Business writing & email etiquette

How many times have we thought about starting something and we put it off? We do everything that we don’t need to do, to avoid working on a job that requires our focus right now.

If I was a betting person, I would wager that most of us fall into this category. As a student in younger years, I was definitely one of those people who left assignments to the last minute and studying for exams until the week or night before. Needless to say, it worked out most of the time. Yet, as my career progressed, I began to realise procrastination was ruling the day.

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Any time I think of how we use jargon and acronyms on a daily basis, I am reminded about how confusing it can be. Especially, as I am teleported back to a much earlier time in my career when I had a site visit with a client in the UK.

There were five of us in the room. Four members of the client’s team and me. I was a little outnumbered. Still, I felt very welcome.

There was great excitement that day, as we chatted about an upcoming sales project. We got stuck into discussing the logistics of the plan working out what we needed to do and by whom. Everything was going smoothly and then I hit a wall.

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In training I frequently ask people if they prefer to use the phone or email, I generally get a mixed reaction. Some favour the phone and others choose email.

I have noticed that individual preferences depend on the personality type or job role. Sometimes people who work in customer facing or people orientated roles prefer the phone. Whereas quieter people or those who work in technical jobs regularly like email and text.

Obviously, it’s not an exact science. And it is down to preference.

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How many times have you found yourself in a situation where someone is giving you advice and you don’t understand what they are saying?  They are speaking the same language, but are using words that make no sense and feel alien to you? 

Sometimes we may even start to feel a “Glazed look” come over our eyes. Still, we sit there, smile and say nothing. And the other person probably doesn’t even notice.

It’s probably fair to say many of us have been in this position. Yet, if we really think about it - how many of us can honestly say we have never been the person who spoke with jargon?  Few I’m sure.

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How often do we pay attention to every customer as they walk in the door? Or when we answer the phone each day? If we are regularly engaging with high volumes of customers, clearly, it’s no surprise we stop noticing?

Anytime we interact with a customer we won’t always know how the conversation will go. A lot will depend on how they are feeling and their emotions. So, if we focused on how they are feeling, surely, we could manage them more appropriately?

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