Gerry Reid's
E-mail Tips to Enhance Your Professional Image
Originally published in the Personal and Professional Development Newsletter, Vol. 5, No.2
| Using E-mail | E-mail Structure | E-mail Format | E-mail Courtesy | Distribution, Replies and Forwarding | Spam |
My seminar titled "Using Technology to Enhance Your Professional Image," covers many aspects of professional image and how it is shaped via technology. We cover e-mail, voice-mail, telephone, pagers, resumes', business cards, and more. Audiences have been very generous in adding their perspectives about what works and what does not work.
Virtually everyone in attendance has a story of a good or bad example of first impressions via e-mail. First impressions are extremely important when meeting someone face-to-face. In today's technology-driven world, many times it is e-mail that establishes the first (and sometimes the only) impressions we have of others. Whether with a peer, superior, subordinate, customer, client or vendor, the image we deliver via our e-mail is crucial in establishing ourselves as a competent and intelligent professional.
While each of the following items are subject to a "range of opinion," we should at least consider each one and ask "Am I displaying the professional image I want?"
Using E-mail:
- Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
- Check email frequently, but don't let email rule your schedule.
- Review and purge old e-mails regularly. Excess email increases the cost of email to the company.
- Company email is provided for business use. Existing policies on personal use of company resources apply to email.
- Never run an executable e-mail attachment from a source you do not know.
- Never run an executable e-mail attachment from a source you do know.
Structure:
- Keep messages brief and limit them to one topic.
- Always use a concise, meaningful subject line.
- State the purpose of the note, the action you need from the recipient, and the time-frame for the action in the first paragraph.
Format:
- Use proper grammar and punctuation.
- Use upper and lower case letters - Write as if your message were on your personal or business letterhead.
- NEVER USE ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. IT IMPLIES SHOUTING OR YELLING. IT IS ALSO MUCH MORE DIFFICULT TO READ.
- never use all lowercase letters and never skip punctuation it implies immaturity and laziness.
- BTW, avoid sets of letters that are supposed to mean common phrases. FYI, they can be misunderstood and IMHO, they reflect a casualness that is improper in professional communication.
- Use caution when *emphasizing* words with "special" bracketing. While such usage may *sometimes* help, +most+ of the time, the *special* symbols simply cause "confusion" and could be taken as sarcasm - but of course, *you* already know that!
Courtesy:
- Be as courteous as you would be in a letter, on the telephone, or face-to-face.
- Use the telephone or make a personal visit when you need to discuss controversial topics.
- Never use email to reprimand someone. Intended tone is often lost or distorted in email.
- Use care with humor in email.
- Be courteous when asking to be removed from someone's distribution list. You may have forgotten that you asked to be put on the list.
- Mistakes happen - you may have been placed on the list in error. When asked, be helpful in diagnosing errors in distribution lists.
Distribution, Replies, and Forwarding:
- Verify all virus warnings before forwarding them. Most warning notes are hoaxes.
- Delete chain letters, virus hoaxes and bogus "benefit" letters.
- When replying to an email, forward the original message (unless it's huge) back to the sender. It helps the sender understand your reply.
- If it is necessary to forward a message, always include a message from you to introduce the "forward" and why you are forwarding it.
- Send messages only to those who really need to see them. Many people are getting overloaded with email because it's so easy to send it to extra people "just to be safe".
- Avoid attaching large data or graphic files without first notifying the recipient.
- Use discretion when forwarding someone's email. That person may not have intended anyone to see it but you.
Spam:
- Do not respond to spam (unsolicited e-mail) that offers to remove you from their list. Responding often simply verifies that your address is legitimate.
- Spammers often use software that automatically collects e-mail addresses from newsgroups, guest books and other places where several e-mail addresses may reside. Instead of posting "yourname@yourdomain.com," post it as "yourname@DELETETHIS.yourdomain.com" A human being can figure it out what to do to contact you, but the software cannot. If spam is a problem, create filters to trash future e-mail from addresses that have spammed you in the past. For more ideas on dealing with spam visit:
