Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Are you phoning when you should be e-mailing something? Would anovernight package be better than a 25-page fax? Ask yourself thesesix questions to determine if you're making the best use ofyour time and your clients' while corresponding.
1. Are you simplifying everything you write? When atwo-paragraph e-mail will do, stop there. Brevity is the key toeffective communication, so be concise and get to the pointimmediately. Think in terms of an inverted pyramid. The first levelhas the "meat" of the correspondence; subsequentparagraphs are less important. If your correspondence is clutteredwith unnecessary words, future missives may be ignored or givenlower priority.
2. Do you know the recipient's communicationpreference? One of my clients asked all her vendors to sendinformation to her by standard mail rather than by fax because shefigured she wouldn't have to take action immediately. Instead,she could wait a few days before she had to do something with thematerials they sent. Before you e-mail, fax or send informationovernight, ask the recipient how he or she would like theinformation transmitted. (Personally, I find e-mail the mostefficient way to communicate. I no longer waste time playing phonetag, rarely run to the post office, and can send a message any timeday or night and know that it will arrive almost instantly.)
3. Is the information relevant? Before you writeanything, ask yourself these questions: 1) Is this informationuseful to someone else? and 2) Have I discussed this with themalready and am just repeating myself? Wasting someone else'stime once can be excused. If you continue to waste others'time, however, you'll soon find they'll no longer give youthe time of day.
4. Are you striving to educate or impress? Instead ofusing words that no one knows or ever uses, find other, more commonwords. Without realizing it, your attempt to impress others couldbackfire. Instead of showcasing your knowledge, you may besacrificing your credibility. Make a point of educating andcommunicating with others without intimidating them.
5. Is your letter, e-mail or fax easy to read? Usebulleted points and bold and italicized type to emphasize keypoints. You'll help the recipient save time reading a lengthymessage and immediately direct that person to the points requiringhis or her attention.
6. Do you make it easy for the recipient to respond to yourmemo, e-mail or fax? Include your phone number, address, faxnumber, e-mail address, pager and even cell phone number on yourbusiness cards and stationery. In an attempt to design stationerywith a clean look, some companies go too far and leave out contactinformation. Clean is good. Stark is bad.
Home office expert Lisa Kanarek is the founder of HomeOfficeLife.com and theauthor of Organizing Your Home Office For Success (BlakelyPress) and 101 Home Office Success Secrets (CareerPress).
