so was often hard on those around him (family being a wavering exception). On the flip side, Steve seems to have had much compassion for the products he was involved in building and the customers (as a mass market), he was ‘helping’.

Compassion And Other Closely Related Character Traits

Many strong, empathic people are aware of the symbiotic relationship between other related character traits. For example, important to empathy are core competency (a person’s ability to do their job), values and job satisfaction.

Compassion (or caring), is also important because compassion can motivate the empathic person to take action and to use their people skills. A person who says “I see” or “Tell me more about that” is demonstrating they care for what the other person is feeling, knowing and / or experiencing. If the other person doesn’t feel sincerity it’s likely they will not be as open as they could or would like to be.

Empathy Example 1.

Bob is a carpenter who is proud of the decks he builds and personally designs them to meet the needs of his clients. His empathy and compassion help him focus on things competitors overlook or don’t care about (for example making sure clients can’t trip when entering the house from their deck).

Bob has decided to get a part-time job and finds one at a hardware store; the fit seems complementary. During his shift there is a constant flow of homeowners who ask questions related to building their own decks. When Bob gives the customers advise they often ask for short cuts.

It doesn’t take long before his boss notices Bob is visibly frustrated and raises this as a customer service issue.

Bob is still an empathic person but he is also proud of his ability (core competency), and his finished product. The challenge is that because many customers are looking for short cuts he feels he and his profession are not being respected.

Certainly some changes need to be made if Bob is to remain a valuable employee – and lets face it – he has great value. There are many possible solutions… for example Bob may be better suited to be a special support representative for other contractors or to give demonstration classes.

Empathy Example 2.

Mrs. Smith calls your Customer Service Hotline after receiving a book she ordered online for her husband as a birthday gift. She realizes she mistakenly ordered the wrong issue but your company is now sold-out of the issue she needs.

Possible Non-Empathy Solution; Customer Service Representative Speaking:

“That’s unfortunate Mrs. Smith. We are sold-out of that issue and not expecting stock for 1 month.

Please return the book you did order and I will see you get a full credit. You can re-order the book you want in a month.”

Possible Empathic Solution; Customer Service Representative Speaking:

”That’s unfortunate Mrs. Smith. We are sold-out of that issue and not expecting stock for 1 month.

May I suggest a book from the author XYZ – I see that people who have been reading ABC have quite enjoyed this new author. I can have XYZ’s best selling book to you in two days and it might give your husband a new favourite author. We can also pre-order the volume you wanted which means your husband will have another surprise in a month.

Please return the book you did order and I will see you get a full credit.”

What happened here was that the book wasn’t the problem. The problem was she didn’t have a birthday gift for her husband… and that she had made a mistake. But being empathetic and having compassion for Mrs. Smiths situation enabled you to resolve her problem, secure an additional sale and likely – create a customer for life that will positively tell other people about your brand and company.

Conclusion

By using empathy and knowing how to be compassionate within your business communication you can often quickly get to what happened and explore why. Customer service, customer retention and employee job satisfaction will also soar. You may find that ‘the situation’ is often just a symptom of another business issue… so if we can work with the customer to uncover the other issue we can often find a better solution to a much different problem… easily.

What Are Good Careers For Empathic People?

• Customer Service Professional
• Physical therapist
• Counselor
• Psychologist
• Teacher / Professor

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, Core Values, 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

Does Customer Service Live In Corporate Values?

Everywhere I turn I see articles and books about corporate values. I also see more and more companies defining their values as well as training, nurturing and rewarding employees who demonstrate corporate values. Hallelujah! 

What have been key ingredients in most entrepreneur and family businesses are being fully embraced and recognized as important elements of a successful company. Giants like Starbucks and Apple are showing that adoption pays off. Yet I suggest we have to be careful to recognize corporate values are not the end game but an important part of a healthy strategic marketing plan.

I want to share a recent experience I had with a supplier whose employees do well at demonstrating their values… but the company is missing critical elements to make customer service (and customer loyalty), live.

Before we start, lets define what we should be looking for to rate customer service high. For me, customer service lives through many things including our:

• Employees’ abilities
• Employees’ values
• Corporate values
• Corporate policies
• Corporate employee empowerment
• Product / service
• Delivery system

You may have a few more to add to the list (like… ability to innovate and diversity), and that’s great. Customer service is a balance of many soft and hard skills that combine to define your brand reputation and long-term profitability.

My Example

For many years I’ve enjoyed the service of a large, popular ‘Business Supply Store’. I used (past tense), them for pretty much everything which includes printing the participant guides for the Business Writing / Business Email Etiquette courses I deliver.

Their staff have been terrific; they’ve been polite, happy, knowledgeable and helpful. Unfortunately, things started to slide a few months ago… then last week came.

Last week I needed one 8.5 x 11 colour copy of new campaign I was building. As always, I brought them a USB memory stick with a pdf of the required document.  The print specialist informed me that to insert the USB stick into their computer would now cost $3.50. I could avoid the $3.50 by going back to my office and emailing them the file.  Really? Go back to the office to email them?

Out of immediate need I gave her the go ahead.  Within seconds she inserted the drive and opened my pdf.

Now, let’s be clear that it’s not the money. I don’t mind paying for service but don’t like being taken advantage of.

Did I complain? Yes – I mentioned my views to the print specialist and the Manager including that they were about to lose my business.  What happened?  NOTHING!  They said they were sorry but it was a new policy from corporate and they didn’t have authority to override it.

Fast Forward: The End Of The Week

I found an independent printer a few blocks away to print the finished campaign (alternate solutions are everywhere).

But the real loser wasn’t me… or my $3.50 (plus tax), or even all my printing business. The real loser was a long-term relationship and my respect for the ‘Business Supply Store’. I’m also disappointed how they treat their staff.  Not only are customers being taken advantage of… their staff seem to have no opportunity to use their judgment.

Side comment: I believe well hired – and well-trained employees should be empowered to make straight forward decisions and to make a problem situation right… especially the first time a loyal customer runs into a new… ‘policy’.

What We Can Take Away From This

We get a chance to make a first impression every time we have an interaction. Every time we speak with or write to our customers / co-workers we set the stage for how successful that interaction will be and establishes expectations for the next interaction. Example: If I have a great interaction I want to go back and I want to tell people about it; and if I have a bad interaction I want to stay away… and perhaps tell people about it.

We’ve talked before about how it’s cheaper to keep good customers – customers who will refer you to their friends.

• In a time when companies are begging for loyal, hard-working employees who give great customer service – what is wrong with this case study?

• In a time when companies are begging for loyal customers who will make more – and hopefully larger purchases in the future – what is wrong with this case study?

Imagine how this could all be different if the company was looking beyond having a greeter at the door but included employees and customers in discussions about all aspects of their product development, customer care, corporate values, policies and service delivery.

Imagine the possibilities when we consider all of the places customer service lives.

Conclusion

If you want your employees to invest a lot in your business and your customers – you have to invest a lot in them… and trust them.  If you want your customers to invest a lot in you – you have to invest a lot in them… and respect them.

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: 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 at 416 617 0462. We’ll listen.

www.brucemayhewconsulting.com

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• Be Amazing… At Work. (brucemayhew.wordpress.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

Don’t forget to Subscribe to this blog (upper right side). Your email address will be confidential and well-respected.

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

Customer Service: What Does It Mean?

I think it’s ironic I’m most satisfied with the customer service at Starbucks™ – a place I spend very little money. It’s not at my telecom where I spend considerably more. Not my gym, my grocery store or a handful of other service providers.

The good news is that the National American Customer Satisfaction Index reports that since 2001 customer satisfaction has been on a slow incline (after many years of decline).

I’d like to think businesses are once again realizing long-term profitability (and Return On Investment / ROI), is driven from investing wisely in customer relationships – and that investment means a renewed focus on their customers, their employees and the company.

The pay-off for those companies is that customers are noticing. And no wonder. Customers love to know someone is looking out for their best interests.

How Does A Company Improve Customer Satisfaction?

I believe customer satisfaction is a combination of Managing Customer Expectations and Exceptional Customer Service. What do these trendy catch phrases mean?

The definition I work with and follow in my communication training is that they have to meet the following:

First – Managing Expectations and Exceptional Customer Service have to be outwardly focused. It’s about exceeding Your Audiences expectations – not yours – and your audience can be your clients, your co-workers or your boss.

Second – Managing Expectations and Exceptional Customer Service have to be recognized, appreciated and valued by your audience every time you communicate.

Third – Managing Expectations and Exceptional Customer Service have to be flexible and meaningful. The right solution for ‘client A’ may not be the right solution for ‘client B’. As Starbucks says on their website ”It happens millions of times each week – a customer receives a drink from a Starbucks barista – but each interaction is unique.”

Fourth – Managing Expectations and Exceptional Customer Service have to be real. You can’t fake it… they have to represent the personal values of your employees and the values of the company… and support your customers values.

Fifth – Employees need to know what Managing Expectations and Exceptional Customer Service mean and that they are empowered to make a difference. Employees are motivated when they are encouraged and their successes celebrated.

Sixth – Managing Expectations and Exceptional Customer Service have to be cost-effective and sustainable – they can’t bankrupt the company. We all have to find place where ’demonstrating our best’ and ‘making it right’ also supports ROI, productivity and brand reputation.

We Have To Communicate Clearly And With Respect

It doesn’t matter if you are a lawyer, an account manager or a sales executive; your customers need to make decisions and they look to you for your professional advice. So, be clear when you communicate with them.

Help them understand what’s possible and what’s impossible.

One of the most common communication challenges I help clients overcome when I deliver Effective Email Writing training is Managing Expectations and Exceptional Customer Service. The following is an example of an email I received while writing this blog post – and where this is NOT happening.

Example 1: Manage Expectations

It’s clear the writer is not managing my expectations – or even their own. A simple solution would be to offer two or three alternate meeting times.

There is a very real cost / loss when employees write bad email like this. As I mention in my blog post called Increase Productivity By 15% Or More! you’re wasting 12 days of your time each year if you have to write one additional email to 15% of the people who write to you (because your co-worker didn’t write a clear message for example).

Example 2: Manage Expectations

Consider the differences in people’s expectations around hotels. Customers may want one or more of the following:

• A place to be transported into luxury
• Peace and quiet
• A kids water park
• Adult only

If you represent a hotel known for its kids water park you shouldn’t fake it and book someone calling and requesting a quiet, luxury weekend option. A good move here would be to recommend them to another hotel (preferably a sister hotel).

That’s the difference between completing a transaction vs. building a relationship. Customers will remember if you manage their expectations and provide exceptional customer service. Even if you send business away today, they’ll likely recommend you to others.

Involve Employees

I believe we are all good at Managing Expectations and Exceptional Customer Service – but we don’t all do it the same way.

Some people are great in front of customers so may be good in sales or customer service. Other people like being behind the scene and may prefer a product development position. The key is to know where your strengths are… or what the strengths of the members of your team are.

There are simple evaluations you can employ to help you determine the strengths of your employees. The results will help your employees choose better career choices – and help the company effectively reward, place and train employees.

Example 3: Know Your Strengths

A few weeks ago I was walking into a building. The large doors were closed. A man who I happen to know is a lawyer was entering about 5 paces ahead of me. He pulled a heavy door open, stepped in and without looking to see if there was someone behind him, he “leffer go” as my dad would say. The door slammed shut.

I opened it again under my own power (and was kind to the people behind me). Ironically we were entering a church… which proves you’ll find all types of people in similar places (or companies).

The man is successful in a profession that’s very fact based. Empathy is not likely one of this persons strengths… and I bet he knows it… and for him that’s OK. Not all lawyers need to be empathic – and for some that works in their favour.

Involve The Organization

Managing Expectations and Exceptional Customer Service for a company begin with defining company objectives (what do we want the companies reputation to be)? The next step is to define how to demonstrate those objectives.

Industry best practices have proven the best results happen when employees help define your objectives and the associated behaviour. Why? Happy employees create happy customers. Also, you’ll likely not to miss anything and you’ll have their buy-in when it comes to implementation.

Here are a few suggested objectives to consider and to get your teams creative juices flowing.

When defining objectives, keep them in-line with mission, vision, values and core competencies. The easiest way to exceed expectations is to use the strengths that come natural (individual strengths and company strengths).

Conclusion

Customers have more choices and a greater voice in what they want than ever. And, every interaction is a customer experience.

Exceptional customer satisfaction isn’t about being out there on your own. It’s about aligning what’s best about you with what’s best about your company, your co-workers and your customers.

As Aristotle said, “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” It’s about aligning your organization’s mission, vision, values and purpose and for a company objective to align and take advantage of these important assets.

So, what can you do that is different from your competitors and great for your customers?

Happy communicating.

Other Interesting BMC Locations: Measure Training Effectiveness, Email Writing Training, Increase Productivity By 15% Or More! 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

Don’t forget to Subscribe to this blog (upper right side). Your email address will be confidential and well-respected.

Generations: Diversity and Workforce Development

For the first time in history it’s easy to find a business where four generations are working side by side as some Traditionalists (born between 1927 – 1945), are working beyond retirement. Three generations is surely the norm.

What that means for our hyper-competitive world is that owners and managers are struggling with workplace diversity and cultural diversity. Communication problems and conflict are rising from the different work / life goals, experiences and communication styles of their employees.

But can workplace diversity be turned into a business asset?

The Questions / The Benefits:

1. How can we use generational differences as a unique opportunity to drive profitability vs. let it rip us apart at the seams?
2. What does ‘generational differences’ mean to product development, productivity, customer service, employee satisfaction, ROI and profits?

Understanding the differences and similarities of the generations is the first step in helping us understand the needs, motivations and expectations of our age-diverse workforce… and customer. Our diverse employees should be seen as opportunities to help each other see generational differences as chances to differentiate our business and make our company more profitable – not inconvenient limitations.

The Traditionalists – Born between 1927 and 1945 The Baby Boomers – Born between 1946 and 1964 Generation X – Born between 1965 and 1980 Generation Y (Millennial) – Born in 1981 or later

The key is to effectively address the diversity, values and expectations of each generation and to integrate these within company mission, vision, values and product / service.

Strategies For Success: Every Employee Has Something Great To Offer.

Start by helping Millennials recognize the experience of Gen Xers, Boomers and Traditionalists; and help Gen Xers, Boomers and Traditionalists recognize the team. The knowledge, skills, and workplace attitudes possessed by today’s multigenerational workforce presents significant communication opportunities.

Teamwork is an opportunity. Judging each other needs or motivations alienates us. This is the worst approach for an individual or a company as alienation promotes conflict with the person, the situation and the company… often conflict starting small but slowly builds into a large challenge.

Conflict often arises when we consider only our needs.

Questions are an opportunity. Finding and keeping valuable employees from all generations is every bit as important as finding and retaining customers. So treat your employees as customers.

Ask what they want and deliver on their needs – don’t treat everyone the same. Also, if they’re working on a project don’t expect them to read your mind or read between the lines. If you need a summary report you need to ask for it – give them a sample – and don’t blame them for what you haven’t clearly asked for.

Mentors are another opportunity. Promote mentoring between employees from different generations. Younger employees can learn from the experience of Gen Xers, Boomers and Traditionalists while they teach senior employees how to use new technology, problem solving ability, explorative nature and new point of view  (like company motivation and recognition), Millennials can offer.

Motivation is an opportunity. Employees from different generations require different motivations. Not everyone wants more responsibility. Appropriately motivating employees is cost-effective for the company, helps employees stay involved and will help keep all generations engaged and committed.

Reward is another opportunity when supporting employees from multiple generations. What works for some generations (or individuals), may not work for others.  For example: After working long hours to complete a challenging project a Boomer may appreciate a cash bonus and a plaque to hang in their office. A Millennial may be happier with a four-day weekend and a communication training workshop (because they are young, focused on work-life balance and professional development).

Balance (as suggested), is another opportunity. This relates to work-life balance as well as at-work balance. While fairness is critical the solution for one person may be different than another. Workplace diversity requires balance include a variable mix which includes (but is not limited to):

• Technology
• Flexible work arrangements
• The opportunity to contribute
• Training / the opportunity to learn
• The opportunity to get constructive feedback

Focus on employee engagement and contribution not where or when they work (unless structured time is required like a hospital nurse). Where consistency is important don’t demand it – let the employee be part of the decision as to why, where and how consistency will look.

No matter what generations you work with, maintaining a competitive, multigenerational workforce requires you to openly explore the ideas and needs of workers. Eliminate the us vs. them perspective. If they win then I must lose is defeating and ‘old school’. Instead explore how each of you can win.

Embrace that concept that the sum is greater than its parts.

Conclusion:

See workplace diversity, individual differences and professional development as a strength that is critical to business success.

To do this we need to learn that overall my ideas and needs are no more important than yours – yours are no more important than mine. It may be that your needs take priority at this moment of time… but my needs (which may be as simple as recognition or the opportunity to learn), must be respected and addressed.

For example: Most Millennials enjoy working on teams and are active learners. Keep them motivated and engaged by giving them special projects that will take advantage of their talents while also give them a sense of contribution and learning.

Don’t keep your talent locked up or in the dark. Ask for their input and ingenuity, ideas and concerns into your marketing strategy. Set aside time to provide honest feedback and time to work on department issues like problem solving, value setting, and options around operations. Motivate them and give them all the support and training they need to succeed.

Happy communicating.

Help each generation benefit from the wisdom and experience of the others.

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 delivers business writing, email writing and email etiquette courses.

Imagine work being easier. Imagine work being more productive. Imagine work being more profitable.

bruce@brucemayhewconsulting.com

Don’t forget to Subscribe to this blog (upper right side). Your email address will be confidential and well-respected.

Email Marketing: Reaching the Inbox

guest blog post

Your customers have given you their email address so that they can receive information from you about your product or service. You want the email to go through. They want to read it. So what’s the problem?

Spam filters.

The vast number of unwanted and unsolicited emails that get sent on a daily basis have resulted in all of the large email providers developing increasingly sophisticated filters to prevent these emails from getting to you.

The Issue

The issue is that spam filters can catch emails your customers want to receive. Some are caught because they contain a suspicious attachment, a link that seems fishy or words that are commonly found in emails advertising Viagra, penny stocks or something more salacious.

Whether you’re sending a single email from one person to another or copying a number of recipients on it, the email has to pass through a number of filters before it gets from one place to another.

When you’re sending an email to one person, you’re using a system meant to send personal email, like Outlook, Gmail or another web-based program. So when you need to send an email to a large database (even an opt-in email list), your first thought may be to use this same system, but there are risks.

Your internet provider has mechanisms in place to prevent you from sending a large number of emails at one time. This protects them from clients using their system to send spam, but it also prevents you from sending mass emails to people who may want them (as you might if you’re running a drip marketing program).

The system doesn’t differentiate between an opt-in email list and one that’s been purchased. Sending a large number of emails from your desktop can result in your email address being blocked from hitting in-boxes and get your URL flagged and possibly blocked.

The Solution

The best solution is to use a system that’s designed to send bulk email.

There are a number of different companies that offer this service, including Constant Contact, MailChimp, iContact and AWeber.

What they offer that Outlook does not:

• Relationships with Major ISPs. These companies have policies regarding the email addresses people are allowed to send to. Clients cannot use lists that have been purchased. The ISPs recognize this and therefore allow emails coming from one of their servers through.
• An HTML-based email looks more professional. It can match your branding so that people immediately recognize who it’s from.
• You can track the email effectiveness through reports. With each email you can find out how many people opened it, who opened it and what links they clicked on. Invaluable information to help you revise future campaigns to make them more effective.

Personal email programs work well for personal emails, but when you’re sending email out in bulk, trust the professionals.

MB Digital Communications

MB Digital Communications has been helping businesses stay in contact with their customers using email and social media since 2008. The clients include a wide range of service professionals including financial planners, insurance brokers, real estate agents and mortgage brokers as well as restaurants, an iPhone app developer, a family lawyer and a millner.

Mark Brodsky speaks to groups of all sizes about email marketing and is a regular contributor to Real Estate Magazine.

You can visit his website at or email him

What Is Communication?

We’ve been communicating all of our lives – so with that much practice we should be pretty good at it. But the reality is we all struggle with our communication skills – especially at work.

For example, what do the following situations have in common?

• Having an implementation team arrive for an installation at the wrong address.
• Sales not ensuring Product Development know your most profitable client has an emerging ‘must have’ need.
• Sending your sales & product specialists out to a prospect – to find they’re not in their office.
• Building a wall in the wrong place when the architect changed the plans two weeks ago.

The common element is that these examples are all very expensive – but easy-to-make oversights, and given the right tools and training support they are also easily avoidable.

Business communication is critical to being succesful. It’s important everywhere; in Customer Service, Product Development, Graphic Design in large international corporations and small entrepreneurial enterprises.

But we struggle with everyday communication as well as conflict and conflict resolution.

Who’s Responsible?

Most of the time we struggle because we don’t see communication skills as a two-way street that involve many goals and needs.

It’s not our fault we’ve learned bad habits over the years. We’ve become so good at addressing our needs that many of us don’t consider the perspective, needs, goals, timelines or contribution of others.

What would happen if we treated effective communication like a baton that had to be carefully passed? What if I was just as responsible for passing the baton as you were to receive it?

That’s the answer when we ask ‘What is communication?’ In a nutshell, effective communication includes learning how to:

• Provide relevant information:
  • You need /want people to know
  • Your listener needs / wants to know
• Listen without judging the information you ‘think’ you are hearing
• Ask questions
• See questions as empowerment – not weakness

Consider the power of seeing a situation through someone else’s eyes. Even the act of trying will bring you clarity and a perspective you likely would not have otherwise experienced.

First Step

Communication success depends on your personal and your environments’ definition of communication.

Personal Definition of Communication

One of the first things that’s required for successful communication is to understand what definitions you are working with. Is it:

• Getting our own way?
• Avoiding conflict?
• Looking professional and in control?
• Being open and listening to others?
• Not daydreaming – or worse… falling asleep?
• Something else?

Your Environments’ Definition of Communication

Your environment may be a person or a place. Therefore, it may be your co-worker, your team or your company. It may also be a store clerk or each member of your family.

Your personal and environmental definitions will be rooted in your values – and the values you’ve learned to use (workplace values for example). Therefore they may support each other (harmony), or they may be in conflict (opposite) to each other.

Second Step

Communication success depends on your personal and environmental filters

Filters may be a bit more challenging because it’s likely we aren’t even be aware of them. For example:

Personal Filters:

• Life experiences & Education
• Vocabulary (general, sophisticated, ghetto)
• Fears / Defensiveness / Insecurities
• Work / family pressures

Environmental Filters:

• What if you didn’t recognize a client at a conference?
• What if your Smartphone is turned off and you miss an important call?
• What if your SPAM filter blocked an email message?
• What if someone didn’t include you in a distribution list – on purpose or by mistake?

In addition, your audience is going to have the same types of Personal and Environmental filters as you do – and let’s face it – if you can’t define all of your filters you won’t be able to define theirs. In almost every case you’re going to have to guess – at least at some of them unless you incorporate some communication practices like mindfulness communication.

WOW! No wonder we struggle.

Communication is like pouring water into a small glass – some isn’t going to make it in. And in this case – you can’t always blame the pourer or the glass.

Are There Other Concerns?

I’d like to point out two other concerns of effective communication.

• The first is the process we all go through to encode our message and decode what we hear back.
• The second is when you are communicating across generations and / or cultures.

I’ve also discussed this in my blog post called Effective Communication. To understand the severity on each of these all we have to do is consider the game of broken telephone you may have played as children. I can pretty much guarantee – in any communication some of your meaning will be lost AND changed by the listener.

There is a way through this and the benefits of your investment are substantial.

There are many easy techniques you and your team (or family), can adopt to enhance your communication.

Mindfulness communication has at its core the practice of helping people identify what they are needing and to explore and listen in an active, non-judging way of what your audience needs.

The secret is to have a safe space and an agreement with one or more persons that will allow you all to listen and be open to putting yourself in the other person’s shoes – without risk or prejudice.

Happy communicating.

Other Interesting BMC Articles: Unique Value Proposition Definition, Measure Training Effectiveness and Effective Email Writing Training.

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

www.brucemayhewconsulting.com

Don’t forget to share this blog.

Email Marketing: Direct Marketing In Action

Email is part of an evolution that started in the 1960’s as an inexpensive solution to instantly send messages between networked computers. While email wasn’t designed as a direct marketing tool, email marketing is certainly a natural evolution considering how quickly our lives and communication styles have changed since the 1990’s when email became popular.

It’s no surprise email marketing also has some unique challenges.

Get To The Point

With the widespread adoption of email many of us lost our ability to get to the point. Back when we had to invest in hand writing or phone communication, getting to the point was more natural. Who had the time to hand write a page or two of background or meandering thoughts?

But email helped make typing lots of copy quick and easy. Soon abundance became a common error of email writing as well as web writing, brochure writing and proposal writing. We started to write down everything and hope the reader found a reference to something they liked, related to and/or needed.

Not much changed when businesses started to use email as a marketing tool. Lots of email marketing did… and still does look like a child’s cereal box. The problems were too much detail, too many photos and as much attention grabbing hoopla as possible.

And for a while people paid attention… because email marketing was new. It’s not new anymore.

Email Marketing Is Often An Interruption

Today email marketing is more competitive and our target audiences are jaded from being over stimulated and/or taken advantage of. There’s been so much bad email (even regular business email), that when you get a good message it really stands out. Customers notice.

Remember the Mini Car ad’s when the car re-launched? They stood out – they were fun. They were never seen as an interruption because they were relevant and to-the-point. Even if we didn’t want one we wanted to learn about them.  They were so to-the-point we would read them and instantly know why it would be great for us.

So in the end the Mini Car ads were good for the customer… and good BMW who own the Mini brand.

Strategic   Branded   Relevant

Return To Basics: It’s About Need And Offer

To improve the overall quality of email campaigns, marketers need to return to basic. Businesses need to focus on the ‘What’s In It For Me’ (WIIFM) message for their client. What’s the client need? By creating messages and content that solve their clients’ needs (not pushing only an offer) businesses will also build trusting respected relationships.

Even back in the 1960’s ads showed housewives and husbands ‘What’s In It For Me’.

Being successful in email marketing isn’t about creating a grammatically correct copy with pictures and flashy layouts. It’s also not sending your campaign to everyone you can get access to or by renting your ‘ideal client wish-list’.

A successful in email marketing campaign is about sending a short, clear, relevant message and offer of value to your segmented, targeted audience.

This is especially true when connecting with existing relationships. If you keep sending them mindless irrelevant junk they are very likely going to click the unsubscribe button, or even worse, mark your message as spam… which causes you big problems in the future.

Delivery / Execution

You have a great message and great creative – you’re almost finished.

Now you need a trusted system to deliver your messages. This often means hiring a eMarketing / Digital Communication supplier to help you make sure your campaign gets to the people on your list (and not in a junk folder or identified as SPAM). Professional eMarketing / Digital Communication companies also have easy access to proven tactics they can use which mean further success for your campaign… and ways to measure your success.

Do it yourself is risky to you, your business and your brand reputation. For example, one important step is to notify your email host that you are about to send mass email (which is likely out of character for you). If you don’t do this your host may perceive your sudden spike as SPAM and shut your whole email system down… and I mean all of your email.

Conclusion

Email marketing works because it can drive direct sales to a targeted audience in a controlled manner that builds relationships, loyalty and trust. It’s also a natural fit in a Drip Marketing Program.

So, start thinking how you can get out there and create an awesome package and offer as part of your overall marketing strategy. Go ahead – it can be a great opportunity for you to try something new. Whether you hire a professional or try doing it yourself, you’ll need:

• A relevant offer
• Creative… creative
• A clean organization list (opt in preferably)
• Clear execution that doesn’t look (or act), like SPAM
• To measure your results

Happy communicating.

Other Interesting BMC Articles: Unique Value Proposition Definition, Measure Training Effectiveness and Effective Business Email Writing Training.

Give us a call. We’ll listen.

Are you looking for a training professional to be your training partner? Click Here

Bruce Mayhew Consulting is Strategic Branded Relevant

www.brucemayhewconsulting.com

Don’t forget to share this blog.