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By Author: Irena Whitfield
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How to write a business Email

Our times are fast. Our life is fast. All the time we're in a rush for something, using faster and faster means, leaving behind everything that seems to slow us down, sometimes even proven principles of proper, polite behaviour or proper, professional business principles.

Most of the people coming to the Net expect riches. Fast. Now. And the Hype tries to make them believe it and pursue get-rich-quick schemes without thinking, without proper work, without discipline, without ethic. Business Ethic. Writing Ethic.

And online business is based on writing. So, in all the rush, Email bathes in the full sun of attention of all the people online. It complies with the requirements: it's fast, can be automated, it has a vast reach, everyone praises it: the professionals and the Hype in a unity. What's the problem then?

No doubt, Email is a powerful tool, but as with all the tools, it is necessary to know how to use it to get the best possible results.

Anyone should never forget that Email substitutes a business letter, a professional business letter ...
... in our online life. Any business presence has its strict laws if it should be successful, and no one will argue that all the people want to succeed in their online business.

How is it then they believe that without a proper business correspondence, ie a proper business presence in the market, they can succeed. The point is that they CANNOT.

Let's stop for a minute and revise the basic writing rules of an old-fashioned, good business letter (- if you try hard you will remember - that piece of paper in an envelope that we still sometimes get in our offline life :-)).

An Email of a proper netpreneur should have the same features. Yes, I said 'features', though we should never stress features. But everyone must feel them within us, and then we can dare to talk about benefits. So we will talk about features now.

In a single introductory sentence I will say that a written language has its laws that must NOT be broken. I used the word 'language', not slang, not individual words or exclammations. And a proper professional, business Email should be written in a proper, polite, business language in proper formatting and contain:

1) Proper Greeting - it's not 'Hey' or 'Hi Guy's', it's not even: 'Got a shock'. And not even: 'I've got to tell you this!!!' Take out one of the old-fashioned physical business letters and compare it to some of the emails you get. And think: Who would it be to do business with? Would you dare to send an offline business letter starting with a greeting like that? And more: would you expect the person to respond, to do business with you, a customer to buy from you? I'm sure you answered: No. I'm glad you did.

2) Proper opening sentence - It's none of the above though you get emails opened exactly that way. If you write to a stranger you should tell him who you are and why you're writing. Don't tell a novel to the person - just a sentence. A full sentence. Not isolated two, three words.

The other day I received an email from one of my bankers - yes, one of the cold bankers, and the opening started:

'Dear Mrs W,
I wish you a beautiful day.'

And then he continued the usual way. I loved it. And it's definitely not the only way to go.

3) A para or more, saying more about the matter, stating the facts - briefly, politely, clearly, soberly and to the point: a polite request or any proper business reason you have for writing to the person - in proper sentences, starting in a capital letter at the first word and ending in a full stop after the last one. You should realise that people get hundreds of emails daily, and if you want yours to be read and what more: answered, it must be a proper business letter, not spam.

4) Closing Sentence - a simple 'Thank you', a polite greeting or something to the effect.

5) Your Name and a Signature and/or P.S.: Some people would be surprised now. I said 'YOUR' Name. Sometimes I wonder: people expecting their first or second or even third child would hardly ever call him or her 'njnlsc', 'hrfci43' or '?'. Or are the persons secret agents? Who knows? But one point is definite: these persons are not business persons, they are not professionals. And NEVER will.

6) Subject Line: All the 'gurus' tell you that if your email should be noticed and opened at all, your subject line should contain something striking, something different, personalized. I agree BUT I'm going to tell you a secret: I delete immediately every email with Subject line containing my Name, I tell you even more, I've got a filter set on it. And Why? None of business professionals would send out a letter like that.

And similar it should be with email Ezines: I buy my offline magazines. Some online 'marketers' are shocked. How is it they don't contain my Name. No, they don't, and again I have filters on all Ezines, shouting my name all over the Issue. I buy, accept and read content. And you will be shocked even more: most of the best Ezines don't ever mention my name at all. Never overdo anything.

7) Keep track of your mail, not to forget who you wrote, about what, and answer your mail. If you send an Email requesting something from the person, offering something and the person comes back to you with the response you wanted, answer. It's what you wanted, it's what you need - a proper business co-operation, a proper business relationship helping you to build your business. Professional and successful business people do it.

And this item is really the last: Automated Response is great and vital BUT you should use it the proper business way. If your robot or autoresponder replies to your prospect that you will come back to the person personally as soon as you can, do so.

The Internet seems to be anonymous for many people but it's not and should never be for a proper business person, for a professional netpreneur and for anyone determined to succeed.

So, if you are serious about your business, both offline and online, stop for a minute and go through all the old-fashioned and abandoned, traditional business items of our almost forgotten offline world and study them, learn and adopt and USE them. Write fewer emails today and instead of the ones you skip, write a short, proper Email. And two more tomorrow...

Remember: to be successful, to be rich, to be wealthy does not only mean to have money. It means to be a sucessful, wealthy, professional and polite personality. It does not require so much: just forget the get-rich-quick schemes and fast riches and start to work and systematically build your proper, successful business personality, your name, your business helping other people to succeed, helping other people to get what they consider the best for themselves and before long you will have the money as well.


About the Author Irena Whitfield is the webmistress of http://www.thecassiopeia.com - Internet Business Consultants for 3rd Millennium helping people to succeed in their online business even on a limited budget. Get her book '7 Stars of Online Success', Join her FREE Affiliate Programme And Start to Do Business the Profitable Way. YOUR Time Is Now: http://www.thecassiopeia.com/ePublishing/7Stars.html