Whenever possible, keep the subject line current. Most email threads have a tendency to morph into something totally different than what started the thread.
Imagine renting a movie based on the cover. When you come home, you realize that the movie was not the one you rented. Someone had placed a wrong movie in the box. I don’t think you want to be in that situation.
Having a subject line that does not reflect what is in the body of the email is the same way. It confuses everyone.
12. Make the emails search-friendly
As you can imagine, it is hard to browse through all the emails quickly. Most mobile devices will provide a search option but that helps only when your emails are search-friendly.
A few examples of how to make your email search-friendly:
1. If the email is about a conference, state the name of the conference clearly instead of writing something like “the conference we attended last week”
2. If the email has names of people, be sure to include names in a format that the recipient is familiar with. Robert Parker may be Bob Parker in the recipient’s mind. Simple solution will be to say something like “Robert (Bob) Parker…”
13. Structure your emails for effectiveness
People may not have time to read through your emails so structure your email for maximum effectiveness. For example, if the call to action is the last line in your email and the early part of the email and/or the subject gives an indication that this “might” be an informational email, you might not get the recipient’s attention to the “action item” at the bottom of your email.
14. Don’t show your anger in your email
It’s not a good idea to show anger on any written communication. However, if you know that the recipient is going to read this on a mobile device (imagine driving a car and reading your email) you got to be extra careful.
15. Make emails self-sufficient whenever possible
Meaning – include all the information that may be required to complete the action.
For example, if you want the recipient to call John Parker, rather than saying “Please connect with John Parker”, say something like “Please connect with John Parker at 444-555-5555 at his office or at 555-444-4444 on his mobile”
16. Include your current location – where necessary
We all know that we live in a flat world. So if you are traveling and if you think the recipient does not know it, mention your location and/or time zone so that you don’t get a phone call back in the middle of the night (Sorry – only if you don’t want to get a phone call in the middle of the night)
17. Make your emails dictionary-independent
If your goal is to communicate a message, then please just do it. You don’t have to ALSO try to communicate how GOOD you are in your vocabulary. If someone has to refer to a dictionary to find out what your email says, you have lost the game.
18. Make your emails search-engine independent
You can be rest assured that most people will need a search engine – which means that your message is not communicated (or worse yet, communicated wrong)
This is especially hard when someone is reading from a mobile device where researching for meanings of phrases and expressions will be a total waste of time.
19. Do a quick WIIFT (what’s in it for them) test on your email
If it fails, chances are you may need to re-visit the email.
20. Think again before you hit the “Send” button
Is it absolutely necessary to send this email to this recipient. Will the recipient treat this as something important or is it contributing to the “clutter” in his or her email box?
If you are very sure that you need to send this email, think about the time – Is this the right time to send it?
If the email passes the “relevance” and the “timing” test, please go ahead and hit the “send” button.
For those of who who are not (yet) on Facebook, I also have created a new video channel on YouTube. Please visit the channel to view 12 of my never before published videos. All of them are short segments providing an overview of some of the chapters of my book “Beyond Code” or snippets from my “Distinguish Yourself” series.
On the first day of our trip to Germany we signed up for a day trip called the “Royal Castle Tour” (which was wonderful by the way).
Before starting the tour, the host collected tickets from each one of us and asked only one question – “Where are you from?”. However, the answers were many. Here are some of them
1. United States
2. Germany
3. Le Meridian Hotel
4. US
5. New York
There were at least eight different answers and the host had to ask multiple follow-up questions to find out what she really wanted.
Later I figured out that the reason host wanted to find out “where people came from” was for her to mainly understand the mix of languages spoken by the people on the bus.
Today we will end our wonderful trip to Germany and tomorrow we head back to San Francisco. The trip was a mix of business, meeting friends and vacation. Thanks to Seymour – the trip was smooth as silk except for the weather. It was COLD, especially for us from the bay area.
Even in that cold, I could not stop smiling when Seymour told me that there is a saying in Germany – “..there is nothing like bad weather; only bad clothes”
We (Kavitha, Sumukh and myself) arrived at Munich yesterday for a combination trip – business, visiting friends and relatives and vacation.
It was late when we reached our hotel in the heart of the city. After a 11 hour flight, nobody was interested in going out to eat. Kavitha ordered some food (pasta and rice). Coming from India, we knew that the food won’t be “spicy” enough for us. So she asked the person to get some chilli sauce on the side.
The food arrived in record time and along with pasta and rice there were two more items – about 8 chillies and a cup of sauce.
We were so hungry – we didn’t bother to make any changes but we had a good laugh.
Communication is fun. It is really not what you say that matters but what the other person listens to. Most often, we say something and “feel” that we have “communicated”. While it is true that we have “communicated” it may not be “exactly” what we are thinking that we have communicated.
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. Will post some pictures from the trip soon.
You have some knowledge of flying but you want to learn more. So you take some professional lessons and a few days later, you are ready to fly on your own.
It’s a big day. You get into the plane and start the engine and you are on the runway. You are just about to ready to take off and something magical happens.
The plane has now transformed into a speedboat – only without the breaks. Before you realize what happened you see that you are going straight towards some big rocks. You are confused, scared but you don’t want to give up and die. You take control and start navigating the dangerous territory
Just when you thought that this was over and there will be smooth sailing, something else happens
The boat disappears. In fact, you are now wearing ski boots and you are skiing down a dangerous slope. You can’t believe this and you just wish this was a dream. But it’s not. You are not really good at skiing and this is not the easiest of slopes. Even in that cold, you start sweating but you are moving down VERY fast. You start navigating through the path again
I can go on…
What I outlined above is how the journey appears for many first-time entrepreneurs. The terrain keeps changing and you are in an unchartered territory most of the time.
If you are a first-time entrepreneur and want to be one – be prepared to face this. If you are fortunate enough to have GOOD help, you may not notice the sudden change in terrains (product development, financing, hiring, growing, managing boards, mergers, acquisitions, firing…l)
Note for “The Secret” fans: I have nothing against “The Secret”. It’s a cool book. It is just that I don’t believe what is outlined in “The Secret” can be a standalone strategy for success.
I read “The Secret” a few months ago and it was a fascinating read. In a nutshell, the book is about “The Law of Attraction”.
The book is very well written with compilation of writings from several well known people.
The book and the DVD are also making waves.
It is one of those books that you can enjoy reading – so I didn’t have any problem about the book.
However, when I see millions of people embracing it as if it’s the next thing to sliced bread, I get confused. Why? Because if people can really change their lives by reading the book, this nation would be transformed by now and most of people’s problems would have disappeared.
No, I am not saying that the message of the book is wrong. It is just that people tend to take “tips and tricks” literally. A subset of people who are looking for an easy way of getting what they want may think that they got that way – all they have to do is STRONGLY WISH for what they want – and they will GET IT.
Even if the book does not prescribe that MERELY WISHING won’t work, those caveats are easily missed.
The reports and success stories (of a VERY SMALL percentage of people) will be highlighted. That would make many think that – “if they can do it, we can too”.
What they don’t question is – “Is this coincidence or is there a correlation”?
Thanks to Sterling, our Vistage Chair for sharing this quote at yesterday’s meeting. These few lines have a lot to offer. In fact, please share this quote to as many friends as possible.
Think about it. Today, you are equipped to deal with issues and challenges and go after opportunities of today. A few years from now, world would have changed (significantly) and what you have today (eg: skills, knowledge, network etc.) won’t e sufficient to handle what the future will unfold for you. Most people will do NOTHING about it as they are students of “Learning on the Go” school.
What does not change is that you have a choice. Investing in yourself is not a one-time thing. You have to do it for the rest of your life.
Enjoy the quote:
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“Those who stop learning find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists”
I had an opportunity to listen to a fascinating presentation by Patrick Renvoise of SalesBrain at yesterday’s Vistage meeting. While the presentation was loaded with information, it was also a presentation about how to give a presentation.
Patrick talked about the power of language and messaging. Here is an advertisement from Berlitz for their language courses. Simply fascinating!
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