Be Brave Not Safe

How many times have you received an email that looked like the author had written it with a bunch of old, busted-up crayons?

Worse yet, have you written any?

• The entire message is in lower or UPPER case.
• There is no sentence or paragraph structure. Just a bunch of run-on words and statements separated by commas and/or dashes.
• The text is cryptic and difficult to understand – by the recipient.
• Bottom-line: The recipient ends up wondering: What in the world is this person trying to say to me?

I’ve recently been corresponding via email with a service provider, to my business, who demonstrates ALL of the above. Very unprofessional! And, it directly contributes to my lack of confidence in the services provided.

What could have been accomplished in a couple of back and forth messages, in a matter of minutes, has strung out to days. Admittedly, I wasn’t paying the appropriate amount of attention, being distracted with our recent adventure to Moosehead Lake, in Maine.

Finally, when I had the chance, I picked up the phone and called in response to the most recent email message to ensure we closed-out the dialog and made some forward progress.

I shan’t (again) cover the art of good e-mail communications, as a prior post provides that (click here to view).

I know, I know…Some will say: I just don’t have the time to polish my emails. I only have time to say what I need to say, and move on.

Really?!?

To that I’d ask 2 questions:

1. What about the wasted time spent going back and forth resulting from the NUMEROUS miscommunications and (quite often) related drama that ensues.
2. Do you want to be viewed as a professional, or an amateur? The reality is: we are treated (and paid) accordingly. Make your choice.

In closing, emails and crayons simply don’t mix. Please stop 🙂