| |
| |
|
Management Information |
|
|
|
Effective Email Communication
Email, when used properly, can generate additional direct sales and leads; can be used as a tool to communicate with your existing client base to let them know of upcoming events which may affect them; and as a means of ongoing promotion for your business. The following is a list of simple guidelines and tips that will help you become an effective email communicator. Please bear in mind that many of these guidelines assume that you have never established any prior dialogue and, as you become more familiar with your customers, can often be altered to meet your client's needs. Send your emails in plain text. While HTML/rich-text-formatted emails do look much more attractive, they will often be accidentally blocked by anti-spam filters and either show up incorrectly or not at all in various email programs. Plain text, on the other hand, will show up exactly as intended in all email programs. Include a signature of no more than four lines. Your signature should provide the recipient with a means to contact you other than email, and should mention your company name. A good email signature format will look something like this: Mike Leblanc This signature provides not one, but two ways for a customer to reach you. Note: Many people will put their email into their signature files. This is, however, unnecessary as the email itself can be replied to directly and the email address may be extracted from it. Use common file formats for email attachments. There are a wide variety of formats for attachments; however, these formats are not universal and as such, many people cannot open various types of attachments. The following is a list, in approximate order of universal acceptance (based on my own experiences), of attachments which are commonly accepted: TXT (plain-text) Use short paragraphs. Try to keep your paragraphs to 50 words or less to ensure maximum readability. Don't send unsolicited sales information/commercial emails. Unsolicited commercial emails, or spam, are becoming an increasing problem and many organizations are blocking, deleting, and in many cases reporting the senders of these emails to various anti-spam services and search engines in an effort to curtail the sender's efforts. Use second person terms as much as possible. Words such as "you", "your", and "yours" personalize your emails, letting your customer know that you're thinking of him/her specifically. Check your emails for spilling n' grammer...er...spelling and grammar. A minor typographical error in a lengthy email will generally go unnoticed, but a series of typographical, spelling, and grammatical errors will indicate a lack of professionalism and has the potential to cost you business. Many email programs, such as Microsoft Outlook, include spelling and grammar tools to ensure that mistakes are kept to a minimum. If you do not have an email program with these tools activated, then alternatively you can open up your favourite word processor; type your email; check it for mistakes; and then copy and paste it into your email program. Respond to all emails within 24-48 hours. If you cannot answer your customer's question in this time period, at least send him/her an email letting them know the status of his/her inquiry and that it is being taken care of. Some things do take longer than one day to resolve, and the vast majority of customers are very understanding of this, as long as they're kept apprised of the situation. Depending on your level of familiarity with your customers, some of these rules can be relaxed and altered to meet their specific needs. However, adhering to these general guidelines will ensure that, more often than not, you will become an effective email communicator. About The Author Adam Senour is the owner of ADAM Web Design, a leading web design and development company in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Visit http://www.adamwebdesign.ca for more information on ADAM Web Design products and services.
MORE RESOURCES:
Management - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Factoring Financing: How to Grow Your Business Without Debt or Loans What is factoring?Accounts receivable financing, also known as factoring, is a powerful financial tool that has fueled the growth and success of a number of companies. Factoring enables companies to capitalize on their unpaid receivables by selling them to a factoring company for immediate payment. Discover the Astonishing Power of Words Today! Picture all the people you know who are dynamic, successful and self-confident. The ones who are the stars of every gathering. 5 Ways to Work More Effectively With Your Administrative Assistant Stop hiring new administrative support staff. And learn how to retain your existing administrative staff. How To Prevent Your New Manager From Becoming A Statistic According to a study by the Manchester Group, 4 out of 10 new managers fail in the first 18 months! The top 5 reasons cited:Not building partnerships or teams with colleagues and peersUnclear expectationsNot enough political savvyTakes too long to learn the jobInability to balance work and personal livesEvery day new managers are hired or promoted because of "what they know". When they fail to thrive it's because of "who they are" or "how they go about getting things done". Give Yourself a Boss' Day Gift Become a better boss and reap the benefitsAnother interesting study was done. One that should really catch our attention. The Seven Cs: Partnership Danger Signs - Conflict Becoming the Norm - Part 1 A series of articles exploring the seven critical areas that can indicate a partnership is in trouble.Conflict Becoming the Norm - Part 1Dr. Miracle Max On Market Breakthroughs Successful enterprise building requires seven elements. These are:1. 7 Tips for Growing Your Business You Do Not Want to Ignore: Business Strategies To Easily Implement Growing companies must always be ready for the next challenge. If you fail in meeting critical business challenges you will not grow. Disaster Prevention Tips For Hiring A New Manager It happens over and over in businesses every day.Within large companies, people are promoted to management positions to reward them for performance as individual contributors. 3 Keys to Being a Fearless Executive In my work with business executives, I have come to the conclusion that most individuals in positions of influence got there accidentally. This may sound harsh to those of you in the business world reading this article, but the truth CAN be harsh, much like the medicine our mothers gave us as young children. Key Control - Who Has the Keys to Your Kingdom? Key control, or more accurately the lack of key control is one of the biggest risks that businesses face.What is the risk?Imagine, you have fired a trusted employee, unknown to you that person had a spare key to your business, they come back after hours and steal business secrets, account lists, equipment or anything else of value. Creativity and Innovation Management - Turning Ideas into Action The phrase "turning ideas into action" is a Russian doll.Managing the ideas to implementation process is important for at least two reasons:a) To make effective use of resources - investing in one idea uses resources that could be applied to another idea. Recruitment - Pick People Who Think Old style management doesn't encourage personal mind control, employees aren't encouraged to think. That was certainly the case when I started work back in the bad old days however it's still prevalent in many businesses today. Towards Intercultural Understanding An individual's ability to forge effective relationships across cultures is influenced by a very personal and highly complex mixture of emotional and cognitive processes. Anyone contemplating an overseas posting feels apprehensive about stepping into the unknown. Are You A B.O.S.S. -- Boisterous, Omnipotent, Self Indulgent, Sociopath Boisterous, Omnipotent, Self- indulgent Sociopath. Avoid the B. Learn How To Get The Most From Your Team Being a leader isn't easy. Every one looks to you to make decisions, resolve disputes, and to carry all the responsibility. Is Your Business Healthy? Most business owners I work with want to grow their businesses. I guess this probably applies to most businesses in general. You Get the Behavior You Reward On consulting assignments, here are some of the questions I frequently ask the employees I interview:1. How does your boss measure you?2. Process and Procedures Investments - How to Get Money Back In September 2004, President Bush signed the $146 billion tax cut bill restoring the recently expired business Research & Experimentation Tax Credit. The 18-month renewal of the research and experimentation tax credit, which expired June 30 2004, was the most expensive item with an expected $7. Innovation Management - Producing Great Products, Motivation Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be defined as consisting of a number of ideas, a number of diverse ideas and a number of novel ideas.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |