Get Emotional Control of Your Email
Ever get into a situation where there’s a complaint or problem that you have to deal with via email? Several times a day, right?
I find that thanking someone for their email as the first line of your reply can really help.
Remember, with email there’s no body language and hardly any tone (context). Don’t ever respond too quickly or else that means you’re responding emotionally and things really only get worse from that point – not better. Diffuse anything that might be going on (that you know of or might not know of) by simply thanking them for their email – for their time to write something to you.
When someone reads a “thank you” right away, it’ll calm them down. It also calms you down as your write. It helps take emotion out and your sound logic (wisdom) can come out instead. You appear more calm and that calms the email recipient as well.
And then don’t fire emails back. Take a pause and think about what you’re going to write. Take a break for a minute or two and calm yourself down first. You’ll come through looking more professional when you don’t let emotion take over.
-Tony
