Cheat Sheet: how to write emails busy person

Tobias van Schneider, chief designer of Spotify, said in his blog about how to write emails busy person. Schneider receives more than 200 emails each day and can say that the most annoying them. Excellent Read, who often writes busy people!

Tips Tobias van Schneider will be useful to anyone who wants to reach busy people, and we share them with you.

Tobias van Schneider

Spotify's chief designer, has a number of design awards from Adobe, developing mobile applications.

Despite the fact that I do not consider myself too busy person, per day comes from my 200 emails. As much as I would like to reply to all, I just do not have the time, and it's not only my fault. write to me often, people who do not know how to write emails. Such people are very easy to punish, I only do not answer their mail. If they do not value my time, then I will not appreciate them.

I want to give some advice to those who often writes busy people and at the same time hoping to get an answer.

Presentation for the elevator

In business, there is the term "presentation for the elevator." Imagine that you are an entrepreneur trying to get investment for your business. You suddenly meet in the elevator of the main investor. Your task - to quickly sell the idea to the investor, to tell all the most important thing. But you have a time limit - as soon as the elevator stops, the investor will go.

Use the same concept in the mail. Write the letter all the most important thing. Without water, extra unnecessary adjectives and phrases. Do you want to sell yourself? Do not write your life story, but rather attach a link to a brief biography.

Mark goal

In the first sentence of your letter should be specified goal. Do not force the interlocutor to look between the lines of what you want from it. Be polite and considerate, but try to go as quickly as possible to the goal of his letter.

It is not necessary to consider himself the center of the planet

There are a few things you want to achieve by sending a letter to a busy man. Whether you want to establish contact with him or want to get something from him. Despite the fact that I recommended in the last paragraph, it is necessary to know when to stop.

If you need something, tell what, and then why it will be beneficial to me. Busy people are sometimes willing to help free of charge, but if you can give something back, your chances increase.

Format the letter

Do not send a wall of text. Use spaces between paragraphs. Sending terrible and overloaded letter, You create a problem to me, and as a result, and myself.

use the numbers

To respond to a structured letter to me it is much more convenient. If I see a letter in which the main ideas are divided into paragraphs, I find it easier to respond to each item separately. The easier it is for me to answer the letter, the better the chance that I still answer it.

submit again

I also use this trick. If you do not receive a reply to a letter, copy it and send again. Do not add to additional text, do not ask me if I got the previous letter. Merely refer the same.

Do not submit NDA

Please do not send press releases of their best, fantastic and innovative products, in addition asking me to sign a NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement). Remember that busy people do not sit around waiting for a new message from an unknown company with a request to sign a NDA. If you have a really important project, find another way to describe it.

Should I ask questions

Yes, but if you know that a person has a lot of cases, you can use a little trick.

Divide your questions into several parts and send the first. After receiving a response, send the next portion, and so on.

I understand that you would like to get answers to all the questions, but by sharing a portion of questions, you show that you value my time.

without jargon

If you write slang words that are understandable only to the people of your industry, take the trouble to think about whether I can understand them myself.

Be funny

The time you spent with pleasure, is not considered spent.

John Lennon

For this purpose any useful tool. Do not start an amusing anecdote, but inserted in the right place GIFCA increase your chances of getting a response.