JimBJim Bouchard is author and founder of Dynamic Components of Personal Power, and the founder of Northern Chi Martial Arts Centers. Jim combines his experience as a professional martial artist, entrepreneur and speaker to share his philosophy on power for personal and professional success.
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Networking: Just say "Thanks!"
Oct 14, 2009 11:10 AM
One of the nicest ways to network on the web is to resend useful information to other people in your network. One of the problems with doing this is that we’re all inundated with dozens of pieces of useful information every hour!
Let’s look at the other side of this issue. When someone is sending you this information, it’s a signal that they want to be connected with you. They care about you and took the time to share what they thought would be useful material.
How do you deal with this massive inflow of email messages, Tweets and links while still maintaining cordial relationships with the people in your network?
Imagine a busy day (not to hard if you really try) and you’re working through your email inbox. You come across message from someone in your business network with an attachment for a free white paper you’ve already received from a dozen other well-intended networkers. You just don’t have time to deal with all this, but you certainly don’t want to spaminate this important contact.
Here are two possible replies:
You could send a polite message like this one:
I truly appreciate you thinking about me and sending this attachment; which, by the way, took several seconds to download. As you can imagine I have to answer a lot of email during the course of a day. While I sincerely appreciate hearing from you I must ask that in the future you refrain from sending attachments like this.
It’s also obvious from your messages that we access many of the same resources. I often find that I’ve already read much of the material you forward to me.
Again I treasure my connection with you, but please be sensitive to my time and refrain from sending these types of messages in the future.
Whew! That’s a lot of work, but you want to let ‘em down easy right? That was a compilation of actual replies shared with my by clients and colleagues.
Like you I get dozens of redundant messages and attachments every day. Here’s my standard reply:
Thanks!
Best thoughts,
Jim
It takes about 4 seconds to show your appreciation with a quick thank-you. You preserve a contact and you’re on to the next message without a second thought.
Jim Bouchard is a Speaker, Excellence Coach and Author of Think Like a Black Belt! Watch for Jim on FOX News Strategy Room: The Business Hour with Eric Bolling; 3 pm Friday, October 30th.
By the way...For his complimentary white paper: The Actual Value of Motivation and Engagement in the Workplace click here!
Let’s look at the other side of this issue. When someone is sending you this information, it’s a signal that they want to be connected with you. They care about you and took the time to share what they thought would be useful material.
How do you deal with this massive inflow of email messages, Tweets and links while still maintaining cordial relationships with the people in your network?
Imagine a busy day (not to hard if you really try) and you’re working through your email inbox. You come across message from someone in your business network with an attachment for a free white paper you’ve already received from a dozen other well-intended networkers. You just don’t have time to deal with all this, but you certainly don’t want to spaminate this important contact.
Here are two possible replies:
You could send a polite message like this one:
I truly appreciate you thinking about me and sending this attachment; which, by the way, took several seconds to download. As you can imagine I have to answer a lot of email during the course of a day. While I sincerely appreciate hearing from you I must ask that in the future you refrain from sending attachments like this.
It’s also obvious from your messages that we access many of the same resources. I often find that I’ve already read much of the material you forward to me.
Again I treasure my connection with you, but please be sensitive to my time and refrain from sending these types of messages in the future.
Whew! That’s a lot of work, but you want to let ‘em down easy right? That was a compilation of actual replies shared with my by clients and colleagues.
Like you I get dozens of redundant messages and attachments every day. Here’s my standard reply:
Thanks!
Best thoughts,
Jim
- Total time to compose the first reply: 5 minutes.
- Total time to compose the second reply: 4 seconds.
- Cost of the first reply: If I get one of these that person is off my list!
- Cost of the second reply: Priceless!
It takes about 4 seconds to show your appreciation with a quick thank-you. You preserve a contact and you’re on to the next message without a second thought.
Jim Bouchard is a Speaker, Excellence Coach and Author of Think Like a Black Belt! Watch for Jim on FOX News Strategy Room: The Business Hour with Eric Bolling; 3 pm Friday, October 30th.
By the way...For his complimentary white paper: The Actual Value of Motivation and Engagement in the Workplace click here!
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