1. Include your name. Sending an e-mail
message without
it is red flag to most busy
business people.
Also, some
business people still prefer
to call to
get information
or discuss your message. You
should also
include all
contact information for your
company including
telephone/fax and street
address. You want
to get those
free samples and magazines
don't you<g>?
2. Don't send your message in format
other than plain
text.
Adding nifty colors and
formatting (bold,
italics, etc.)
can make your message
totally unreadable
to someone who
doesn't have software
that reads those
special formatting
commands. Don't send
it in MS Word
DOC or MS Mail format
DAT either . . . since many
people have
no way to read
these files.
3. Don't send any attachments without
permission. These
can
grow to very large size and
may cost the
recipient for
receipt. Ask first . . . and
ask what the
best format
for them is.
4. Don't COPY: everyone one the
planet. If you are sending
copies to more than one
person, be sure
to include their
addresses in the BCC: (Blind
Carbon Copy)
section, not
the COPY: section. This will
hide everyone
else's address
and prevent you sending huge
lists of people's
private
e-mail address to everyone
else. I've gotten
messages
that had a ten line message
and a 5 page
list of
e-addresses.
5. Don't put funny characters or
setups in your REPLY
address
to fool spammers. It will
most likely never
even be noticed
by the busy executive who
gets your message,
he/she will
reply and their message will
bounce. Deal
lost.
6. Don't set up your filters to send
out nasty messages
to
spammers within your e-mail
program. I sent
one firm a
a letter 3 times and got a
nasty note each
time generated
from their e-mailer to "go
away". Since
I wanted to BUY
something from them, this
was a mistake.
Not a great way
to get a client. If you want
to set up the
filter, be very
sure you know what you are
doing and don't
send out auto-
poision-pen letters to
anyone.
7. Make your message as short as you
can. Really! People
sort
e-mail very quickly and hate
to read 20
paragraphs if 3 will
do. Learn the fine art of
editing.
8. Don't use all caps . . . anywhere.
This is shouting
in e-language.
9. Don't use a lot of $$$, ###,
!!!,etc. in your messages.
That instantly
misidenitifies your message
as spam.
