Bottom Line Up Front
Wanna know what helps solves a lot of people’s problems?
Effective communication.
You’re probably reading that and thinking “What is this, Bearded Man University?” Unfortunately it is not BUT that did exist not too many moons ago.
Don’t believe me? Click here.
I want to talk about the easiest hack that will save you lots of time, energy, frustration & probably money. It’s something that has positively helped my life and it seems to have a ripple effect on the people I communicate with as well.
Be very clear with people. Don’t use big fancy words because it makes you seem intelligent. Be timely. Be minimalist. Be short & simple. Be effective by being efficient.
That’s how you get people to respond to your emails. You respect their time by cutting out all the BS and make every - word - count.
I had a system down when I was reaching out to podcast guests when I was hosting Purpose in the Youth.
Maximum two sentence intro.
Maximum three sentence explanation of why I’m reaching out.
Maximum one sentence ask of “Will you be on my podcast?” but in a much more professional manner.
I understood that people are busy & the best way for me to grab their attention is by crafting this email perfectly that they feel obligated to respond because it was that damn G-O-O-D!
I always ended it with “If the timing isn’t great, I totally understand” because I understood that sometimes the timing ISN’T great and so if I at least allowed them that out, I increased my response rate significantly.
Even if they declined, I was happy to hear from them. I respected their time, they respected my email and waaaabam! I got an email back. Cha-ching.
Now I’m not saying “It’s my way or the highway” I’m just telling you what has worked for me.
Time = money. I think we can all agree with that, right?
If I get an email in my inbox that looks like it’s a 5 paragraph essay, there’s a good chance I don’t read the whole thing. I’ll skim and do my best to use context clues to better understand what this thang is all about, but if I feel like I have to solve a puzzle deciphering this email, there’s a very good chance I won’t.
Exit, onto the next.
I don’t think I’m some “big shot” ducking your emails, I just can’t be wasting my time or energy trying to better understand what the purpose of the email is when the person who wrote it could have easily done so for me. I have a busy “to-do list” just like YOU! Soundin’ a little extra spicy this Tuesday night Bearded man.
At Liquid I.V. we call this “BLUF” - Bottom line up front. Really important technique I learned very early on when starting with the company back in October of 2019.
Instead of putting the question or purpose of the email at the waaaaay bottom which we so often do, we’re taught to place it up at the top. Why? Because whomever I’m sending it to can understand the purpose of the email just by reading the question in the first line. From there, they can continue reading the email with that in the front of their mind.
When it comes to communicating we must know what we’re talking about. We must do the research ahead of the time. We must really be straight to the point. This doesn’t even have to be just business either, this can legit be ANYTHING!
If you want to increase your likelihood of getting an email or text back, be respectful of peoples time and puuuhlease reread before sending. The last thing you want to do is appear lazy by having not reread your work ahead of time.
If there’s a grammar error in this blog, I’m screwed.
A follow-up never hurts either but let that thaaaang breathe. Let it marinate in the inbox. Unless it’s an emergency or extremely urgent, I suggest 1-2 week time before sending that follow up. You don’t want to seem desperate but you also have to understand that some people are busy. They may have not had a chance to read it OR they truthfully could have forgot to respond.
There was a playbook I once wrote called The Perfect Email. I talked about this idea that imagine someone is reading your email as they step onto a plane. They can’t respond so they toss their phone into their pocket with the intention to hit you back. 3+ hours goes by. They nap. They land. They hop in their Uber & off to the meeting they go.
But they completely forget about your email.
It wasn’t intentional, it’s just they chose a bad time to read it. So what do we do? We gently follow-up after that 1-2 week email marination time. You could strike out again but what do you really have to lose?
Effective communication is a trait that people will recognize, appreciate & respect if you take the time to sharpen the craft.
It’ll increase your chances of getting a response and you’ll feel confident when hitting that send button baby!