Tag: email

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Business Writers

*Yawn* Phrases in Business Emails

image source: businessmarketingblog_org

According to a study conducted by The Radicati Group Inc,  the typical corporate email user sends and receives about 105 email messages per day. That is a lot of ‘commercial noise’ in a user’s inbox.

How does a business ensure that important emails are read and not deleted?

By applying the rule, keep it short and simple. This means pruning out the many useless phrases that thrive in business emails.

Emails have become an extension of our thoughts and communication. The modern email user will write an email and press the ‘send’ button before checking if the contents are correct. This is understandable in a world of I-have-no-time. The problem with this approach is that there is no ‘face’ to the email and the email could create a negative perception about your company. Spelling errors and overused phrases can spell commercial disaster. It conveys the perception that your business is unprofessional, rushes through everything and that the use of correct language is not important.

It is time to examine your emails. Do your emails let you and your business down?

The top five useless phrases in emails

  1. I think … When a sentence begins with this phrase, it tells the recipient that you are unsure about yourself. Your tone must be assertive and confident.
  2. Please be advised… People often use this lawyer-type phrase. It is unnecessary. Be direct. If you are informing a debtor that payment is overdue then state the obvious. ‘Your cheque is overdue’ is to the point and unpretentious.
  3. Please do not hesitate to contact me … People will contact you if they are interested in your product or have a query. This is an irritating cliché used in emails. The message you are sending out is that you are not an original thinker.
  4. Kindly … ‘Please’ works better than this old-fashioned word.
  5. Enclosed please find … People tend to use this phrase because it is neutral and the user avoids using the personal pronoun ‘I’. The word ‘find’ shows a lack of understanding about the use of language. It suggests that the reader should look for the document. Rather write ‘ Document X is attached to this email’.

Do not allow unnecessary words to taint your clients’ view of you or your business. Phrases are useless communication ‘fillers’, rather like small talk. And, who has time for that?

Having email problems?
Writer’s Support provides a consulting service and business writing workshops.
Contact writer@ulrikehill or +27 71 636 8028.
This article was first published on Writers Write’s blog 9th September 2013.

 

Categories
Business Writers

The Emotional Email

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Understanding business email etiquette

By Ulrike Hill

I was once a product manager in the IT industry. I was new to the job and eager to please. One day an important client criticised my product. I took his comments personally. Whinging back at the office about the client, my director was unsympathetic. He told me to ‘take the emotion out of business’ and to stick to the facts.

Fast forward many years later. My director’s advice still resonates with me. Thinking back, his advice was relevant in a world where technology did not dominate business communication. Technology has created a sterile business world. Business people are interacting mainly via email and are spending less time speaking to each other. Too often misunderstandings tend to creep into written messages.

How can we avoid misunderstanding that may happen without the sender realising it?

Acknowledge the recipient

In the hurried world of business, people forget the use of ‘Dear X’ and dive straight into the message of the email. Acknowledge that there is a human being on the receiving end of the email. I prefer using ‘Hello’ and the person’s name. Ensure that you get the spelling of the person’s name correct. If not, the message you are sending to the receiver is ‘You are not important enough to me’.

I am shouting at you

The sender is in a rush and does not notice that THE CAPS LOCK IS ON. THE ENTIRE EMAIL IS WRITTEN IN UPPER CASE. People tell me that it is not a big deal. But it is a big deal. Using caps lock is the same as shouting. Imagine the response if the email is about an over-due payment. Or meeting an urgent deadline.

Smiley faces

During my discussions with a few business people, some felt that using emoticons reveal the human behind the email. I disagree. Emoticons are for friends. Emoticons are for informal communication. Emoticons do not make the email human. Humans talk.

So how are you, really?

Use words that will express the human. Instead of demanding, ask. Instead of diving straight into the main message, introduce a personal line like “I trust you are well.” It is more formal than the “How are you?” but it does show that you are interested in the recipient’s well-being.

Saying goodbye is hard to do

Like the forgotten greeting, signing off the email is taken for granted. Worse still, it is forgotten completely. This is the same as walking out of someone’s home without saying goodbye. The sign-off can reveal a lot about you. Create a professional ending to your email. ‘Faithfully’  sounds fake, ditto ‘Yours truly’ and imagine how a client may react to “With love”. Signing off can be professional and still reveal the human part of business.

These are a few suggestions for email users to create the ‘human face’ behind the words and to reduce misunderstandings. Business is tough so the human touch without the ‘touchy-feely’ will go a long way to maintaining a professional relationship.

Ulrike Hill provides a writing workshop to assist people with email etiquette. Contact: writer@ulrikehill.co.za or call 071 636 8028 (South Africa only).

Categories
Business Writers

Find your Creative Voice

The world is changing. People realise that making money is not the key to happiness.

I receive many emails from people who want to write a book and looking at these emails has made me wonder if creativity is what people are searching for. People want more from life. It seems that life is a constant running around like hamsters on a wheel; running with no purpose other than to meet month-end commitments

So what happened to creativity?

Children learn using their senses and exploring their creativity during their formative years. Far too soon, the teacher starts to strangle creativity and demands that they colour in the lines and use blue for the sky and green for the grass.

Have you noticed the sky today? What colour is it? Grey? Blue?

Creativity is not about stereotyping. It is about life experiences and thinking out of the box. Freedom of expression is important in developing this skill.

Business is about meeting deadlines, reaching sales targets and keeping a wary eye on budgets. People are consumed by a world of balancing salaries and monthly expenses. No wonder creativity flies out of the window. Numbers have started to rule and dominated our creativity.

The search for creativity

Years ago, I trained as an English teacher. After three years in the classroom, the lure of earning a decent salary moved me into the corporate world. But, I still had that hole in my soul. Something was missing. The money was great but I was not happy. Years later, I changed careers once again. I went into adult training and found that I had a natural talent. I loved teaching people how to write. I found that people who wanted to learn how to plot their books and develop their characters inspired me. I found my creative side. I found that companies who attended my Story of a Business course went back to their workplace understanding the language of their company. They were able to identify with the character that the company had become. They found that they could still be creative in an environment that may not seem to be creative.

Finding your creativity

Attend a creative writing course, photography class or look back to your school days. What did you enjoy doing? What made you feel like the hours rolled by without you noticing? Perhaps it was sewing or building model aeroplanes. Find time to pursue your creativity.

All it requires is taking time out from your busy schedule. Create some ‘me’ time. Slow down and get back to basics: use your five senses to experience the beauty that surrounds you. Keep a journal. Who knows? Perhaps one day that journal will keep you.

Ulrike

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