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.
These are all great tips, and so helpful. Thank you, Vickie.