Tag Archives: Email

How To Make Lemonade Out Of A Sour Lemon – A Business Lesson

2.25.15The disaster began with a telephone call.  The caller told my client that the primary insurance product my client sells, was not paying the caller’s claims.  He went on to say that the insurance company was being black balled by a major medical service provider.  When he asked the caller, “Why?” all he got was, “I really don’t know.”

My client was devastated.  Almost immediately, several users of the service started canceling their memberships.  He was presiding over a train wreck.  And with each cancellation call, he was losing money.  He did what he knew to do—he started writing emails to the insurance company to see what happened.  They did not respond.  He then began a chaotic downward spiral of useless activity.  He started looking for a new product sell.  Then, finally, he contacted me.

After listening to what happened in detail, I suggested that his first step was to step back.  There was something about this scenario that didn’t make sense to me.  It was all too sudden.  What I suggested that he do is to check out the current ratings of the product’s performance on the internet.  And, talk to someone who could make a difference at the company to see from their point of view what happened to make the end user blackball the service.  His reply was that he did email them.  I repeated what I said, talk to a decision maker at the company.  Stay on the telephone line until you reach a decision maker.  Do not leave a message; stay on the line.

My client did what I asked him to do.  He talked to a decision maker at the company.  The man was aware of the problem; however he did not know that his company was being blackballed by the user.  My client’s action caused a turnaround in the company.  The decision maker could see that he needed to take immediate action in order to resolve the end users complaints.

There is not yet a conclusion.  However, there will be a change in the relationship between the two companies.  It was caused by my client.  He was willing to take a stand for his product, and he had the courage to demand that attention be paid to the problem.

So what’s in this for you?  You have the right to stand for what you believe in.  When something is not right, you have the right to bring attention to the problem and ask that it be fixed.  This is how good business practices happen.

 

When NOT To Use Email

2.18.15Think about this the next time you send out an email: there are 294 billion messages per day, which means more than 2.8 million emails are sent every second, and some 90 trillion emails are sent per year.  Around 90% of these millions and trillions of message are but spam and viruses.  The genuine emails are sent by around 1.9 billion users. (Source: Radicati Group)

And yet, it only takes 1 email to ruin your day or week.  One email that shouldn’t have been sent.  One email that was misread or misinterpreted can ruin a relationship or keep you up at night worrying about what you said or did not say in the email.

I know I don’t have to preach to you about being appropriate when you write an email.  You are professional and smart, and caring about your relationships.  And yet as a coach I frequently hear about a devastating aftermath of the one sent or received email that has ruined your business day and your relationship with someone you work with or work for.  I think it’s time to stop the email torture.

What I suggest to you is that you think about how you are using email and what you want to accomplish with it.  Email is tremendously useful in setting appointments, exchanging information, photos, and commenting on ongoing projects.  It allows for rapid information giving and receiving.  It allows us to go around the world in a few seconds.  What it isn’t useful for is handling sensitive and/or important topics that require your presence.  By presence I am talking about you listening and exchanging ideas with another human being.

If you have something sensitive to say, give people the respect they deserve by either meeting with them or by calling them on the telephone.  When you talk to someone in person there is something about being present, and even on the telephone, that can soothe hurt feelings and also give both parties an opportunity to work with each other instead of against each other.

 

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

Do Your Emails Ruin Your Relationships?

Communication8.6.14There are “about” 59,900,000 submissions regarding Email Etiquette on the internet, according to Google.

I suspect if you were quizzed about the proper etiquette for emails you would ace the test. That is, if you knew there was going to be quiz. However, every day the wonder of email is being abused. Feelings are hurt, people are misunderstood, and people are even being fired by email.

We see it all the time in politics, people publicly humiliated because some governmental committee has subpoenaed their emails. And there it is out in the open for everyone to see—how snarky and unprofessional the subpoenaed person is—all because of their emails.

And yet, we continue to use emails as a way to express ourselves without abandon. And email abuse continues on its merry way in our lives.

One of the times that our emails do not serve us is when we are angry. Say we have been sending emails to someone about something delicate. The money they owe you. And their only response has been silence. Often times we get angrier and angrier and so do our emails. Instead try this: pick up the telephone and call them—actually talk about the situation in real time. You may find out something has happened that prevented them from paying you. You may together find a solution that works for both of you if you talk it out.

There is something about being present, even on the telephone that can soothe hurt feelings and also give both parties an opportunity to work with each other instead of against each other.

If you think about it, world peace negotiations are done in person not via email. There is a reason for that. Face to face, person to person works. Granted you are not in disastrous situations but it may seem that way to you in your personal corner of the world. Imagine what you could work out with your staff, clients and colleagues, if you did the same thing—talk about the situation in person.

There is something about the personal touch that makes a huge difference with people. Please use it as much as you can. Think about this the next time you decide to write an angry email about some challenge or slight. It could make a huge difference in the quality of your business and personal relationships.

As always, I look forward to hearing from you about this topic. Your comments always enrich the conversation. Please write your comments below.

photo courtesy of Freedigitalphoto.net