Now let's talk about our friend the cell phone. Everybody has one, or almost everybody has one. And everyone who has a cell phone carries that cell phone with them wherever they go. It's one thing to have your cell phone with you at all times. It's quite another thing to answer your cell phone and talk on your cell phone regardless of where you are, or who you're with. Now let's talk about the clear rules of cell phones.
I think almost everyone knows what the rules of the cell phones are, but not everyone observes them. First of all, when you have your cell phone with you, and you're with other people, you're in a public place, keep your cell phone turned off, turn it off completely, or put it on silent ringer or vibrate whatever is necessary so that other people are not disturbed and interrupted when your cell phone rings when you realize that you have a call coming in Or that you had a call, you're under no obligation at that point to open yourself phone and check it for messages. And you're certainly under no obligation to return the phone call right then and there when you've determined that you have a voicemail message, or you've received a phone call, at that point, go to a private location to return your phone call. It's very discounting to other people, when the person that they are with picks up a cell phone and answers the call and begins a conversation with someone who's not even present.
If you're expecting an important call or an urgent call, then explained to the people that you're with that you need to leave your cell phone on and explain that you're expecting this important call as other people's permission to have the phone on. Other people will understand and grant that but they will not understand if suddenly out of the blue your phone rings. You decide to answer it. Take the call. One final word about cell phones. When you have your phone on vibrate, and you're alerted that a call is coming in, it's equally as rude to pull out your cell phone, open it up and check to see who's called.
Even if you say to the person that you're with, excuse me while I check to see who's calling, the person that you're with, is going to wonder whether you're going to take that call that's coming in, or whether you're going to continue to put your focus on the person in front of you. Let's move on to email etiquette. Now, most people say they communicate more by email than they do by phone, whether it's personal or professional, but certainly in the office in the business environment. We're using email more every day to communicate with our clients, with our colleagues and with our co workers. As always, we got the technology. Before we had the rules for proper usage.
Your Email is as much a part of your professional image as the clothes you wear, as the greeting you have on your voicemail as the postal letters you write, assuming that you still do write those, and as the handshake that you offer to your business colleagues, if you want to impress on every front and build positive business relationships, pay attention to your email, and avoid these top 15 email mistakes that can sabotage your career. Number one on the list of email mistakes to avoid is emitting the subject line. Why would anybody want to read an email that was about nothing. The second mistake is not making your subject line meaningful. Your header should be pertinent to your message. You don't want to just say hi or hello, you want to let your reader know exactly what your email is about.
People are so inundated with email today that they read email based on two things. First, who sent the email and secondly, what that message is about. If you want your email message read quickly, then put in a pertinent subject line that's going to attract your reader. The third mistake that people make is failing to change the subject header when the subject of the email changes. It's all too easy to go back and hit reply when you have a stream of messages going back and forth between two people. But make sure that if you change the subject of your email that you indicate that in the subject line, otherwise you'll totally confuse the recipient.
Number four, not personalizing your message to the person to whom you're sending it. This is not a formal letter, but you should say hi, hello, or use the person's name in some way, personalize that message. email comes across as very cold under the best of circumstances, so warming up a little by using the person's name. Another mistake that people make when using email is not accounting for tone. Email actually doesn't have any tone. When you're speaking with someone face to face.
They can read your body language, they look at your facial expressions, and all those other signals that come along with your words. There are no signals, there is no tone with your email. They can't hear how you're saying something. So go back and read your email over and make sure that you chose your words carefully and that they will be interpreted or read in the manner in which you intended them. Another mistake that people often make when sending email is forgetting to check the spelling and the grammar, it's all too easy to send your email. Just as soon as you get to the bottom line and sign off.
Be sure that you always go back and you check your spelling. you reread it for grammar, you proof it for any sort of odd typos. And do remember that your email program knows if you spell the word correctly, but it doesn't know if you've used that word correctly. So you have to go behind spell check and grammar check and do one more proofing your email is representing you. It may be the only time that you interact or the only way that you interact with your client or your colleagues. So make sure it's as professional and as nearly perfect as it can be.
Writing the great American novel. Email is intended to be brief. People will not read a long email. They want to see when they open up an email, lots of whitespace They want short paragraphs, they want short sentences. So keep it brief, keep it to the point, if you have a lot to say, maybe that's the time that you need to pick up the phone and call the person and have that discussion. Another mistake that's often made is forwarding email without permission.
Most people forward other people's email without asking if they may do so. If the other person sent that message to a whole list of other people and you're aware of that, then it's perfectly fine for you to send it on to someone else. But if this is a personal message to you, don't forward that message without asking the other person if you may do so. Number nine on our list is the incorrect use of the CC or the carbon copy and the BCC the blind copy. You want to send a copy to someone who needs to know About your issue, but doesn't need to do anything about it. The original the two goes to the person who needs to do something about it, the copy goes to the person who needs to know.
Use of the blind copy, I think should be limited only to when you are sending out to an entire list. Put your email list under the BCC so that you can hide those names and addresses and other people won't be able to go in and select those email addresses and then use them for their own purposes. And don't make the mistake of thinking that no one else will ever see your email. Once you put something in an email, and it leaves your computer, it's out there for all the world to see. Email lives forever, and we have no idea where our email will end up. So don't put anything in an email message that you couldn't stand to see on a billboard on your way into work the next day.
Amen. Certainly not the place for any personal or sensitive information. Another mistake that is commonly made is leaving off a signature line for your email, you should sign your email, you should put in the business situation, you need to add as much information at the end of your email as you would have on your business card. People need to know from your signature line how to contact you whether they want to do it by phone, by fax, by email, by postal mail, whatever means they need all the contact information that you have on your business card in the signature line on your email. Another mistake that people frequently make is expecting an instant response to an email. Not everyone is sitting in front of the computer waiting for a message to come in.
So if you need an instant response, pick up the phone and call someone. The beauty of email and the internet Is that it's convenient. People can go in and check their messages when it's convenient for them and not for you. Number 13 on my list is crying wolf and back crying wolf, I'm talking about putting that little red urgent flag in front of every email that you send. If you're one of those people who does that, don't expect that people will continue to open and read your email as if it really is important. reserved that little red flag only for urgent messages.
Number 14 on the list of email mistakes to avoid is completing the two line first. That's right, completing the two line first. Completing the two line is actually the last thing that you should do when sending email. The reason is that you can send your email without completing your subject line. You can send An email without including the attachment that you referenced, you can send an email that is totally blind. But you can never send an email unless you have at least one address in the two line.
If you wait to complete the two line last, you're not going to make that mistake of failing to include your attachment. You're not going to make that mistake of failing to check for spelling and grammar. compose your message. Check it for spelling, grammar, tone, be sure you put the attachment in. Be sure that you completed the subject line. Be confident, ensure that your email is ready to go.
And then complete to whom you want to send it. If you wait and fill in the two line last, you're never going to have to send that second email that says Oops, I'm sorry, I didn't check or I forgot. It means never having to say I'm sorry. And last on my list of email mistakes that people make is using email when in fact, they need to pick up the telephone. They need to call a meeting, or they need to invite the other person to launch. Email is not appropriate all the time.
It's to be used for brief messages for sending quick information. But it is not a way to build business relationships. If you want to develop relationships with your clients and your co workers. Take a moment to meet with him face to face. Take a moment to pick up the phone and have a conversation. Email makes everything easier and faster, including making positive impressions and building positive professional relationships.
The business person who uses email technology effectively and appropriately will see the difference reflected in the bottom line. We have choices, lots of choices for communication in business today. But each person has their own preference, their own preferred way of communicating in business. And it's about how your client wants to have communication how your client wants to hear from you and receive information that is most important. Just make sure that whichever means of communication, you and your client or co worker are the most comfortable with that you follow the rules that you use in a project. correctly images use them efficiently.