Mission Control

I’d like to share with you a good practice about how to write emails and do not spend a lot of time for this task.

1. The most important is that you need to understand what action you would like to have from the recipient;
2. Try to summarize all his potential questions and write shortly one paragraph explanation for every potential question;
3. Extract from every paragraph the principal or main idea and put it as a paragraph title. Try to make you titles attractive to the reader (look at the banners on every news web site. On some of them you really want to click to get the info). People start reading from the titles. According to the titles they can “rank” you message for them (whether it is important and interesting for them);
4. Put the small picture if it is possible. For some people a small sketch can say more than big sentences (specially if your recipient doesn’t speak good foreign language);
5. Try to put in the subject the action you would like to have from the reader;
6. Use simple words

Itteco corporate culture requires:

• That every email has to be answered withing 24 hours.
  If you can’t resolve the problem written in the email, please something like you are working on that problem now and you’ll try to get the answer tomorrow or next week so that the senders understand that you didn’t ignore him…

Q: What shall you do if you have a lot of email?

A: You need to filter them… What is the criteria?
I always answer to the emails of my manager, email that are addressed directly to me and my team in that order. Only after that the emails where I’m in CC if it is necessary.

Hints:

• if you prepare a report, divide it to two parts: summary and details;
• if you received an email and you think that the sender is stupid and doesn’t understand you at all, your blood pressure if going up and you want to write everything you think about this man right now, don’t do that! Wait 1 hour, think about practice of how to write emails, and then write it;
• if you received an email from your boss where he is pressing you down without any reason (as you think), don’t try to shield you via replying immediately, don’t do that! Wait 1 hour, think about practice of how to write emails, and then write it.

Please also read about how to inspire action with your writing here AIDA: Attention-Interest-Desire-Action

Please comment this post adding your email writing practices.