email communication

Attorneys were probably the last group of professionals to embrace email. For years they hid behind their assistants and never touched a computer, much less sent or received an email. While I still know a few dinosaurs, for most attorneys today, email is the preferred form of communication.

I love email and the efficiency of communicating by email. My staff teases me that they often receive succinct, one- or two-word email messages from me (Yes. No. Thanks! Do it!). I receive more email than most people in my office and quite frankly, some of it is simply horrific. (I can’t put in writing what comes to mind when reading some of it.) It’s often hard to believe that it was composed and sent by a professional.

With this in mind, I’d like to offer you my top 9 tips for communicating clearly and effectively with your attorney-clients. These tips will keep you from hitting “horrific” status with any of your attorney-clients or prospects.

1. Have a proper email address. Email is a business communication and your email address is part of your marketing. PinkBunny1969@whatever.com may be appropriate for your online dating profile but sends the wrong message to attorneys. Go to GoDaddy.com and register your legal nurse consulting business’s name, or a derivative of it as a domain name. Then follow GoDaddy’s simple steps to create an email account. Now you’re JesseCook@JMC-Consulting.com – much better plus it helps brand your business every time you send an email.
2. Use a clear subject line. Many people scan their email box by subject to determine not only the priority of the communication but also whether to classify it as spam or to file it. If you get an email with a subject such as “You need my services,” “A question for you” or “Re: Additional Issues in the Smith Case,” which one do you think you’d open first, if at all? If you don’t know the answer, you’ve got some homework to do. Address your subject clearly and succinctly. Your attorney-recipient should know just from the subject line what your message relates to, its priority and where to file it for later review.
3. When possible, keep it short. If it’s a longer communication consider putting it in a letter on your legal nurse consulting company’s letterhead and attach it as a PDF or Word^® document so that the attorney-client can print it for the file. Email is great for shorter communications but remember, many people read email in their preview window on their screen or on a cell phone. Shorter messages are easier to comprehend (that’s why the webpages of news organizations are short). If someone has to print your message to understand it, you may as well brand it on letterhead. If I have an important email I’m working on, I’ll often compose it in Word and then cut and paste it into my email. This allows me more control over my thoughts.
4. Compose sensitive and important email before filling in the “To” field. Have you ever accidently hit Send before you were ready or before you completed composing your important missive? I know I have. To remedy this, I recommend adding the recipients’ email addresses for the to, cc or bcc fields only when you’re sure you’re ready to send your final email.
5. Take a deep breath before replying. Not every email requires an immediate reply, especially one that raises your blood pressure. This is especially important if you haven’t yet cooled off before firing off that terse reply letting the recipient know exactly what you think. Remember, there’s not really an “undo” button and this tip combined with #4 above will help to keep you on good terms with all your attorney-clients and colleagues.
6. Don’t use text-messaging slang such as IMHO in a professional communication. Save them for Facebook, Twitter and texting. Remember you’re communicating professionally, not personally.
7. DON’T TYPE IN ALL CAPS – that’s still the Internet equivalent of shouting. It’s hard to believe in 2010 I still have to remind people of this. If your “Caps Lock” key is stuck, it’s time to buy a can of air and blow the brownie crumbs out of your keyboard. Here’s a link to Tom’s Tech Tip on cleaning your computer.
8. Proof your work. Yes, it sounds too simple but often, due to the perceived informal nature of email, people don’t proof it. I’ve often received email that contains incomplete sentences and thoughts that aren’t fully developed. This is simply because the sender was in a rush to click Send. If it’s an important email, I’ll print it and hand proof it prior to sending. Adhere to basic grammar rules. In today’s world you don’t have to be perfect, but likewise, you don’t want someone labeling you a grammar-barbarian.
9. Use a spell checker. Just about every email program has this capability. Make sure you turn it on. What is an attorney going to think of someone who can’t spell simple words or who sends their communications full of typos?

Every day I get email that breaks these rules – some even break all 9 at once! Email is probably your typical form of communication as a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant. Make yours a reflection of your professionalism and your email will help you gain attorney-clients, not lose them at “helllo.” Yes, that typo was intentional.

Success Is inside!

Read Part 1. Read Part 2.

Tip #14

Get to the point quickly. Email is not a replacement for face-to-face communications and it’s not the place for long messages. You shouldn’t be sending the equivalent of a comprehensive legal nurse consulting report in the body of an email. Remember, a lot of attorneys read their email on their BlackBerries^® and don’t want to be scrolling and scrolling. If you need to send a large report or document, simply attach it to your email in Word or PDF format and put an executive summary in the email body. Break your email into short, succinct paragraphs. If your email has a point, and it should, get to it quickly without a lot of rambling. Attorneys like matter-of-fact, straight forward communications. That’s another reason to edit your email before you send it.

Tip #15

While you’re getting to the point, use standard fonts and only use a different color font when you need to emphasize a point. In most cases, you should use the standard font and colors, black for original email, blue for replies. If you need to highlight something, use the highlight function in Outlook to add a yellow highlight to a phrase (if your recipient uses HTML email). This keeps the page clean and simple.

While you’re cleaning up your fonts, also avoid using backgrounds that put the entire email thread on a background design which makes it difficult to read or to track comments. Remember, it may look cute to you, but it is unprofessional. Model attorneys and other successful Certified Legal Nurse Consultants who don’t use backgrounds.

Tip #16

Don’t rely on electronic files for your email storage. Computers can and do crash. If your email is stored only on your computer and you suffer a crash, you’ll likely lose all that information. Make sure that your data backup plans include all of your email files. This is one good reason to use a high-storage-volume email provider like Google’s gmail. If you maintain paper files on a legal nurse consulting case, print those emails and file them. This keeps all the correspondence about the case together. Email is business correspondence, so treat it like you would any paper business correspondence. You’ll kill a few more trees but that’s the price for complete files.

Tip #17

Always reply to your email unless you don’t need to. The purpose of email is not to generate more email. Everyone knows at least one person who has to respond to every email you send them. If you tell them “thanks,” they’ll tell you “no problem.” If it doesn’t necessitate a reply, then don’t reply. But, likewise people expect you to reply, even if it’s just to say, “I’m out of the office on vacation in Davenport” or “Got it and will be back to you shortly.” Remember not too long ago when we confirmed receipt of faxes? Do the same with your email – but keep it short.

Tip #18

If you use an “out of the office” auto-responder and you have the ability to limit it to respond to people in your address box, do so. Otherwise, it just confirms to spammers that you have a valid email address. Since I’ve had my BlackBerry^®, I don’t use one – but I do have someone who checks my email and looks for fires that need to be put out while I’m on a “BlackBerry-free” vacation. If you don’t have that luxury or lack of privacy use the auto-responder. I personally don’t like telling people that “I’m out of the office until the 25th” but it can be a necessity. Another alternative is to tell your attorney-clients that you’ll be out on vacation and just let the box fill up.

Tip #19

Check your email on a regular basis but not excessively. There’s no greater hit on productivity than breaking your concentration to reply to an email as soon as it hits your inbox. It’s not a contest and there’s no reward for being the fastest responder. Instead I check email at regular intervals. That allows me to concentrate fully on the project at hand and not get sent off on rabbit trails. People expect a response – within a maximum of 24 business hours, but not immediately. If you’re doing nothing but responding to email, you’re working like a pinball and not the Certified Legal Nurse Consultant you’ve been trained to be.

Take some time to review these tips and incorporate them into the email communications for your legal nurse consulting business. Remember, your email may be saying more about you than you want it to say. Keep it clear, concise and professional.

Success Is Inside!

P.S. Comment and share your tips for professional email communications.

Read Part 1. Read Part 3.

Tip #6

Check the “To:” line before you send and don’t hit “Reply to All” unless you know who “all” really is. This is a great way to send an email to the wrong people (perhaps even the opposing side). If you use the “auto-fill” feature for addresses it will fill in the email addresses as you start typing. If you have any attorney-clients with similar names, you need to be extra careful. Only “Cc:” someone if they need to be copied. Be careful with the use of “Bcc:.” Once you send an email, you lose control over who it is forwarded to and what changes can be made in the body/content as it’s forwarded. Attorneys like to know who is being included on their correspondence so using “Bcc:” to show your friends how important you are is a bad move.

Tip #7

Remember that once you send it, you can’t call it back. Email has almost no ability to be recalled. In other words when you click “send” it’s off to its final destination, errors and all. We’ve all sent an email while feeling angry or upset about something and then wished we hadn’t. If you think you’re being a little strong, take a few minutes between finishing the typing and hitting send. Then come back and review it to make sure you really want to send it as is.

Tip #8

Irony, sarcasm and humor aren’t always readily apparent in an email. Remember that the reader can’t hear your tone of voice or see that you were smiling while you wrote the communication. They may misinterpret your communication in a way you did not expect.

Tip #9

Go ahead and break the chain. No one will die. It’s time to stop forwarding those “urgent pleas” for peace on earth, save the whales or other chain letter emails that would be debunked after a visit to Snopes.com. Your seven best friends or legal nurse consultant subcontractors have probably already deleted that same email without sending it to you, so return the favor. If you don’t know the kind of emails I’m talking about I can send you a few so you’ll get the idea.

Tip #10

Don’t forward jokes, even if you think they’re hilarious. Not everyone shares the same sense of humor and not everyone has a sense of humor (I can personally think of two attorneys and a doctor that I’ve never heard laugh – ever). A joke you might find funny will be offensive to someone else and you risk appearing unprofessional. If you do send the joke, spell check it first (unless that’s part of the joke). Just joking. DO NOT send jokes.

Tip #11

Remember, many attorneys didn’t grow up texting, so don’t think every attorney is familiar with those goofy acronyms your 14-year-old uses in her text messages. OMG that’s SHR2B trouble. While you’re at it, don’t use smileys or other cutesy emoticons either. You risk looking like an amateur. You wouldn’t put them in a business letter – don’t use them with your attorney-clients (save them for communications with your kids).

Tip #12

Close your email with a signature. Email signature files are a great way to do a little more branding. Your signature should contain your name, credentials, title and phone number (so you don’t have to type it each time) and can also include your legal nurse consulting company name, address, a confidentiality statement or whatever you want. Outlook^® allows multiple (selectable) signatures because not every email is created equally. I have one signature with a confidentiality statement, another that has my full over-the-top branded “Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author, Inc. 5000, etc.” information, one that says “DO IT NOW” (just kidding – but it’s a good idea) and a simple one I use on internal email that just says, “Thanks, Vickie.” If you have a BlackBerry^®, change the signature from the one that reads “Sent from my BlackBerry^® while sitting in traffic” to a text version of your full signature. If you’re using signatures, use your full signature on the first email and an abbreviated one on replies and on daily correspondence. It’s time consuming to have to scroll through a lot of full signatures to review the meat of an email thread that’s gone back and forth.

Tip #13

Separate your private life from your legal nurse consulting business with separate email accounts. Use the branded email for your company and business communications. Set up an account with your Internet service provider or one of the free email services like Gmail, live.com or Yahoo! for your personal email. That way when you do send that ROFL Cats email (Bing! it) to everyone in your address book, it won’t go to your attorney-clients too.

Success Is Inside!

P.S. Comment and share your tips for professional email communications.