Welcome to the third part of the Essential Communication Skills series. I’ve received a few emails from people saying “well, isn’t all of this a bit basic?”. It’s interesting, 10 years ago, even 5 years ago there is no way I would have written these tips. To most people this was basic common sense – use correct spelling in your correspondence with customers, reply to queries quickly, etc. However you would be surprised how very few people actually apply this kind of stuff. Believe it or not, I have actually had more emails from marketers thanking me for this…

Actually this is a serious point to bear in mind. More and more people are coming online who haven’t been taught these business skills. In many cases it’s not deliberate, I suspect it has more to do with online communications being seen as a little more informal than the old written business correspondence of yesteryear. Anyway, as I promised you here is a quick and easy-to-use template for when you are replying to customers’ queries. It is simple but effective, follow this and you will truly stand apart from the rest of your competitors.

Here is a genuine email from a customer – this is  a typical query (name changed to protect the innocent!)

Hi, Is the £1.97 the resale rights price only and do you offer reprint rights for your products. ie. Can i put my brand to your work and resell your products? Thanks Rick

OK, my “Golden Rules” for dealing with customers are pretty simple

1. Address the customer by name
2. Thank him or her for their email/message
3. Address and answer EVERY one of their questions
4. Sign off with your name

Identify all the questions – in the example above “Rick” has asked me 4 different ones:

1. Is £1.97 the price for resale rights?
2. Do I offer reprint rights?
3. Can I brand your products?
4. Can I resell your products?

So using the 4 “Golden Rules” my reply would be…

Hi Rick

Many thanks for your email.

1. Answer Question 1
2. Answer Question 2
3. Answer Question 3
4. Answer Question 4

I hope this answers your questions, please let me know if there is anything else I can help with

Best regards

Robert

Simple isn’t it? But don’t overlook those steps – at the risk of repeating myself, the vast majority of marketers do NOT do this, crazy as it sounds. There is actually one more very important element missing from that email, and we’ll have a look at that tomorrow.