Tip #353: 10 Tips To Improve Your e-Mail Etiquette (Part 2 of 2)

10 Tips To Improve Your e-Mail Etiquette (Part 2 of 2) Greetings! Last week, we introduced the first five of ten tips on e-mail etiquette. As we mentioned, e-mail has been and continues to be an integral staple of the business world. Numerous businesses rely on this technology to communicate internally, to contact clients and customers, to help market their business and to reach out to venders and suppliers. E-mail has increased multi-tasking and efficiency in the business world to levels once thought unimaginable. You Get What You Put In When It Comes To e-Mail. Unfortunately, abbreviations, chat speak, all-capped text, and unnecessarily shortened words ("u" instead of "you") all spilled over from chat messengers to e-mail. This does not fly in the business world due to the formal and established guidelines of etiquette -- especially if you expect to be taken seriously. We wrap up our discussion on e-mail etiquette this week with tips six through ten below. 10 Tips To Improve Your e-Mail Etiquette (Tips 6-10): Tip #6. Use Formal Grammar And Spelling: Inter-office e-mails have the luxury of being more casual or informal, but e-mails to prospects, clients and customers need to adhere to accepted forms of spelling, grammar and formatting. Sending a sloppy, hastily written e-mail peppered with typos and spelling errors will compromise your professionalism. And writing in all caps -- the textual equivalent of screaming or a loud, booming voice -- is simply unacceptable. Always run important e-mails through a spell checker just to play it safe. Tip #7. Please Proof All e-Mails: Again, minor mistakes in inter-office emails can be forgiven. But first-time and early e-mails to a new contact need to be impeccable. Your writing (spelling, grammar, tone, voice, style, etc.) in an e-mail is the digital equivalent of the outfit you pick for your first meeting with someone -- it is the surface detail that we all judge someone by whether we mean to or not. So to avoid having your e-mail dismissed because of sloppy writing, do not hit "send" until you proof, proof, proof. Click here to read the Purdue Owl Online Writing Lab's Guide To e-Mail Etiquette Tip #8. Don't Hide Behind e-Mail: This pertains more to inter-office e-mails than client e-mails, though it can apply to them as well. E-mail is a passive form of communication. People use the sense of anonymity and safety that the "distance" e-mails inherently possess as a way to avoid conflict or put on a show of bravado they never would on the phone or in person. Don't do this. Hiding behind e-mail to avoid an uncomfortable situation is only going to paint you in a negative light, and probably exacerbate the situation. Tip #9. Ask To Send An Attachment: e-mail recipients are wary of attachments in fear that they might carry a virus, worm, trojan or other type of malware that might corrupt their computer or cause them to lose crucial data and have to spend money on a new machine unnecessarily. Attachments accompanying an unannounced e-mail are sure to be buried in the trash, so wait until a second or third e-mail before sending attachments, and always be sure to ask the recipient for permission to send them an attachment. Tip #10. Include Contact Info In Signature: The last aspect of any business e-mail should be a signature that includes your name, job title, e-mail address, work phone number (and extension if you have one), website address, physical work address and any other pertinent contact information you may use at your business (such as messenger screen names). This allows your e-mail recipient to look into your business on their own, without having to contact you for more information, and when they are ready to contact you, all the information they need is right there in one convenient location. Executive Summary: The prevalence of e-mail in today's business world has led to the degradation of e-mail etiquette. While the debate over informality versus formality is a subjective matter, in the business world it is safer to error on the side of formal, well-written e-mails that get right down to business in a concise manner. This is especially true of e-mails to first-time prospects or clients, where humor, informality and spelling/grammar mistakes risk presenting you as sloppy. Your Next Step: If you want to find out more about how Dale Carnegie® Training can make your business more effective, or need more information on this subject, please send us an e-mail at the address below. e-Tip Archive

Make it a great day! Bob Dickson, President Dale Carnegie® Training of Western CT (203) 723-9888 bob_dickson@dalecarnegie.com www.WesternCT.DaleCarnegie.com

Tip #352: 10 Tips To Improve Your e-Mail Etiquette (Part 1 of 2)

10 Tips To Improve Your e-Mail Etiquette (Part 1 of 2) Greetings! E-Mail has been and continues to be an integral staple of the business world. Numerous businesses rely on this technology to communicate internally, to contact clients and customers, to help market their business and to reach out to venders and suppliers. E-Mail has increased multi-tasking and efficiency in the business world to levels once thought unimaginable. You Get What You Put In When It Comes To e-Mail. Unfortunately, abbreviations, chat speak, all-capped text, and unnecessarily shortened words ("u" instead of "you") all spilled over from chat messengers to e-mails. This does not fly in the business world due to the formal and established guidelines of etiquette -- especially if you expect to be taken seriously. With that in mind, we picked ten of the most common business e-mail etiquette faux pas. We begin with the first five tips below. 10 Tips To Improve Your e-Mail Etiquette (Tips 1-5): Tip #1. Leave the "To" Field Blank: That is, leave the "To" field blank until you have completed the e-mail in totality. This may seem like an odd thing to do, but it could just prevent you from sending an incomplete e-mail, or sending an e-mail prematurely before giving yourself a chance to proof it one last time or, if you are including attachments, not forgetting to include them. Tip #2. Subject Lines That Motivate: The subject line you use can make or break an e-mail -- especially when it is used by your sales and marketing team. Remember, your subject line needs to be a short, sweet and to-the-point summary of your e-mail. If your e-mail is internal, abbreviations can be agreed upon to make subject lines aid in efficiently. For example, including "" ("Action Required") in an e-mail subject line will convey urgency succinctly. Click here to read the Purdue Owl Online Writing Lab's Guide To e-Mail Etiquette Tip #3. Keep Your e-Mails Brief, Concise, And On Point: If someone wanted to read a novel, they would hop on Amazon.com or head to their local library. Therefore, when it comes to business e-mails, keeping things short is in your best inertest. That being said, write in bullet format as often as you can and keep your sentences and paragraphs concise and simple. Tip #4. Mind Your Tone Or Attitude: So much of the verbal nuances that listeners can take cues from to understand sarcasm, light-heartedness, anger, or other emotional textures are lost in e-mail. While some people are more adept at reading tone in text, most people are not. So keep your e-mails as neutral sounding as possible to avoid misinterpretation. Tip #5. Regard e-Mails As Business Letters: Unless you are dealing with a client, customer or recipient with whom you've had a long-standing relationship with, all early e-mails -- especially first time e-mails -- should be approached as though you are writing a business letter. Be professional, avoid abbreviations and do not use smiley faces. Executive Summary: The prevalence of e-mail in today's business world has led to the degradation of e-mail etiquette. While the debate over informality versus formality is a subjective matter, in the business world it is safer to error on the side of formal, well-written e-mails that get right down to business in a concise manner. This is especially true of e-mails to new first-time prospects or clients, where humor, informality and spelling/grammar mistakes risk presenting you as sloppy. Your Next Step: If you want to find out more about how Dale Carnegie® Training can make your business more effective, or need more information on this subject, please send us an e-mail at the address below. P.S. Look for part two of our e-mail etiquette tips (tips 6 through 10) next week. e-Tip Archive

Make it a great day! Bob Dickson, President Dale Carnegie® Training of Western CT (203) 723-9888 bob_dickson@dalecarnegie.com www.WesternCT.DaleCarnegie.com

Tip #351: 6 Tips To Overcome Procrastination

6 Tips To Overcome Procrastination Greetings! At some point, all of us fall victim to procrastination. And although procrastination stems from many sources, the most common source is an overwhelming fear or intimidation of a project, or uncertainty in your skills to meet a challenge to your satisfaction. Don't Let Procrastination Pull Down Your Career. Unfortunately, procrastination can become habitual for many people. Employees who procrastinate frequently will see a sharp decline in the quality of their work and their output. Naturally, this will draw the attention of their employers, and in extreme cases could lead to termination. To make sure procrastination doesn't ruin your career, here are six tips to help you overcome procrastination and become a more organized worker. 6 Tips To Overcome Procrastination: Tip #1. Create An Outline/Schedule: In most cases, procrastination is the byproduct of not having a game plan. Sitting down in front of a blank slate you have been assigned to fill is intimidating, enough so to turn your attention elsewhere. But developing an outline and creating a reservoir of information and knowledge to tap into will aid in filling in what's blank. So before you start any work, be it a project or your daily responsibilities, draw up a quick outline to act as a guide. Tip #2. Assign Yourself A Deadline: Deadlines serve two purposes. They can be a scare tactic used to make you realize how limited your time is to complete something and how with each passing day you have less and less time to work on it and bring it up to the standard of quality you want it to be at. Or, they can be an organizational tool that helps you divide a project up over the week while providing a concrete completion time to aim for. Tip #3. Break Up The Project: Smaller, bite-sized chunks are easier to manage and far less intimidating than a project viewed in its entirety. Part of your planning process should be to find ways to segment the project into more manageable pieces. Each piece represents a step towards completing the project, but instead of having an entire blank canvas to fill, you only have, for example, 25% to paint in by the end of Tuesday. Click here to read Lifehack's article "How To Overcome Procrastination Once And For All" Tip #4. Reward Yourself Periodically: Be sure to reward yourself whenever you complete a portion of your work. This will help combat exhaustion and the stress that exhaustion leads to. Take ten minutes to browse the web, or get some fresh air by taking a walk. Depending on your work environment, get out of the office and read for a little while, or engage in some sort of fun hobby or activity. Whatever you do, rewarding yourself for each significant step you finish will help inspire you to press on. Tip #5. Steer Clear Of Perfectionism: No one wants to turn out subpar work, or even work that falls short of the standards they hold themselves to. But perfectionism tends to be far more damaging as an agent of procrastination than it does aiding the quality of your work in any way. For example, people often look at a book and marvel at the author's accomplishment. But what most fail to realize is that the author spent 15+ months writing, editing, rewriting, deleting, rebuilding and repairing the content of that book to get it to that final product. The same applies to your career work. Tip #6. Bite The Bullet And Do It: Biting the proverbial bullet usually happens at one of two moments in the lifetime of a project: At its start or at its end. For some projects, just getting it done from the get-go, banging out that shoddy first draft is the most effective means to overcome the fear of starting. Once done, the rest of the time allotted to you can be used to draft, refine and tighten up the project at a casual pace. Alternatively, waiting too long will force your hand, demanding that you produce the entirety of the project -- that you just "do it" -- in one shot to meet deadline. Executive Summary: Some people equate procrastination with laziness, and while that may be true in some cases, just as many -- if not more -- are the result of feeling overwhelmed and intimidated. These are perfectly natural and acceptable feelings to experience. The trick is to learn techniques that allow you to tear down fear and intimidation, to level the playing field and take ownership of your work. If the project is large, break it down into manageable chunks. If the project is long, reward yourself with periodic breaks -- especially after you have made significant progress. Your Next Step:If you want to find out more about how Dale Carnegie® Training can make your business more effective, or need more information on this subject, please send us an e-mail at the address below. e-Tip Archive

Make it a great day! Bob Dickson, President Dale Carnegie® Training of Western CT (203) 723-9888 bob_dickson@dalecarnegie.com www.WesternCT.DaleCarnegie.com

Tip #350: 7 Secrets To Improve Your Cold-Calling Skills

Greetings! #1. Do Some Research First: Before you pick up the phone and call a prospect cold, you should take a minute or two to visit the prospect's website. That way, you can familiarize yourself with their company, what they do, what role they have at their company, etc. In fact, this process can go a long way during the actual phone call itself. It adds a more personalized touch to the call, and more importantly shows the prospect that you are genuinely interested in them. #2. Cultivate A Unique Greeting: Bland introductions are typical among salespeople. But these tend to be a one-way ticket to getting hung up on in the first 30 seconds. Research has proven the impact your greeting leaves on a prospect will determine how long they permit you to engage them. The trick is to strike a balance between formality and casual charm. #3. Include Your Name And Company: Continuing from Tip #2, your greeting should also contain your name and your company name, as well as a little about your company (what kind of business you are, service or product you provide, etc.). This is in an effort to pique your prospect's interest. You don't want to come off as being vague and elusive just to get an appointment. #4. Be Upfront About Your Purpose: When speaking with someone, don't skirt around the issue. Just cut to the chase. Think of this as a declaration of your reason for calling. One of the more effective ways to state your purpose is to phrase it in the form of a question. Opening with a question sparks the potential for conversation, which is what most prospects would rather have than fielding an overly rehearsed sales call. #5. Learn To Accept Rejection: A common concern among salespeople is being too persistent. Unfortunately, many salespeople give up calling a prospect after their first unsuccessful attempt at moving the sales process forward. The truth is, the majority of your calls (about 80%) will go to voicemail (which makes it crucial to have a voicemail script prepared), and those that don't, well, rejection is part of the game. One "yes" is easily worth nine "no's." If you are rejected, accept rejection gracefully. Respect the prospect's wishes and don't press on, or you will be a pest. #6. Open And Close With Gratitude: After you have introduced yourself and stated the purpose of your call the first thing you should do is express gratitude by thanking the prospect for giving you a moment of their time. This tells a prospect that you understand and appreciate the value of their time. Similarly, when wrapping up a call, thank them a second time and e-mail them your contact information. Don't forget to include a simple, one page summary of your services. #7. Always, Always Follow Up: Perhaps the biggest area salespeople drop the ball in is their follow-up. Every phone call requires some kind of follow-up, especially if you left a voicemail. A quick e-mail after leaving a voicemail is one of the best ways to follow up on a phone call, especially if you provide useful information. After that, put some time between your next phone touch. A minimum of 3 days should go by before you reach out to a prospect again. Anything less may leave them feeling pressured or hounded. Executive Summary: Despite the ease and convenience of mass e-mail marketing, the sales game is still all about salespeople's telephone skills. People want to buy from people they like and trust. That is why it is so important for salespeople to put a sincere effort into their sales calls. So observe and heed the advice listed above. By doing so, you will be well on your way to more successful cold calling. Even in spite of today's fast-paced technology, such as e-mailing and social media, the most powerful tool in a salesperson's arsenal remains their ability to call someone with a powerful "Oh By The Way" call. This is where a salesperson calls someone on the phone and makes their sales pitch. Because cold calling is such a vital part of a salesperson's skill set, we have created a number of tips to help anyone in sales become better at making their calls. 7 Secrets For Strengthening Your Cold-Calling Skills: Your Next Step: If you want to find out more about how Dale Carnegie® Training can make your business more effective, or need more information on this subject, please send us an e-mail at the address below. e-Tip Archive

Make it a great day! Bob Dickson, President Dale Carnegie® Training of Western CT (203) 723-9888 bob_dickson@dalecarnegie.com www.WesternCT.DaleCarnegie.com

Tip #349: 6 Employee Management Tips

6 Employee Management Tips Greetings! Employee management is, for all intents and purposes, the day to day engagement of employer-employee relationships on a professional, work-related level. To manage your employees well, you need to think of them less as the physical incarnation of their job roles and more as the people who make your business' success possible. Effective Employee Management Is What Separates Successful Leaders From Unsuccessful Leaders. In the past, employee management was something of a more rigid experience. These days, successful businesses find that employing a little finesse to their management practices is much more effective. To that end, we came up with six tips to get you started down the path to becoming a stronger leader. Click here to watch a video of Steve Jobs talking about managing people 6 Employee Management Tips: Tip #1. Establish An Open Line Of Communication: The first step, if not the very foundation, of great employee management is to establish a line of open, honest and comfortable communication between employees, leaders and managers. The more uncomfortable an employee is with their employer, the less likely the two are to be on the same page. Comfortable communication comes from familiarity, so get to know your team. This will make working together feel much less like pulling teeth later down the road. Tip #2. Focus On Strengths, Not Weaknesses: Every employee has individual strengths and weaknesses. It stands to reason that you hired them for whatever their strengths may be. That is why spending more time correcting their weaknesses or shortcomings is a waste of time and energy. You didn't hire the employee to spend all your time fixing their shortcomings or to fit a square peg in a round hole, so instead focus on actively fostering the growth and development of their strengths. Tip #3. Be Reasonable With Your Expectations: Part of being a leader at your business is being a visionary -- someone with big goals and big ideas. Unfortunately, it is easy to forget how much time, effort and energy goes into executing a new initiative or project, which can cause leaders to unintentionally overwhelm or overload an employee with too many expectations. This in turn can cause undue stress and frustration for the employee, negatively affecting your ability to manage them. Tip #4. Plan Accordingly When Expanding Roles: The business world is still in a state of financial flux. With many companies regularly downsizing, many employees are required to pick up the extra workload. The trick to effectively managing the assignment of additional responsibilities is to plan accordingly so your employees don't feel they have been thrown in the water head first. It is better when an employee has time to acclimate to his or her new role and responsibilities. Tip #5. Be Consistent And Reliable: As a leader or manager at your business, you have a lot on your plate -- no one questions that. Information and ideas channel through you from a hundred different directions, not to mention new initiatives and projects that fall on your shoulders to develop. But even in spite of your own heavy workload, it is imperative that you be consistent and reliable when interacting with your employees. It may prove difficult, stressful even, but it is crucial that employees feel they can rely on you to get something back to them promptly. Tip #6. Invest In Employee Training: Providing opportunities for employees to improve and strengthen their skills shows your genuine interest in investing in them. Naturally, any employee who feels valued is likely to be reciprocal when being managed. Paying for employees to attend skill-strengthening classes like those offered by Dale Carnegie Training reinforces the idea that you are invested in them as an employee and as a component to your business' continued success. Executive Summary: Employee management is by no means a walk in the park. It takes a lot of hard work and concentrated effort on the part of leaders and managers. But as with all things that come as a challenge, the end results of your labor will strengthen your company significantly. Good employee-employer relationships allow for better communication, which in turn allows for fluid, dynamic management. Your Next Step: If you want to find out more about how Dale Carnegie® Training can make your business more effective, or need more information on this subject, please send us an e-mail at the address below. e-Tip Archive

Make it a great day! Bob Dickson, President Dale Carnegie® Training of Western CT (203) 723-9888 bob_dickson@dalecarnegie.com www.WesternCT.DaleCarnegie.com