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March 29, 2013
4) Getting them to Read and Act on your Email
By and large, less Is more - spend the time to boil it down into as few sentances as possible to get your point across. Bold the ask - make it easy for them know what you're looking for. It can make a big impact to underline orstrikethroughwords, and it looks clean and saves space to put links in words.
1.) Brevity
If there is one thing that busy people value above all else, it's brevity.
If you were receiving upwards of 50-100 emails per day, or had so many obligations that you were only left with a short amount of time to check email, it'd be easy to see why.
In order to get your messages read ASAP, it's best to make sure your opening email follows my ASAP rule: as short as possible.
I wouldn't put a set limit on email length, because it's a case by case basis. The important thing to remember is to always edit your emails at least once to trim unnecessary information, people don't need your enthralling life story over email, they just need "Who, what, why" so they can get back to business.
1. It's short and what he's requesting is clear. No "let's jump on the phone for 10 minutes; it'll be worth your time."
2. He made an impression in our initial meeting, and he hasn't irritated me with zero-content "keeping in touch" e-mails. He hasn't worn out his inbox welcome.
3. He makes it clear that he's doing his part and has explored other avenues before asking for my help. It's amazing how many would-be mentees or beneficiaries ask busier people for answers Google could provide in 20 seconds. That puts you on the banned list. Explicitly state what you've done to get answers or help yourself.