101 Email Etiquette Tips

In today's business world, the email traffic is more than telephonic traffic. In the given scenario, every business is suffering from bloated internet traffic and data exchange. Most of which ironically are wasteful as CC & BCC. Marking email to as many recipients is a sign of hard work and more so "replying to all" is to further the pain while feeling not left out. We all suffer from EMAIL SURPLUS and are so used to it that if we do not get a lot of emails (say 100) in a day, we feel wasted or think something must be wrong with either internet or mail server. 

But the fact remains that these days, thanks for blackberry et al, we are not away from emails and as if phones have become part of our body. 

While searching for ways to counter this giant, in order to ease email traffic (somewhat) at our office, hit upon this compilation on email & Internet etiquette:

courtesy: http://www.101emailetiquettetips.com/

Read on....

-------------------

It is important that whether for business or personal use that you follow the basics of email etiquette. This document covers for you the top tips for email etiquette that everyone needs to be aware of and follow. By doing so you will be a joy to communicate with while being perceived as a caring and intelligent human being.

Sending Emails Make sure your e-mail includes a courteous greeting and closing. Helps to make your e-mail not seem demanding or terse. Address your contact with the appropriate level of formality and make sure you spelled their name correctly. Spell check - emails with typos are simply not taken as seriously. Read your email out loud to ensure the tone is that which you desire. Try to avoid relying on formatting for emphasis; rather choose the words that reflect your meaning instead. A few additions of the words "please" and "thank you" go a long way! Be sure you are including all relevant details or information necessary to understand your request or point of view. Generalities can many times cause confusion and unnecessary back and forths. Are you using proper sentence structure? First word capitalized with appropriate punctuation? Multiple instances of !!! or ??? are perceived as rude or condescending. If your email is emotionally charged, walk away from the computer and wait to reply. Review the Sender's email again so that you are sure you are not reading anything into the email that simply isn't there. If sending attachments, did you ask first when would be the best time to send? Did you check file size to make sure you don't fill the other side's inbox causing all subsequent e-mail to bounce? Refrain from using the Reply to All feature to give your opinion to those who may not be interested. In most cases replying to the Sender alone is your best course of action. Make one last check that the address or addresses in the To: field are those you wish to send your reply to. Be sure your name is reflected properly in the From: field. Jane A. Doe (not jane, jane doe or JANE DOE). Type in complete sentences. To type random phrases or cryptic thoughts does not lend to clear communication. Never assume the intent of an email. If you are not sure -- ask so as to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings. Just because someone doesn't ask for a response doesn't mean you ignore them. Always acknowledge emails from those you know in a timely manner. Be sure the Subject: field accurately reflects the content of your email. Don't hesitate to say thank you, how are you, or appreciate your help! Keep emails brief and to the point. Save long conversations for the old fashioned telephone. Always end your emails with "Thank you," "Sincerely," "Take it easy," "Best regards" - something! Formatting Emails Do not type in all caps. That's yelling or reflects shouting emphasis. If you bold your type, know you are bolding your statement and it will be taken that way by the other side - X10! Do not use patterned backgrounds. Makes your email harder to read. Stay away from fancy-schmancy fonts -- only the standard fonts are on all computers. Use emoticons sparingly to ensure your tone and intent are clear. Typing your emails in all small case gives the perception of lack of education or laziness. Refrain from using multiple font colors in one email. It makes your email harder to view and can add to your intent being misinterpreted. Use formatting sparingly. Instead try to rely on choosing the most accurate words possible to reflect your tone and avoid misunderstandings in the process. Email Attachments When sending large attachments, always "zip" or compress them before sending. Never send large attachments without notice! Always ask what would be the best time to send them first. Learn how to resample or resize graphics to about 600 pixels in width before attaching them to an email. This will greatly reduce download time. Never open an attachment from someone you don't know. Be sure your virus, adware and spyware programs are up to date and include scanning of your emails and attachments both incoming and outgoing. It is better to spread multiple attachments over several emails rather than attaching them all to one email to avoid clogging the pipeline. Make sure the other side has the same software as you before sending attachments or they may not be able to open your attachment. Use PDF when possible. To, From, CC, BCc, RR, Subject: Only use Cc: when it is important for those you Cc: to know about the contents of the email. Overuse can cause your emails to be ignored. Don't use Return Receipt (RR) on every single email. Doing so is viewed as intrusive, annoying and can be declined by the other side anyway. Include addresses in the To: field for those who you would like a response from. Include addresses in the Cc: field for those who you are just FYI'ing. Make sure your name is displayed properly in the From: field. Remove addresses from the To:, CC; and BCc: field that don't need to see your reply. Always include a brief Subject. No subject can get your email flagged as spam. Think about your motives when adding addresses to To:, CC:, BCc. Use your discretion. Never expose your friend's or contact's email address to strangers by listing them all in the To: field. Use BCc:! Make sure when using BCc: that your intentions are proper. To send BCc: copies to others as a way of talking behind someone's back is inconsiderate. Email Forwarding Don't forward emails that say to do so--no matter how noble the cause may be. Most are hoaxes or hooey and may not be appreciated by those you send to. If someone asks you to refrain from forwarding emails they have that right and you shouldn't get mad or take it personally. When forwarding email, if you cannot take the time to type a personal comment to the person you are forwarding to--then don't bother. Don't forward anything without editing out all the forwarding >>>>, other email addresses, headers and commentary from all the other forwarders. If you must forward to more than one person, put your email address in the TO: field and all the others you are sending to in the BCc: field to protect their email address from being published to those they do not know. This is a serious privacy issue! Be careful when forwarding email on political or controversial issues. The recipient may not appreciate your POV. Email and Perception, Privacy, Copyright Choose your email address wisely. It will determine, in part, how you are perceived. Try not to make assumptions when it comes to email. Always ask for clarification before you react. Posting or forwarding of private email is copyright infringement -- not to mention downright rude. You need permission from the author first! Even though it isn't right; emails are forwarded to others. Keep this in mind when typing about emotional or controversial topics. When there is a misunderstanding by email, don't hesitate to pick up the old fashioned telephone to work things out! Know that how you type, and the efforts you make or don't make will indicate what is important to you and if you are an educated courteous person. If you forward an email that turns out to be a hoax, have the maturity to send an apology follow up email to those you sent the misinformation to. When filling out a contact form on a Web site, do so carefully and with clarity so your request is taken seriously. If a friend puts your e-mail address in the To: field with others you do not know, ask them to no longer expose your address to strangers without your permission. Business Email Think of your business email as though it was on your business letterhead and you'll never go wrong! If you cannot respond to an email promptly, at the very least email back confirming your receipt and when the sender can expect your response. Emailing site owners about your product or service through the site form is still spam. Ask them if they want more info first! When replying to emails always respond promptly and edit out unnecessary information from the post you are responding to. Formality is in place as a courtesy and reflects respect. Assume the highest level of formality with new email contacts until the relationship dictates otherwise. Refrain from getting too informal too soon in your email communications. Never send anyone an email they need to unsubscribe from when they didn't subscribe in the first place! Be very careful how you use Reply to All and Cc: in a business environment. Doing so for CYA or to subtlety tattle can backfire and have your viewed as petty or insecure. When replying to an email with multiple recipients noted in the To: or Cc: fields, remove the addresses of those who your reply does not apply to. Never send business attachments outside of business hours and confirm that the format in which you can send can be opened by the other side. Chat, IM, Texting Went Texting or participating in IM and Chat, try not to be overly cryptic or your meaning can be misread. Use Instant Messaging (IM) for casual topics or informational briefs. IM is not the place for serious topics or confrontational issues. Start by always asking if the person you are IMing is available and if it is a good time to chat. Refrain from IMing during meetings or when your attention is required. Practice communicating briefly and succinctly. Always consider if calling the other party on the phone is better when Texting about sensitive topics. IMing is not an excuse to forget your grade school education. If you are not a smooth multi-tasker, do not continue multiple IM sessions and leave folks hanging while you communicate with others. Learn how to use the features of your IM program. Specifically your "busy" and "away" message features. Never IM under an alias to take a peek at friends' or associates' activities. Take into consideration who you are communicating with to determine the acronyms and emoticons that should be used - if at all. Social Media, Blogs and Forums Keep in mind when Tweeting, on Facebook or message boards that you are in a global arena. When discussions get out of control; don't stoop to name-calling or profanities. You are better than that! In forums, keep your signature file to no more than 2-3 lines. Keep commercialism to no more than a link at the end of your comment or contribution. Stay on topic and discuss issues only relative to the thread/topic in question. If new to a group or forum, "lurk" for awhile to get a feel for the community and personalities of the regulars before you post. Never give out personal information or specifics to your location on online -- nor should you give out the personal information of others! Keep in mind there will always be differences of opinion. Try to remain objective and not personalize issues. Don't fall for trolls. Trolls are folks who will post rude comments just to get a rise out of everyone. Be sure to down edit, or remove any part of the post you are replying to that is no longer necessary to the ongoing conversation. Email Considerations... Before getting upset because you perceive someone didn't respond, check to see if their reply was inadvertently deleted or sent to your Trash or Junk folder. With emotionally charged emails, wait until the next morning to see if you feel the same before clicking Send. Feel free to modify the Subject: field to more accurately reflect a conversation's direction. When it comes to your email communications, know who you can trust; trust only those you know. Take the time to review each email before clicking Send to ensure your message is clear and you are relaying the tone that you desire. Never use an old email to hit reply and start typing about an entirely new topic. Regardless of how noble a forwarded email may be, don't just forward without investigating its authenticity @ Snopes.com. Always add the email addresses of Web sites and new contacts immediately to your approved senders or address book so they get through Spam filters. Before completing a Web site's Contact form; make an effort to review the site to be sure the information you seek is not already available. Take a quick look at the e-mails in your Trash before you delete them just in case a good e-mail landed there by mistake. If any email states to forward to all your friends, or just 5 people -- do everyone a favor and just hit delete! Don't mass e-mail people who didn't ask to be on your personal "mailing list". Double check that your adware, spyware and virus programs are set to automatically update at least once each week so the software knows what to protect you from. And finally... Type unto others as you would have them type unto you!

Keep the FOCUS!

Hi,

Keep the focus on your goals and you se them coming sooner than you think. We get carried away in the path f success and lose focus. Mr kalyan Raman wanted just enough money to sustain his family and look where he reached in no time.

How I Wish I Could Do This! Very Inspiring - Click here to read full story!.

We were fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to listen to one of the greatest speaker of recent times. The program was called “Winning Leadership Strategies”. Robin Sharma is the globally celebrated author of 11 international bestselling books on leadership including The Leader Who Had No Title, the phenomenal #1 blockbuster that is inspiring a movement around the idea that “Now, anyone - in any organization - can show Leadership”. He shot to fame with The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, which has topped international bestseller lists and sold millions of copies. Robin is a former litigation lawyer who holds two law degrees including a Masters of Law (Dalhousie Law School). The key takeaways from the awesome session are as under:

Start Early: Its critical to start early. Just by starting your day 2 hours early, you have actually earned 2 more hours in that day. Imagine what all you can do in those pristine 2 EXTRA hours when  others are sleeping and you are ready for the day.

First 90 minute Rule: Keep this 1st 90 minute to yourself. This should be utilised to plan your day. Finish the unfinished.

Be uncomfortable: if you notice / realise, every challenging situation in your life makes you uncomfortable and once you conquer the challenge, you are a winner. If you are uncomfortable, you are progressing, you are winning.

Daily 5: Everyday note down TOP 5 most important things that you want to do and FINISH IT.

Clutter Free environment: Go minimalistic. De-clutter your mind, your work space, your life and you will realize that all of a sudden you feel light and happy to move on.

Remember: Change is hard in the beginning, messy in the middle but gorgeous in the end!

BMW's in Cycle Shops

BMW's in Cycle Shops by JOSEPH THEVERCAD

BMW's in Cycle Shops

            So what is it that we actually don't know already?

What is it, that we’re so ignorant about and that if we could somehow get to know we would be more successful?

So many people go about mouthing the blandest clichés and market these vociferously, with a rapidity that perhaps no machine-gun can match.

Worse: so many people go about asking questions that should’ve been voiced only if we were born yesterday or perhaps had just learnt to be articulate.

There are actually people who wait at bus stands and wonder why their train doesn’t arrive!

Sounds idiotic? Yet that’s the way millions live everyday, waiting for success, waiting for their moment even as they cling to failure.

People actually expect that their lives will change, their careers race ahead, their relationship blossom, their money exceed their needs, even as they behave in the self same way as yesterday.

The man at the Bus Stand may well have been waiting for a spaceship to arrive at the bus stand…at least his expectations would have been greater.

We eat, drink and sleep failure, and are then flummoxed that we have no success.

Success or failure is in our nature, visible easily in our way of dealing with things.

We experience one of the two continually… in the small things, in small ways, in our every day life.

I want to know the tiny successes you have. I want to celebrate the small things you’re becoming better at.

Life is not one BIG moment. It’s the culmination of billions of tiny moments. These moments characterize us. These moments define us. These predict our future.

Don’t wait for the big things. Don’t wait for the big day. Don’t wait to be a millionaire…and don’t wait for that guest to arrive before your home looks taken care of.

If we are waiting for success, have we not failed already?

This is a law you’ve been taught well: we reap as we sow.

Be afraid of the small failures. Of the little remises. Don’t let it hide in your nature. Don’t brush away a hundred areas of neglect and lack of diligence for what you perceive as one astonishing bout of success.

Success is extremely jealous. It demands our integrity. It demands we experience it constantly. It jealously guards the fact that we walk with it continually…not only in public.

Not for a fleeting 15 seconds of fame.

Success is not a one-night stand. It’s a marriage for eternity. Perhaps you’ve tried to flirt with it. Perhaps you’ve inhaled its heady perfume.

We see it in others; we dream of it ourselves.

Somehow, mystically, this lie resides in us: If we need to change, success is not worth it. Somehow this equation fuddles & muddles our thinking -: our failure too is success if it means our not having to change.

Often our barometers of success are in how we were able to get other people to change. Our loss is proportionate to their stubbornness.

Some are led to believe that, if everybody in the world changed, and they could remain the same that would be their greatest success.

It’s not surprising that, these are ones who fume, as they wait in cycle repair shops for their BMW’s to be delivered.

62 Tips to Get Unstuck in 2013 - Robin Sharma

Hi Friends, i have become a great fan of Robin Sharma. Since the time my MD gave me this book "Leader who had no title" which i read (not entirely though) but was moved and have begin to change few thing here & there. 3 days ago (27th Feb 2013) i got an opportunity to hear him in flesh & bone and trust me....its motivating and.............(sorry got lost in his awe!) Anyways, please find below a replication of his blog that lets you free from many things thats keeping you away from success!Happy reading

Robin Sharma's FAN

--------------------------

62 Tips to Get Unstuck in 2013

By Robin Sharma
Author of the #1 Bestseller “The Leader Who Had No Title”

January 8th, 2013

I’m amped to do everything in my power to help you kickstart 2013 strong so you install superb habits of the mind, body and behavior.

Today is all about 62 quick, actionable and unforgettable tips that will move you to break free of old patterns, stop being the victim and leap into high gear to get your giant goals done.

1. Believe in your vision and gifts when no one else believes in your vision and gifts.
2. Start your day with 20 minutes of exercise.
3. Make excellence your way of being (versus a once in a while event).
4. Be on time (bonus points: be early).
5. Be a celebrator of other’s talents versus a critic.
6. Stop watching TV. (Bonus points: sell your tv and invest the cash in learning and self-education).
7. Finish what you start.
8. Remember that your diet affects your moods so eat like an athlete.
9. Spend an hour a day without stimulation (no phone+no FaceBook+no noise).
10. Release the energy vampires from your life. They are destroying your performance.
11. Write in a journal every morning. And record gratitude every night.
12. Do work that scares you (if you’re not uncomfortable often, you’re not growing very much).
13. Make the choice to let go of your past. It’s dusty history. And polluting your future.
14. Commit to being “Mozart-Level Good” at your work.
15. Smile more (and tell your face).
16. Do a collage filled with images of your ideal life. Look at it once a day for focus and inspiration.
17. Plan your week on a schedule (clarity is the DNA of mastery).
18. Stop gossiping (average people love gossip; exceptional people adore ideas).
19. Read “As You Think”.
20. Read “The Go-Getter”.
21. Don’t just parent your kids–develop them.
22. Remember that victims are frightened by change. And leaders grow inspired by it.
23. Start taking daily supplements to stay in peak health.
24. Clean out any form of “victimspeak” in your vocabulary and start running the language of leadership and possibility.
25. Do a nature walk at least once a week. It’ll renew you (you can’t inspire others if you’re depleted yourself).
26. Take on projects no one else will take on. Set goals no one else will do.
27. Do something that makes you feel uncomfortable at least once every 7 days.
28. Say “sorry” when you know you should say “sorry”.
29. Say “please” and “thank you” a lot.
30. Remember that to double your income, triple your investment in learning, coaching and self-education.
31. Dream big but start now.
32. Achieve 5 little goals each day (“The Daily 5 Concept” I shared in “The Leader Who Had No Title” that has transformed the lives of so many). In 12 months this habit will produce 1850 little goals–which will amount to a massive transformation.
33. Write handwritten thank you notes to your customers, teammates and family members.
34. Be slow to criticize and fast to praise.
35. Read Walter Isaacson’s amazing biography on Steve Jobs.
36. Give your customers 10X the value they pay for (“The 10X Value Obsession”).
37. Use the first 90 minutes of your work day only on value-creating activities (versus checking email or surfing the Net).
38. Breathe.
39. Keep your promises.
40. Remember that ordinary people talk about their goals. Leaders get them done. With speed.
41. Watch the inspirational documentary “Jiro Dreams of Sushi”.
42. Know that a problem only becomes a problem when you choose to see it as a problem.
43. Brain tattoo the fact that all work is a chance to change the world.
44. Watch the amazing movie “The Intouchables”.
45. Remember that every person you meet has a story to tell, a lesson to teach and a dream to do.
46. Risk being rejected. All of the great ones do.
47. Spend more time in art galleries. Art inspires, stimulates creativity and pushes boundaries.
48. Read a book a week, invest in a course every month and attend a workshop every quarter.
49. Remember that you empower what you complain about.
50. Get to know yourself. The main reason we procrastinate on our goals is not because of external conditions; we procrastinate due to our internal beliefs. And the thing is they are stuck so deep that we don’t even know they exist. But once you do, everything changes.
51. Read “Jonathan Livingston Seagull”.
52. Know your values. And then have the guts to live them–no matter what the crowd thinks and how the herd lives.
53. Become the fittest person you know.
54. Become the strongest person you know.
55. Become the kindest person you know.
56. Know your “Big 5″–the 5 goals you absolutely must achieve by December 31 to make this year your best yet (I teach my entire goal-achieving process, my advanced techniques on unleashing confidence and how to go from being stuck to living a life you adore in my online program “Your Absolute Best Year Yet”).
57. Know that potential unexpressed turns to pain.
58. Build a strong family foundation while you grow your ideal career.
59. Stop being selfish.
60. Give your life to a project bigger than yourself.
61. Be thankful for your talents.
62. Stand for iconic. Go for legendary. And make history.

This is YOUR time. Now’s YOUR moment. Let’s do this! :)

Your fan,

- See more at: http://www.robinsharma.com/blog