Can you actually lose business opportunities as a result of poor e-mail etiquette? The answer is a resounding “you betcha”. A networking acquaintance with an impressive presence and an awe inspiring professional background recently provided an example of this. When I ran into her at an event and mentioned that I would be interested in using her service, she promised to e-mail me with the information that I requested. Weeks went by and I did not receive the e-mail. When I sent her an e-mail to inquire about the information, she responded that she had sent it, but that she typed in my e-mail address incorrectly and the result was that it did not go through. She forwarded the original e-mail with her note. No apologies or contrition included. How did I feel as a potential client? Well, not excited to do business with her. However, I was still willing to move forward based on what I knew of her from our networking encounters. My enthusiasm soon waned as our e-mail correspondence continued and she did not use salutations or sign-offs, misspelled my name and communicated with a decidedly terse tone. She had communicated a business persona that was both unappealing and unprofessional with her correspondence. We do business with people that we like and this likability factor extends to the way that we present ourselves through e-mail. By the way, I ended up working with someone who e-mailed with grace, knew how to spell my name and who was not afraid to use the occasional exclamation point to show her enthusiasm for working with me!

This is not a stand alone story; people share their views on the difference that great e-mail etiquette conveys on a regular basis. If you care about your professional image…focus on your e-mail etiquette as much as on the clothes that you wear…maybe even more if most of your time is spent behind your computer!

I recently recorded a podcast for the NJ Society of CPAs on Common E-mail Pitfalls in Business….www.njscpa.org