Email... Reply Please!

One of my favorite blogs to read on a weekly basis is written by Judith Kallos called "Because Netiquette Matters!" - check it out and you'll pick up great ideas on technology etiquette (it's a book too.) Some of my best received speaking content is based on the ideas generated by Judith... she just makes sense!

Email etiquette is critical to communicating in today's selling environment. Every interaction with a client is an opportunity to make a positive impression or a negative impression. What I find is that what may be a minor issue to you or I can be a major issue to someone else. I occasionally become frustrated when emails that I have sent to team members or clients are not responded to in a timely manner - or at all.

You see to me, intuitively, communicating via email is just like having a conversation, and I cannot imagine having someone not answer or respond during a face to face interaction. Similarly, I can't imagine ending a conversation without the courtesy of an "okay," "got it," "sure thing" or "talk to you later." Check these people out... let's assume they are talking about business or perhaps they are talking about something personal at a business function - you pick the topic. Can you just imagine one of them making a statement similar to this... "hey that sounds great Michael, I'll meet you at 8am" and Michael just staring at the other person, suddenly turns and walks away. Bizarre right?

You bet. If that happened you'd be wondering... "did he hear what I said" or perhaps you'd just think the person was not really interested in meeting you at 8am. Either way, you are left wondering where things stand.

Here's the point... that happens every day with email. Here are some examples:

1. You receive an email on a new company product offering and a training meeting to cover the details that is scheduled for next Thursday. Do you respond?

2. A client replies via email to an order stating "this looks good, let's move forward." Do you respond?

3. Your manager emails you the time and place of your upcoming quarterly review. Do you respond?

The answer to each question is absolutely you respond! Here's the test - instead seeing these as email messages, picture the interaction as face-to-face. Would you respond now? Of course.

Remember in selling it's not what you think is inappropriate, it's what your client or perhaps your manager thinks is appropriate that counts! Reply to all the emails you get and ask for others to do the same.

TK