Many thanks to fellow blogger and like-minded soul Georganna Hancock for this excellent post (is it any coincidence that both she and Anne, two of my favorite people, are from the same city?). Georganna takes on business communications in a way that warms my cynical, skeptical heart. It’s why I adore her – her tongue is firmly planted in cheek while she’s making a strong statement. Georganna, if you ever decide to start up a cult, send me both the toga and the Kool-Aid – I’m in.
Writing Etiquette
by Georganna Hancock
Business communications etiquette is not unfashionable. I risk sounding like a whiny old lady, but when did common courtesy leave the scene? Just because we have technological communication possibilities, doesn’t preclude business messages including formal salutations, last names, and explanations for the contact.
It’s not my fault you are trying to do accomplish too much simultaneously (like Twitter, blog, write and query). If the communication is related to work, slow down to shape the message into clarity and coherence. Are you serious about your writing or not?
Yes, I am once again on a tear, complaining about people whom I have never heard of telling LinkedIn that I am their “friend” and wanting me to include them in my network of connections; strangers greeting me in a first contact email message as “Hi Georganna,” and asking for a favor. Worst was a message from a professional woman who, I feel certain, knows better considering her high placement in the communications department of a major institution. She emailed no message at all, just forwarded a copy of a release. I wrote back, “Am I guessing correctly that you would like me to review your book, or what?” “Where did you find my email address?” (It was not one that included my name.) “Do we have any sort of connection?”
People, people, put yourself in the place of the receiver.
If someone you don’t know asks a favor (in real life or a snail mail letter), don’t they explain who they are, why they are contacting you and what is your advantage in accommodating them (if any)?
Why should email or Web 2.0 contacts differ?
Other annoyances are people who want help with writing or publishing, send material for review, require an exchange of several emails and then offer only silence when they receive an estimate of cost. I would appreciate knowing if they are taking time to make up their minds, preparing whole manuscripts to send, or turning down my services. I am using energy to keep them in my attention, keep an active file for their work on my desktop and an email folder in prominence in Outlook Express. When/if they call, I can refer to our messages and work right away. At this point, I’ve invested quite a bit of time in this process. At least have the consideration to let me know it’s been wasted (from my point of view) and I can close the files.
Totally agree on the last one. People who have been "interested" in working with me have fallen off the face of the earth more times than I can count for no discernable reason. I don't even bother following up any more. I also find it quite rude when clients say they are going to call on a certain day, don't indicate a time, and then don't bother calling or even emailing to let me know they are too busy to chat.
Oh, I so agree!
When I posted about this subject on the Writer's Digest forum, some people asked me to hold a class.
Since Lori reprinted the piece today, I posted a mini-tutorial.
Great post! I'm always shocked by the lack of professionalism that some people show in emails. Writing as if you were texting someone, with LOLs splashed around and no punctuation, really gives a bad impression. One of my pet peeves is when people misspell my name. I understand people misspelling it the first time they contact me, but after I've responded to them with my signature at the bottom of the email, it makes me think they're not very detail-oriented, or they just don't care.
Totally agree with everything that's been said.
The initial contact is the first impression. If that's poor, why would I want to pursue the professional relationship?
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