Consider emailing an art…
Consider emailing an art…
Prerogative word here: art.
Obviously.
In today’s fast-paced world where human connection becomes more and more seemingly impossible, emailing has transformed from a necessary business skill to an unlikely yet tremendously powerful form of art.
There is a lot to be said about the Covid-19 world we are living in, especially when it comes to the way we handle our business. In the past, I’ve always been a firm believer that getting that one-on-one face time with clients is the best way to form business relationships. All of that went down the drain when the pandemic hit, and the shift turned towards Zoom calls of course, but more importantly: emailing.
We believe we are bypassing that human connection and solely depending on a digital correspondence to build a business, but that’s not exactly the case.
Human connection can be done via emailing. Yeah, who would have ever thought I would have said that five years ago? But here’s the thing, if we keep on relying on our old ways we will never evolve into our more powerful, successful, and adaptive selves. And I don’t need to tell you that in order for you and your business to thrive, you have to learn to adapt. And quickly.
So now what?
Well, we've clearly established that emailing is going to be an extremely powerful tool in your arsenal. We’ve solidified that you could indeed build an authentic and long-lasting business relationship via email. So where is our culture going wrong?
We are forgetting the actual art of emailing. Meaning, we tend to forget that there’s another human being on the other side of that computer screen reading your emails, that is prone to good days, bad days, sick days, confused days, and all other days that encompass us as a human species. We immediately jump to conclusions, put up our defenses, and more times than not, respond too late to an email. Almost all of my courses, templates, and guides give pointers on how to master this art… heck, I even made one specific course dedicated to how to properly email clients. But here I wanted to give you three extremely effective tips you can immediately start doing when emailing. Trust that you’ll see the difference on how you’ll be responded to, and eventually how your business will grow because of it:
Answer emails within a 24 business hour timeframe.This doesn’t mean you necessarily have the answer that is being asked of you, but this certainly means that you write back acknowledging the email and giving your client a TBD on when to expect an answer in return. I’ve seen so many companies and influencers lose jobs because they don’t stay on top of emails.
Inject a dollop of your personal life into emails. For example, when a client emails me asking how my weekend was, instead of writing back “Great, yours?” (snoozapoolza automatic answer), I give them a bit more. “Hi XXX, weekend was wonderful, I was able to see this new art exhibit with my mom. How was your weekend?” Clients will start seeing you a bit more of a human being with a real family/friends and that builds trust. Trust builds relationships. Relationships build business. Best part? It’s authentic
Pay attention. Sounds obvious does is not? Most of the time when we are answering emails we skip to the part of the email where we are getting the answer we need. Big NO NO. Pay attention to the social cues a client gives you. Let’s take the personal example I gave in #2. Let’s say it’s a client that told me they went to a museum. Instead of me writing back business, I may want to start the email with “Oh that sounds lovely, what was the exhibit about? I personally love art too.” What you did right there was continue to build on that one-on-one relationship and show that you not only are listening to what they’re saying, but that you’re engaged with it. That you want to know more about them. The clients I love most to work with are ones that I have built relationships with. I follow them on Instagram. I follow the birth of their children and send flowers. I’ve been a lending ear for breakups. There is nothing better than doing business with a friend. And you’d be surprised how many business friends you can make if you extend yourself a bit more, and pay attention.
