Communicate Concisely - use as few words as possible. For example, instead of saying "in the near future", say "soon".
Avoid There Is, There Are, and It Is - For example, instead of saying "There is a book called Twilight and it is about vampires", you should say "The book twilight is about vampires".
Avoid Passive Voice - the subject should come first. For example, instead of saying "The ball was hit by the boy", you should say "The boy hit the ball".
Email - the most common channel of business communication.
- When determining whether or not to send an email always remember S-E-N-D
- Simple and Concise?
- No more than 12-14 lines
- Answer at the top, not at the bottom
- Effective?
- Have a clear, specific subject line
- Use a professional writing style
- Sign your email and include a signature block
- Necessary?
- Do you really need to know?
- Does the recipient really need to know?
- Does this strengthen/reinforce your connection?
- Done?
- Does it complete a task, answer a question, or move things forward?
- Proofread carefully - wait as long as possible to proofread your work after you have written it.
- Don't email anything you wouldn't want published on the front page of a newspaper.
