A Professional Email

So far in this email class we’ve looked at some tips that we need to keep in mind when we’re writing emails.

We’ve also looked at a personal email from Sarah to Kate.

And now we’re going to look at a professional email and how we can do one of these well some of the basics.

The first thing you might notice here is that there is very little extra unnecessary stuff here.

There is no FLUFF FLUFF as sort of stuff that’s there but doesn’t have much content.

It’s called fluff.

It can be used in lots of different lots of different situations.

We also said flowery language no flowery language here at all.

It’s very concise very concise.

That means there’s no fat no fluff.

It’s very succinct very succinct.

No more is said than needs to be said.

OK so let’s read through the e-mail then we’ll talk about it a bit.

Steve we got an order this week from a client in Canada.

I need price estimates on materials for the following quantities.

Ten thousand medium sized balloons 300 hand pumps.

Get back to me A.S.A.P.

with these estimates.

Thanks Alan.

Very very succinct very very clear.

There’s no way to misunderstand this.

There’s no long introduction paragraph like Hey Steve how are you doing.

Hope the kids are well it’s not usually necessary when you have two people who work together or know each other professionally it’s not necessary get down to business get down to business don’t waste time OK.

Now what is the relationship between Steve and Alan.

Well they know each other very well.

How do we know that.

Well he just says his name.

He doesn’t say Dear Steve doesn’t use mister.

He doesn’t say Hello there Steve.

That would be OK but just saying Steve gives it a feeling of what these two probably communicate every day or at least very very often.

Maybe a couple of times per week.

We got an order this week from a client in Canada so that means that Steve knows everything about what an order means.

So they have a previous history of working together and I need estimates on materials.

So they obviously they obviously have some previous history probably a lot and a pretty close working relationship.

Client is someone who maybe you’re doing business with.

It’s similar to a customer estimates.

This is a close guess.

Basically if someone says Can you give me an estimate on how much it would cost to fix my car that means you’re not telling me exactly how much it would cost to fix my car but you’re trying to give me a close number about nine hundred dollars.

Well it might be more than 900.

It might be less than 900 but you’re giving me an estimate.

That’s a noun.

But estimate can be a verb is a verb.

Estimate estimate different pronunciation.

Same spelling on materials for the following quantities.

So we can often use this structure the following something I need the following.

Please give me details on the following.

Then you use this to dots on top of each other.

This is called a colon a colon and a colon is used when we’re going to usually say some information in order here.

We’ve made a list of two things.

This is a very good way of asking for something because it’s not mixed in with the rest of the email with the body of the email.

The first paragraph here it’s separated.

That’s very important because it can no longer be missed.

He can not misunderstand.

He needs these two things this and this and they’re not even sentences.

Please give me ten thousand medium sized balloons.

It’s not even a sentence just says ten thousand medium sized balloons 300 hand pumps.

If you make sentences it’s more possible for there to be confusion.

So by keeping it very concise making lists for what we want.

Using the following and then a colon we’re able to reduce the possibility of misunderstandings which often happens.

And so the better our emails are the more clear they are the more likely we are to be efficient and communicate well with our our colleagues.

OK.

If you don’t know what these things are it’s not that important.

These are just basically things that he needs.

We’re not going to worry too much about that then is giving him a little push.

OK.

He could just stop there and say thanks Alan but he’s giving him a bit of push and he’s trying to give him a feeling of urgency.

Hurry up a little bit OK.

Don’t go slowly on this.

Get back to me A.S.A.P.

as soon as possible with these estimates as soon as possible this is very common as well.

And often at the end of an email like this you’ll have one sentence that is just pushing a little bit.

Please let me know as soon as you can or I’m really looking forward to hearing from you.

There are a lot of sentences you can use like that.

We’re going to go through a couple in just a minute.

OK.

So you can use this structure basically this format when you’re writing e-mails to your colleagues your co-workers and they will probably appreciate you for being so clear the structure is introduction to what I need or the situation specifically the things I need in a list set off by colon.

Then a little push one sentence and then the name.

OK thanks is enough.

Thanks is enough.

Could have said regards I guess thanks is probably better in this situation.