I have to come clean about something.
It’s a tad embarrassing to admit.
But the lesson within is so important, I really have no choice.
Anyway, here’s the scoop:
Lately, I’ve been getting some praise about the emails I send out. And in many cases, from people saying, “that one got me Ben, I HAD to buy…” or something like that.
Sounds like a good thing, right?
Well, not so fast, Jethro.
For one thing, I have had MANY more email failures than big successes. And, I can think of at least two cases over the past 6 months where my lack of email communication skillz has kinda made me sound like a jerk or an idiot (or both).
The first was back in October.
I had just finished a long stretch of ads (about 7 in a row) for a client and, upon the last one I asked something like, “Is this the last one?”
Sounds innocent enough, right?
That’s what I thought, too.
But it turns out I gave the exact OPPOSITE impression than what I intended! You see, I was genuinely asking if it was the last of the 6 or 7 ads we’d discussed. But it sounded to him as if I was saying, “I hope this is the last one, I don’t want to write any more ads for you.”
Yikes!
A second example:
Just yesterday I sent an email to someone else I work with in another venture. I used a term that, where I grew up at least, is a very common figure of a speech.
But, that’s not how it read at all.
In fact, it read like an insult! He even suggested I should have probably read it a few times before pushing send.
And he was right.
I should have been more careful.
The point?
Email is like a surgeon’s knife.
It can be used for good, and to help grease the skids of your business (and personal life — it’s how I met my wife).
And it can also be used to cause damage, too.
So be especially careful with it when communicating sensitive info, where 100% clarity is a must.
Or, in those cases, just use the phone, instead.
Ben Settle
