Effective Email Communication

If it was not evident in my Week 1 blog on examples of bad communication, poor email communication is a huge pet peeve of mine. 

The attached article provides 7 useful tips on proper email etiquette in a business environment.   Email Etiquette: Tips for Professional Email

In my role as a credit analyst, I often see emails from our sales representatives that come across as confrontational, argumentative, and sometimes condescending.  I love how this article points out that it is very important to “Watch Your Tone.” When an email comes across in a hostile or condescending manner, effective communication begins to break down, and the chances of a similarly toned reply will increase, which will just further damage the working relationship.

I tend to think of the points “Be Professional” and “Use Correct Spelling and Proper Grammar” in the same light.  When unprofessional language is used, or when there are excessive spelling and grammatical errors, the impact of the communication can be greatly diminished.

The one point that I recognize I need to improve on is: “Be Concise.”  I often send emails to our entire sales floor explaining changes in credit policies and procedures or alerting them of potential fraudulent customers.  Our sales personnel are very busy with incoming customer calls and emails, and, as a result, do not have the time sit and read a long drawn out email.  Even if they do have the time to read the whole message, it can be difficult to keep their attention throughout the message.  For those reasons, the quality of my communication with the sales floor will benefit significantly by keeping my emails as short and to the point as possible.  

My fellow employees

My fellow employees,

     As you know, the slow days of summer are upon us.  As our agricultural customers prepare their fields for harvest, we too must take time to prepare for the fall busy season.  Before long, the phones will once again be ringing off the hook with sales and customer service calls, the warehouse will be flooded with new orders to manufacture, and the credit department will be working to get every last order approved for financing.

     With the ongoing implementation of the Net Promoter Score customer satisfaction initiative and the M.O.R.E. manufacturing efficiency program, it is time we all step back and collectively focus on getting these programs running at full speed before the busy season arrives.  Sales and customer service, now is the time to start building customer relationships that will thrive come harvest time.  Manufacturing and shipping, now is the time to perfect our efficiency program and catch up on the backlog so that new orders will flow smoothly through the system.  Our goal is to fulfill the agricultural, horticultural, equine, and building needs of our customer base; and, with a renewed customer focus and streamlined manufacturing we can achieve unparalleled success over the coming months.

Organizational Communication Week 1

During my one year of work experience, I have witnessed a great deal of poor organizational communication and very little good communication.  In a sales driven company, emails from the sales floor to the credit department often seem pushy and confrontational.  One particular credit analyst does not take kindly to such emails, and repeatedly returns emails in the same confrontational manner.  Her responses are not conducive to creating cooperation between departments.  Yes, the sales reps could get a lot further by slightly adjusting their attitudes in their emails, but that is not the point.  The poor communication is the analyst’s confrontational replies.  She needs to better understand the situation and circumstances.  The interdepartmental communication would improve if she just took sales' tone with a grain of salt.  Not only is it part of sales' personality, but it is also attributed to the fact that sales' paychecks depend on getting orders released and that sales reps do not fully understand credit policies.  She needs to take a moment to analyze to context of the email before letting her emotions get the best of her.

A second example of poor communication is between our leasing specialist and our credit manager.  One time, the leasing specialist sent the credit manager three emails regarding one lease.  The manager did not reply to any of her emails.  Ignoring her three emails was clearly poor communication on his part, but so was her response.  Rather than walk into his office and address the issue, she let the order sit for a week without being worked on.  It was poor communication on her part because she put a $200,000 order in jeopardy.  Due to the manager’s lack of response and her reluctance to speak directly with him, they both put the company’s well being at risk.