The Skype’s the Limit Given its growing use, in what kinds of situations do you think Skype might be preferable to e-mail (and the phone) in a business setting? Convene put this question to Send co- author Will Schwalbe, who gave this response: “As for any kind of videoconferencing— whether Skype or otherwise—that’s personal preference. Some people prefer it to phone, some don’t. It can help when there are important visuals, but you can also share those on the web while you are talking on the phone. The main point is the same as what I said before. Go to the phone or Skype or a meeting when it’s complicated or emo- tional, but make sure to follow up in some kind of written form, whether it’s email or a letter or a fax.”
Working Smarter By Michelle Russell
You SendMe
Meeting professionals send and receive millions of e-mails every week, conducting business solely through electronic communication. Is something getting lost in an industry that is all about face-to-face interaction?
E-mail:We love it andwehate it. It links us to business and personal contacts, and it chains us to our desks and our BlackBerrys. Aside from the challenge of handling its sheer volume on a daily basis, our difficulties withe-mail,David Shipley and Will Schwalbe write in their book Send: Why PeopleEmail So Badly andHowtoDoIt Better, stem from e-mail’s “unique character—or lack thereof.” From their introduction: If you don’t consciously insert tone into an
email, a kind of universal default tonewon’t auto- matically be conveyed. Instead, the message writ- tenwithout regardtotone becomes a blankscreen onto which the reader projects his own fears, prejudices, and anxieties. “Will you be late for the meeting?” is a simple
with suppliers often strictly via e-mail, I won- dered: Sure it’s efficient, but is it effective? Is it a good way to start a business relationship? What about the verbal cues andnuances that are somuch a part of the negotiating process? In other words, when should you stop typing and pick up the phone—and when is e-mail acceptable? I submitted these questions to the authors of
Send—via e-mail, of course—and co-authorWill Schwalbe responded in kind. Here’s what he had to say: Emails are a great way to start a business rela-
tionship—so long as you use themfor what they are best for—which is conveying information. Email is toneless and affectless, so it’s very hard to get someone to love you or even like you
“Email is toneless and affectless, so it’s very hard to get some- one to love you or even like you based on an email.”
question.But simply stated in an email, it can give rise to a huge variety of reactions.An employee who is on probation could interpret this as a sternwarning.A model employee could interpret this as an insult, thinking, “I’m always on time. Whywould henowthink I would show up late?” Orit could provoke confusion:“Why would I be late for the meeting? Is there something going on beforehand that I should know about?” Email demands, then, that we figure out who
weare in relation to the person we’re writing and that we get our tone right from the outset—but this isn’t as straightforward as it sounds. Right.And withmeeting planners negotiating — and developing long-term relationships —
based on an email. That said, it’s equally hard to convey a lot of information on a phone call! So if you are going to send a detailed proposal or RFP,email is perfect.The key is to combine tech- nologies so that you use each for what it does best. For example, let’s say someone has given you
a good introduction or lead. Rather than try to reach the lead on the phone, you might want to start with an email — using the introducer’s name as the first two words of the subject line —provided you have permission, and only if you are pretty sure that the lead actually likes and respects the referrer! The subject line might say: “Michelle Russell Introduction.”
ON_THE_WEB: To read about really bad e-mails, or submit your own worst e-mail story, visit the Send authors’ website atwww.thinkbeforeyousend.com.
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