If I sent you an email, which of these final sentences would you be most likely to act on?
- If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call me.
- I look forward to hearing from you.
- Yours sincerely,
- This is just for your information.
- I need you to do X.
- Please can you do X.
- Please can you do X by date Y.
- Please can you do X by date Y. As soon as you do, I’ll then do Z.
Virtually everyone chooses the last one. They say:
- ‘There’s an action’
- ‘There’s a deadline’
- ‘I see the impact of me doing it – you’ll do Z‘
- ‘I see the impact of me not doing it – you can’t do Z‘
- ‘It’s polite – please is nicer than need’
And now comes the obvious next question…
How do you finish your emails?
Action point
If tweaking your final sentence will improve your emails, do it.
And, if you think you might forget, change your auto signature to include a reminder. So, when you open up a new email, you see this on your screen:
Please can you [INSERT THEIR ACTION] by [INSERT THEIR DEADLINE].
As soon as you do, I’ll then [INSERT MY ACTION].
Cheers,
Andy
(Lovely contact details)
(Aggressive legal disclaimer)
‘Closing the deal’ when you email is easy if you do it this way. And here’s a free video showing how to make closing all types of deals much easier.