Corpcom Services Sdn Bhd 2008
Author: Usha Krishnan
1. Use eHomemakers email account (if you are assigned one)
As a team member of eHomemakers, do not send business messages from a free email provider like Hotmail or Yahoo.
2. Address the recipient properly
You MUST assume that people want to be addressed formally. In our society, people value their titles (Datukships, Royalty protocols, Dr, etc) so make sure you put in the time to find out the correct form of address.
Example:You could spell Shahrizat’s name with a Dato’ or Datuk so Google the (former) Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development to check the name of the Ministry, the Minister’s title and the spelling of her name! It will take you an extra 2 minutes of your time but it will save eHomemakers a whole lot of embarrassment!
3. Use proper introductions
Always write an introductory paragraph saying what your email is about.
Also, when you are following up on another team member’s communication with a 3rd party and you are corresponding with them for the first time, make sure you introduce yourself properly with a few words about what you will be following up on.
Example: Philo met Datuk Y from TripleX Sdn Bhd during a seminar she attended. Datuk Y mentioned that he would be interested to sponsor soft drinks at the next Salaam Wanita activity, which incidentally Noreen is organizing. Philo asks Noreen to follow up. Now, Noreen should make sure she links herself to Philo and her meeting with Datuk Y before she actually asks Datuk Y to sponsor the drinks.
4. Use DISCRETION when forwarding emails
ALWAYS stop and think before you click on the Forward button – don’t learn this lesson the hard way! In fact, it’s best to just NOT forward internal discussions to outside parties. Take the extra time and write the story from start when you want to follow up on an action that the team discussed among themselves first.
Example: Leena to Usha: Hi! I’m interested in offering my translation services to eH. Would u have some work for me?
Usha to c2: What shall we do about Leena’s offer?
C2 to Usha: Don’t take it up. We’ve had bad experiences with her. She’s so kalang kabut, we can’t trust her. Tell her we will contact her if we need her services.
Action: Usha can’t be bothered looking for Leena’s original email so she clicks on the Forward button, copies and pastes Leena’s email address on top and sends the discussion off to Leena! And Leena replies, *&^%$$##@@!
If you do forward an email, be sure to remove long strings of email addresses that often precede actual message content. People get discouraged when they have to scroll through a page of addresses and time-stamps before they reach the actual content.
5. Compile all information in 1 email/ document
When you want to give a set of instructions to a 3rd party, don’t shoot off a
series of emails on the same subject. This is especially tempting when you receive the instructions from someone else in trickles and you just want to make sure the 3rd party receives the instructions. So it may not always be within your control to give a complete set of instructions at 1 go but try, as far as possible, to compile as much information as possible in 1 Word document, and then send it to the 3rd party.
Similarly, if you need to follow up on a 10-email discussion that took place between c2 & Usha over 5 days while you were on leave, you will need to cut and paste all the relevant information in a Word document, understand what has been occurring, which tasks you are responsible for and need to act on and what information in those emails are necessary for your task completion. If you try to read the 10 emails and immediately act on each/ some of them without thinking of the overall picture, there is a high likelihood that you will make mistakes, or that you become utterly confused and thus unable to act.
Email is a fast and effective means of transmitting office information. As a user, you must know how to organize the information transmitted to you and how to do follow-up. Putting important information into a Word document and organizing information you cull from email into tables or charts for yourself and others to see things clearly are just some of the ways to organize yourself.
Another way is to categorize your emails under different email folders with clear subject headings. Sub-categories like ‘Pending’, ‘Urgent’, ‘To read’, ‘To do today’ or ‘To do for team X’ will help you organize yourself so that you know where to retrieve information and take timely actions. Eg, If you are organizing the SOHO conference, you can organize information under the categories mentioned, besides having other folders like ‘Registration’, ‘Speakers’, ‘Agenda’, ‘Sponsors’, ‘Publicity’, etc. And under each of these sub-folders, you can have categories like ‘Pending’, ‘Urgent’, etc.
6. Use sub-headings, numbering or bullet points
When your email contains many different issues, show that you are organized in your thoughts by structuring your email properly. It will give the reader the confidence that you know where you are heading and what your goals are.
7. Get verbal promises/ guarantees in written form
When a 3rd party offers us something on the phone/ during a face-to-face meeting, make sure you follow up with an email immediately confirming what was said so that it is down on record. This will ensure that there are no disputes like, “But you said you would…”
8. Modify standard letters
When you are using a standard letter, make sure you change the contents slightly, if need be. It is embarrassing when someone else’s name is still on the email or the subject matter has changed slightly. Always double-check, especially when you are not the writer of the original letter.
9. Be wise with attachments
It is extremely annoying to receive large attachments that take ages to download. If the article or picture is available online (in a website, a Flickr account, etc), send the link instead so that the recipient can access it directly. Do not send more than 1 picture or large attachment in 1 email. Be considerate and split the attachments up into 2 or more emails.
Also, check whether you have actually sent the attachment. Many of us forget to send the attachment with the email. This is a common mistake but you can always redeem yourself by immediately following up with an email of apology containing the attachment - before the recipient gets back to you with a “Where is the attachment?” response.
10. Take off Track Changes
If your document contains Track Changes, please do the necessary to get rid of them, before sending it off to outsiders. It is awfully embarrassing when important documents (for funding, partnerships, projects, etc) that have received feedback from various people through Track Changes, are sent off with the Track Changes still visible in the finalized version.
11. Run your Spelling and Grammar check
It is a fact that not all of us are good at grammar and spelling even though we speak the language well. Spell and Grammar Check is such a wonderful tool but is often under-utilised! It’s there at our finger-tips but we don’t make the effort to run it!
12. Always be professional
Don’t let your guard down. It’s better to be looked upon as a competent home-based worker than a sloppy housewife. Take pride in the way you present yourself well, pay attention to details and don’t give others the chance to pick on you just because you work from home!
Style and tone can impact an email’s message. For example, you may think that using all CAPS are attractive, but many find them to be annoying, if not amateurish. Keep the tone businesslike.
Additionally, avoid situations where you have to “SHOUT” and “Make yourself heard”! Using a red font to get your message through is rude and unprofessional. As a team player, try not to sound accusatory with words like “You did this!” and “You don’t understand!” There is always a nicer way of communicating. Make an effort to be pleasant and resolve matters amicably.
If the matter is serious or the explanation gets complicated, do not rely on email to solve the situation; use the phone or organize a face-to-face meeting to resolve the matter. Do not engage the team in an email quarrel.
13. Acknowledge email
It often happens that you may not be able to immediately reply to an email. In such cases, it is important to let the sender know that you have received the email and you will eventually pursue the matter. Even a one-liner like “Will attend to this asap”, “Am waiting for Y’s phone call regarding this matter” or “Am still working on the document” will reassure the sender that you have not forgotten the matter.
14. Reply with the original message attached
Do not send a new message with a one-word answer such as “yes” or “no” as this will make no sense to the recipient. Bear in mind that sometimes you may be able to follow up only after a couple of days and your recipient would be totally clueless as to the context of your message.
15. Virus/ Adware protection is essential
If team members, business associates or others in your address book inform you that you have sent them an attachment with virus, do not get defensive. Instead, thank the person for informing you that your PC is infected and that you will take immediate action.
Many viruses spread without anybody intentionally sending out a virus-infected email. Take proactive action by installing the latest anti-virus programme, scanning your hard drive and finally isolating the virus. Then download and install a virus patch which is freely available on many anti-virus sites. Once you have cleaned your PC, inform the party who warned you about the virus. You’ve got to rebuild their faith in your computer abilities.
eHomemakers team members have anti-virus software and clean their computers daily with Spybot Search and Destroy and Ad-Aware.
16. Pay attention to the “Subject” in your email
This is often an overlooked feature. In actual fact, it is of vital importance. Do not leave the subject line blank.
Firstly, it quickly tells the recipient what your email is about. So it will be wise to say as much as possible using minimum number of words. Eg. eHomemakers banner ad rates.
Also, during the course of an email discussion, the subject might change from one to another. Eg. An internal email may start off with a discussion on a particular SW member with the subject heading “Noraini Ahmad”. After a few emails, the subject might have changed from Noraini to Eco-Baskets to shortage of magazines to finally, an appeal to donors in the monthly e-newsletter. At such a stage, it will be appropriate to change the Subject to “Monthly enews appeal”.
Finally, a clear subject heading is very useful when you do a search using the “Find” feature in your Outlook Express. Eg. When you type the word “appeal” as the key word in your Subject area, the Search will quickly pick up that long-lost email that you knew you had received a few weeks ago regarding the appeal for magazines.
No spamming: Do not spam your colleagues with unnecessary emails such as jokes, poetry, urban legends and chain letters.
17. Name your documents appropriately
If you are working on a Word/Excel document that has been edited more than once, make sure you rename the document accordingly.
Example: You have prepared an Excel sheet containing the names of Salaam Wanita members attending a workshop. You call it “SW Extradiction workshop”. You send it to C2 who adds on 5 more names. Then Philo adds on 7 more names. When you send it back to the team, make sure that you have changed the name of the original document to “SW Extradiction workshop edited 14/2 (date of last admendment)”. If there are more versions that day, make sure you call the document “SW Extradiction workshop edited 14/2 version 2”, etc.
This is very important so that the team does not receive emails saying, “Please ignore the SW list I sent you this morning. The second one I sent later today is the right one.” If you refer to the exact name of the edited document, there will be less room for making errors.
18. Sign off with a digital signature and the relevant url for eHomemakers web assets
Make sure your signature includes your designation, organization website and contact details.
E.g.
Usha Krishnan,
Web Editor,
www.ehomemakers.net,
Tel. XXXXXX.
