Today, if you've
got important business news you want to share with a lot of people fast, you're more
likely to send e-mail than to call. Why? Because time is valuable and sending e-mail has
three obvious advantages over phoning.
- You can be sure to send the same information to each person accurately.
Phone messages can get distorted as you get tired of saying the same thing repeatedly.
Some people report leaving out key facts, wondering whether they've already covered that
information in the current call, or in a previous call.
- You are in control of the activity. On a phone call, you don't know
exactly how long each person will want to share news (personal or business-related) of
their own. Building relationships is crucial in business, in its own time and place.
- E-mail can send a single message out to many individuals at once. Phone
calls must be done one at a time. Parallel efforts beat serial efforts for busy
professionals. Especially for those of us who get paid on commission!
So, if you're
going to use e-mail, what are your options? Here are four of the most important skills to
use. Though you may be familiar with one or more of these techniques, you can learn a new
distinction or two in this short article that can clear up any doubts about when and where
to use each method. In my course on Internet Bootcamp for Business Leaders many
managers report that they went from familiarity to proficiency after
covering this material.
Copy and Send
This is the simplest method and the fastest to learn. It is commonly used when you
come across an interesting article on the web and want to send it out to your colleagues
as an FYI. So you highlight the text, copy, open a new e-mail document and paste the text
into the body of the message. And as easy as that, it's ready to send out to your team.
Advantages: Takes very little time to learn and it is easy to do.
Disadvantages: You may need "formatting help" to be intelligible
to the recipients. Often web text doesn't translate well to e-mail copy. A quick review
before you click the Send button can save you embarrassment later on. One time I received
32 pages of text on a topic I had only a passing interest in from a friend who thought he
was being helpful. Of course I didn't get upset - that's what Delete keys are for! Avoid
sending more info than is necessary. It's better to send a summary than the whole online
article for size as well as ownership issues. Be careful about what you send because you
may be violating copyright restrictions. Though the chances of being prosecuted are slim,
you don't want to make headlines in the Wall Street Journal as the person a company
chose to make into an example case.
Best uses: Content from your own company web site. Excerpts from other web
sites. E-mail that you've received that you want to forward in whole or part.
For instance, I send out a newsletter on "Internet Solutions that Mean Business"
via an e-mail listserver. (You can subscribe by sending a message to eNews-on@starcomm.com.)
At the bottom of the newsletter, I encourage readers to share the newsletter by forwarding
it to colleagues and clients who may benefit from the information. It's a value-added
service that costs me virtually nothing in material costs to send out. You can adopt the
format or language into your own FYI bulletins.
Fire Off a Web Link
This is a slightly more sophisticated technique, but still simple to perform.
Say that you wanted to send a listing of CD rates for comparison purposes. I was just on
news.com and followed this link to Net Bank that had their rates published online. Instead
of copying the rates on the page, I copy the link in the web address field and paste that
information into an e-mail message, like so:
http://www.netbank.com/banking_cds_index.htm
If I were creating a message with several sites, I'd include more than one link. But
this is enough for you to get the idea of this technique. Another way to enhance the value
of the message you're sending out is to add your commentary around the web link.
In most modern e-mail clients (and certainly all web-based e-mail systems), your
recipients can simply click on the link that you send and it will automatically launch
their web browser and the web page in the link.
Advantages: This takes even less time than copying the full online article,
and you avoid copyright issues. Recipients get access to the full article with any
accompanying graphics. If information changes between the time you send the info and when
they read it, they get the updated information from the web site.
Disadvantages: Recipients have to be connected to the Internet to take full
advantage of the info. Some e-mail client software does not process "hot links."
If information changes between the time you send the info and when they read it, they get
the updated information from the web site. If the article or opportunity disappears in
this time, you risk looking like you made a mistake in sending the link. For really
time-sensitive information, identify people to contact directly.
Best uses: Commercial web site articles, such as CNN.com, Fortune.com,
theStreet.com, and any others that might have in-house legal staff.
Can't Wait for the Ink to Dry
What do you do when you want to send more than text or a link, such as a spreadsheet
or fancy word processing document? You send a file attachment, of course.
You can run into a few problems though with sending file attachments to a large group of
people (that means "more than 2" when sending a file attachment). First,
the recipient must have the same application (and in many cases the same version of
the application - try sending an Excel 98 file to someone still using Excel 5!). Second,
fonts can be a problem. Even if someone has the same version of Word, but lacks your
favorite Zapf Dingbats, the document they open will look different that what you intended.
Third, the size of what you send may engender ill-will rather than gratitude for
your efforts to share - especially if you're on a high-speed line and a recipient is on a
slow dial-up connection!
Here are two
quick tips to overcome these potential snags:
·
Learn and use Adobe Acrobat
to create PDF documents. These files can be sent or downloaded by Windows, Macintosh, or
Unix computer users, and the reader software is free. Day traders, the US Government, and
organizations of all kinds in-between use this method. Go to <www.adobe.com/acrobat/>
to learn more.
·
In a pinch and if it serves
a large enough number of users, publish the info as a web page on your site, and then just
send a web link.
Advantages:
You have complete control over the document content and format. You now can share,
collaborate, and interact with a wider range of documents than just simple text documents.
Disadvantages: You've got to be sure your recipients can use the files you send.
You may have to invest in purchasing and learning additional software. File size may
become an issue. Take advantage of a compression program if this becomes the case.
Best uses: Documents that offer more than just text, such as a company
newsletter or annual report, with multiple columns, photos, and colorful headlines. In a
text-based e-mail world, this can help set your message apart from the pack. Documents
that invite interaction, such as spreadsheets and executables. As companies learn to use
the web to build stronger customer ties, interactivity will play a key role.
Be Sure It's Secure
When you send out electronic articles about the industry or new product announcements,
you're less concerned with privacy. However, some items that you send out for convenience,
you will also want to make sure stay private. Protect what you send out. Know how to add
passwords to your word processor documents. Compression utilities such as WinZip <www.winzip.com>
and Stuffit <www.aladdinsys.com> offer password protection. Adobe Acrobat
documents can be password protected, or created to only be viewed and not printed. With
the right add-on, you distribute Acrobat documents that "expire" after a certain
date and can no longer be opened. That capability can come in handy with time-sensitive
offers in this industry.
Advantages: You've taken an additional step to limit the access of sensitive
information appropriately. It's still faster and less expensive than using an overnight
carrier.
Disadvantages: You've placed an additional barrier between valuable
information and the people who need to use it. Be sure to educate yourself, your staff,
and your clients.
Include a web-site link. If you have a web site or want to encourage some to visit a
specific site, be sure to include the appropriate input so it is only a mouse click away.
Best uses: Agreements, drafts of sensitive documents, limited offers, and so
on. Typically, this is information sent one-to-one rather than one-to-many, as the other
three methods described above.
Different approaches will be appropriate depending on the circumstances. Be familiar with
each of these methods so you aren't caught using the wrong one with one of your clients
who has read this article.
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