December 7, 2006
E-mail Builds or Destroys Attorney Relationships–What Makes the Difference?
E-mail can put your relationship in the toilet. What you think is an effective and clear communication can be viewed by the other party as arrogant, insensitive, a put down, a brush off, etc— in many cases, just because of the opening and closing.
Your livelihood depends on relationship building inside and outside the firm. Given how easily an e-mail can backfire, turning your good intentions into a relationship killer, it is worth taking the time to develop and practice your social e-mail style. There was an interesting article on this subject in the November 26 New York Times titled ‘Yours truly,” the E-Variations.
Here is the deal: Without the traditions associated with the “letter” form, most of us fall into the habit of writing e-mails with only its body. We leave out the greeting and closing. Those two missing pieces, or the use of inappropriate ones, can result in a reader turn-off or burn.
One of my younger brothers, the Knoxville attorney Steve Collins, places great stock in the power of words, so after reading the New York Times article I decided to review my recent e-mails from Steve. Sure enough, Steve’s e-mail differed from most other e-mail I have received. His always had a greeting and a closing.
Here are examples
Greeting—Closing
Good morning—Happy Halloween
Good one—Take care
Good evening—See you at Thanksgiving
Hello—Take care
Thanks a bunch—Take care
Most of my e-mails from Steve are personal rather than business-related, but it is clear from his style that even without reading the New York Times article he understands the importance of what we in the South call “southern hospitality”—the offer of a cool glass of tea or lemonade before getting down to business and a “ya’ll come back” at the end of our visit.
A good New Year’s resolution is to develop your e-mail social skills. Since there are no traditions for the e-mail greeting and closure, you are at liberty to develop you own style. Open every e-mail with a greeting and end with a closing statement. They need to be appropriate. “Love and Kisses,” for example, is hardly appropriate for business communications, and “Best” is getting a bad reputation as either too cute or insincere.
“Good morning”, “good evening” and “good day” all set a friendly tone without risking the appearance of being insincere. The two powerful words, “Thank you," works well in either your greeting or closing. I prefer using them in the closing.
Thank you
Thank you for your help
Thank you for bringing this up
Thank you for letting me know your position
Thank you for keeping me informed
Thank you for your concern
Surely there are better or other appropriate closings and I welcome your suggestions and comments. One thing is certain: “Yours truly” and “Sincerely” do not travel well from the letter form to e-mail format. Their acceptance in a letter is based on years of tradition and secretarial training. E-mails are more informal. They don’t have the tradition of a secretary positioned between the writer and recipient. E-mails are a direct person-to-person communication and deserve to be so treated—“Yours truly” and “Sincerely” come across as too impersonal.
Considering the importance of relationship building, I can’t think of a better non-billable way to use your valuable time than devoting a portion of it to the task of developing and practicing your e-mail opening and closing skills. Practice until those skills become habit. It is an investment that will pay you back for the rest of your life.
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Filed under Policies/ Procedures by Tom Collins