I receive and read a lot of different emails, newsletters, RSS, tweets and the like each day.  This is an email from The Goals Guy, Gary Ryan Blair that I thought was a good "gut check" that anyone can use.  I thought I would share it.  Enjoy it.

Every goal you want to achieve requires the enforcement of self-discipline, self-control and self-awareness.

To build a solid reputation with yourself and others, to earn more money, to be in great shape, and to ensure success in any area of your life, you must learn the discipline of:

•    Looking for solutions rather than focusing on problems.
•    Going the extra mile and exceeding expectations.
•    Consistently adding value to your customers.
•    Eating healthy foods and proper nutrition.
•    Proper preparation and thorough planning.
•    Saving and investing more than spending.
•    Writing a thank you note to a customer.
•    Managing your time and commitments.
•    Giving more than you receive.
•    Paying your bills on time.
•    Honoring your commitments.
•    Exercising self-control.
•    Keeping your promises.
•    Telling the truth.

In short, you must learn the discipline of self - discipline.

One of the great benefits of self-discipline is that each act you engage in comes with a corresponding reward.

•    For each failure you experience, you find new lessons and wisdom.
•    As you overcome each challenge, you gain new understanding.
•    With each success you achieve, your confidence grows.
•    With each loss, you gain empathy and humility.
•    For each book you read, you gain knowledge.

EVERY act of self-discipline in life bears desirable fruit!

Gary Ryan Blair

If you want to be good at something you have to always work on the fundamentals.  Otherwise you get sloppy.  The foundation of the skill set weakens.  So I held a workshop on “The Customer Experience” for those here at Logicalsolutions.net that interface most with our customers.  One of the exercises was focused on creating tone and personality in emails.
Why is the important?  Email is a cold, lonely, black and white, unforgiving vehicle for human interaction.  There is no nuance, no sincerity, and no connection.  If you want to convey some feeling you must be thinking about it with the creation of every email.
Here is a simple email from a consultant to a customer asking for some needed information in order to schedule a meeting the following week.

James,
I sent you the concept questionnaire on Monday.  If you could please fill that out and return it to me ASAP we can schedule that concept meeting for next week.

That seems like a fine email right?  It is polite, clear and has a call to action.  However, it is cold and frankly, a bit bossy.  Also, it’s all about what you need.  And in the words of my best girl: “It’s not all about you.”  Try this:

Good morning James,
Hope your week is going well.  I know you wanted to get that concept meeting scheduled for next week.  We would love to schedule that once we get the questionnaire back I sent over on Monday.  If you need me to send it again or you have questions, just let me know.
Thanks so much.

Looking forwrad,
Terry

This is the same meaning but with some personality.  It never hurts to say good morning or good afternoon.  The concept meeting is something the customer wants to have happen, not just me.  I told him when I sent it so if he forgot about it he can easily look for it and even offered to send it again if needed.  This one has a cooperative tone and a helpful feel to it.

Try to add some tone into your email and even the simplest communication can help build bonds.

Vendors - this post is specifically for your benefit.  Every company needs vendors & partners to grow and thrive, though recently I received some criticism that I didn't have time to take a meeting with a prospective vendor. If you are in sales, take note -  the following statement will most likely apply to a majority of CEO's and business owners in today's fast paced world:

I like short meetings.  I have adult ADD and a type A personality.  On top of that, I have at least 25 different things thrown at me every day, so if I am in a meeting for more than a half hour I am already going backwards.  (Assume a 10 hour work day, that is 2.5 things per hour that I have to get done just to keep from falling behind!)  So yes - I like short meetings.  Actually, I love short meetings.  They are productive and I have the ability to remain focused for the entire meeting.  When everyone in the room is compelled to have a short meeting, it usually means that they are just as busy and are going to work quickly to get the task at hand complete as quickly as possible.  I respect those people.  I want to do more work with them.

Want to do business with me?  Don’t invite me to an hour long meeting or a 2 hour lunch.  Send me an Outlook invite that I can push one button and have it automatically pop onto my calendar.  Make it an hour or less.  Want another meeting with me?  Easy - just make sure that we finish our first meeting with a few minutes to spare.  It gives both of us time to reply to a few emails, and get to our next meeting on time!

**edited on July 5th*