How compelling are your communications? While the focus of our work at Presentations Excellence is on helping leaders to deliver winning Board, sales, investor, marketing and organizational restructuring presentations, we’re often asked to help make the communications that lead up to the “big” presentation more compelling. If the email, panel speech, networking introduction, whitepaper, website, etc. don’t grab the audience’s attention, you may never get asked to make the presentation that wins a deal.
For instance, Erica Dhawan, author of Digital Body Language, recently surveyed 3,000 people in he US workforce and found that 70% reported poor digital communications to be a problem. The Digital Communications Crisis report estimated that lackluster communication resulted in an average of four hours wasted per week – valued at $188 Billion.
Some of the email-related solutions offered by experts (including Sam George who wrote I’ll Get Back to You: The Dyscommunication Crisis) include:
- Craft more enticing subject lines. If a recipient doesn’t read your email right away, it’s likely to be ignored. Make them witty, engaging, personalized or urgent. Credibility and timing also matter
- Pose questions and ask for simple yes or no answers, so the reader can decide whether he/she agrees with you.
- Structure the message so it leads to the Course of Action that you want to the person to take: send more information or agree to attend to a meeting.
- Address people by their first names; people are 27% more likely to open a personalized email.
- Address the message to the user; remember, it’s not about you, it’s about the user.
- Create visual impact by breaking up long emails into bite-size paragraphs and subheads. Instead of overly long paragraphs, use bullet points.
- If you’re looking for a response, simplify the request so it’s almost effortless to do so.
Use these solutions to increase the power of your emails – and you’ll have more impact!