“If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” It’s not that we have limited tools, it’s that we’re led to believe one tool is better than another. Is one truly better? Yes, if it matters to the recipient. (Last night, someone gave me their business card with NO email address on it. His preference is crystal clear!) No, if it is just what the vendor is pitching. (Full transparency – of course, I teach email selling skills but I guide sales people to use an omni-channel approach). But the results of a  Linkedin poll I ran two weeks ago does say volumes: ICYMI (though there we ..read more

My 5 year old granddaughter asked me to play “King and Queen” with her. “You’re the Queen, okay? And I’m the King.” “Okay,” I said and proceeded to give my first decree. “King, do this…..” “No,” she said. “You’re just the Queen! You can’t tell the King what to do.” The thing is, when I was growing up that would have been perfectly acceptable. But to hear it come from my granddaughter was startling. “Of course, she can. And she is!” Which got me thinking about the language we use in emails (and conversation) that needs to be changed now. Because adapting our language to include everyone is the ..read more

Are your emails too friendly? If you’ve been following my Friday blog, you know the key to creating success is moving from transaction-only messaging to showing care. But are you sabotaging your success by misunderstood friendliness? There is no reason to sound “soft” in an email. There is every reason to show care, excitement and personality. Six tips to command attention in email 1. Don’t apologize. You can thank the other person for their patience, but not, “I’m sorry about the delay.” Unless you’ve hurt or harmed someone, saying your sorry in email won’t help the other person. Save that fo ..read more

Questions about email etiquette always delight me because it indicates the sales professional wants to represent themself* and company in the very best light. Here is a mid-2022 update to be at your best when emailing or texting: #1. Use inclusive language. As a former English teacher, including teaching English teachers how to teach English at Arizona State University (Fear the Fork!), it pretty much kills me to not use the correct pronoun. But, it hurts more to insult someone just because I want to grammar perfect. It’s time to stop using him/her and replace with their/them*. (This goes for ..read more

A client asked if using highlighting features – changing fonts, adding color, using bold – could be effective in getting a point across to a busy prospect. The answer: Yes and No Consider this: No. Pattern disrupt – doing something unexpected – is smart. But using a red font when the prospect expected black isn’t pattern disrupt. It’s just distracting. Yes. When you’re providing info that is important to the reader (from their perspective – not yours!), highlighting with italics is a great idea. Determine what is most important to them and highlight it, if you need to. But don’t go crazy with ..read more

How annoying are the emails you receive from your colleagues? Though mainly my focus is on helping sales professionals engage and connect with customers, lately I’ve also been presenting to internal teams to help them get more done each day (save time with better email skills) and boost productivity (get better results with brain-friendly messaging). What I’ve learned is that a lot of colleagues write really obnoxious/annoying/thoughtless emails to each other. Really annoying. There was the email that started with “Just a friendly reminder” (note – there is no such thing as a “friendly” remind ..read more

Apparently, you and I are the only ones working this week because my inbox has been flooded with out-of-office email responses. The auto replies are from people I’ve emailed and know. They are good, hard-working, dedicated, personable people. None are selling anything that requires a level of decorum like how you might expect a brain surgeon, rocket scientist or funeral director to reply. Yet, their OOO emails are, well you tell me! First, please consider why even use an OOO? What’s its purpose? #1. You want to reframe expectations (because typically you respond immediately and your response m ..read more

Whoa! When I read that 35% of emails are opened (or not) because of subject line, my first thought was, misleading. Why? Because, that means with 65% of emails, the subject line doesn’t add or subtract to interest, but too many sales development reps think it’s all about the subject line. It isn’t. Next, subject line research is almost always about marketing, promotions, job app and newsletter opens. It is NOT about sales development, prospecting and “introductory” personalized emails. Can the subject line influence potential buyers to open your email? Yes! Some research says emails with 6 to ..read more

Because I’m old enough to remember when we called all writing within an organization, business writing, it gives me extreme pleasure to blog about business writing today. Whether chat, Slack, Zingle, text or email, it’s BUSINESS writing. How and what you write matters. And it’s a judge-y world. We’re hardwired to use (faulty) shortcuts to determine another person’s intent (though often wrong, it saves us time and effort). In business writing, if we feel the tone/message shows: customer-centricity positivity solution-finding ability a thoughtful, frictionless next step care & compassion pas ..read more

“People. What happened to your email signature? I don’t know who you are. I don’t know how to contact you. I’m going to lose my mind.” Yes and yes! Thank you for posting, @Jennifer Watson. This lack of courtesy – not providing needed info in your sig block – is not only frustrating; it creates friction for the customer meaning you are less likely to convert the lead. Yup. The etiquette of your signature line (or lack of it) can sabotage your win ratio. A fancy beautifully designed signature is not required. In fact, if your sig block is an image, and your phone number isn’t tappable and links ..read more