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Email response. What's your policy?
Written by: Wendy BuckinghamArticle Overview: Good business relationships are about great communication and how you deal with your emails is an essential part of that communication. What may seem like a waste of time in sending responses to emails can be an important trust and relationship builder. “But I don’t have time to reply to everything”, I hear you say. Or “I pride myself on only answering what I absolutely have to” or “but I didn’t have anything to tell you yet”. Good on you for your time saving diligence, but what you are saving in time, you could well be losing in good business relationships. So read on and you'll get some distinctions that might make you think again about the benefit of email acknowledgement.
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Email response. What's your policy?
I admit I’m a compulsive responder and
acknowledger when it comes to emails. I send thank you notes, got it notes, get
back to you soon notes, confirmation notes, and so on.
Unfortunately people don’t always send them
to me so I’m often concerned that my email might have got lost in cyberspace or
is lying trapped and helpless in a spam filter. Or I reluctantly decide that the person I’ve communicated
with is either inefficient, ignorant or just downright rude.
“But I don’t have time to reply to
everything”, I hear you say. Or “I
pride myself on only answering what I absolutely have to” or “but I didn’t have
anything to tell you yet”.
Good on you for your time saving diligence,
but what you are saving in time, you could well be losing in good business
relationships. I’d like to point out a couple of distinctions that might make
you think again about the benefit of email acknowledgement.
Good communication is the basis of all
relationships and poor communication results in misunderstanding and poor
relationships.
I am not talking about responding to
unsolicited promos or mail. This
is about email communications with clients, colleagues, suppliers and friends.
The communication cycle has three
parts. Person A communicates to
person B. Person B, responds or
acknowledges the communication. A
third part also may come into play in some instances to complete the cycle where
person A acknowledges person B’s response.
For instance: Fred sends an email to Mary
asking for input on a project. Mary responds with the required information or
says, sorry she will not be able to do it at the moment and maybe makes a
suggestion. Fred then thanks Mary
for her response. Everyone is
happy and in good communication.
If part two or three was missed the result
could have been misunderstandings and upsets in Fred and Mary’s business
relationship.
When we communicate in person or on the
phone the response is immediately and understood. By email it is a different matter and if an answer or even
brief acknowledgement is not sent there is an open loop. Did it actually reach
its destination and was it read?
With no stable information on what is going
on there is a good chance we will get annoyed, feel slighted or just assume the
answer is “no” or “yes” to any
request for information.
Here are some things you can do to make
sure you complete the communication cycle and that your communications receivea
response.
- If you need a response to your email by a certain time, include something along the lines of “Please let me know by (date) or I will assume the answer is yes/no/you know longer want this”. Have an “awaiting response” folder in your emails, so you can keep track of answers receive.
- Reply to all emails once a day, even if it is only to say thanks, or get back to you later, and then put the email in your “follow-up” folder.
- Remember to regularly check your follow-up folder.
- Invest in an email program that can show you if your email has been received and opened.
- Never assume your communication has actually been received and read and if no response is received, be willing to make a phone call to check.
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Article Tags: acknowledgement, benefit, business relationships, colleagues, communication cycle, confirmation, cyberspace, diligence, distinctions, email communications, good business, mail, misunderstanding, mso, poor communication, poor relationships, promos, spam filter, span style
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About the Author: Wendy Buckingham RSS for Wendy's articles - Visit Wendy's website I love speaking, writing and coaching and my speciality is the finer distinctions of planning and achieving goals or simply having life the way you want. I'm also known for fun and interactive workshops on networking. Working with my clients (and myself) I discovered that guiding people and to set powerful authentic goals, whether career, business or personal, is just the beginning. It is helping them to identify and handle the "stuff" or obstacles, blocking their path, that is the real key to success. In 2001 I wrote my internationally published goal planning and life-skills handbook Ready Set Goal! This has now become a series to include real estate investment and relationships. I bring to my aud iences the benefit of a life rich in experience, learning and transformation. My background includes journalism, broadcasting, small business ownership, coaching and training. "Overall you have achieved outstanding feedback for your presentation you were one of the three mostly highly praised speakers at the conference." Aaron Gay, General Manager, IIR Pty Click here to visit Wendy's website Email response Whats your policy DO YOU HAVE AN EFFECTIVE BUSINESS TEAM |
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