Mastering email communication is challenging for all sellers, whether they’re in the TOP 10% or not.

There are two reasons why email frustrates and creates havoc: first, there’s a misconception that a reply to an email has to occur quickly after receipt. Second, using email as a conversation tool doesn’t work.

Email is great in two modes, first as an effective utility device ("Hey, are we confirmed for lunch at 12.30 tomorrow?"), and it’s a good megaphone to communicate with many people at once ("To all buyers, here’s the proposal you requested.")

Friends don’t let friends abuse email…help yourself first, then help your friends too! Utility device. Mass communication vehicle.

Somewhere along the way, writing long emails and sending lots of them became acceptable. (Not that you do any of that, of course! Noooo.)

With a slight adjustment to your approach, you can be more effective with your email communications and not feel frustrated that "they’re not getting back to me." (BTW, they’re buyers…with or without email, they don’t get back to you.)

You should mostly use email as a utility device to confirm answers or get quick responses. Emails that ask questions like "Do you believe in God and why?" probably won’t get big responses. So stick with this type of email, "Please confirm you and your team are meeting with me Tuesday at 10 am."

Starting with the premise that buyers don’t open 90% of the out-of-company emails they get. That will sharpen your thinking about the words you use in the subject header, the first sentence of your email, and the "why" you’re sending the email.

On every email you send today, pause before you send it. Then, do something else – either on your laptop or by walking away – and then return to the note in a few minutes. To improve your email effectiveness, you’ll appreciate the power of pausing, editing, and reading the note aloud! (PERNA if you need another acronym!)

Or, like the TOP 10%, use your drafts folder. Park your outbound note in drafts, set a timer to remind you it’s there, and revisit it. Upon returning, you’ll not only find ways to enhance the note, but you may conclude there’s no reason to send the darn thing anyway!

Don’t let your traveling speed influence the quality of your email communication.

You’re getting used to hitting pause on your outbound emails, right? Write the note, stuff it in the draft folder, return to it in five minutes, edit, then send. Good. You’re on your way.

Research from WhateverBigData Inc company shows that if you do that 100% of the time, your emails will improve 100%! (Rocket scientists, those folks over at Whatever Inc.).

The key is to set the timer to remind you there’s a note that needs to be sent; your note needs a little time to breathe. Or maybe you’re the one who needs to breathe! The more your emotions are engaged, the more valuable your draft folder becomes. The hotter the potato of a subject, the longer you’ll need that unsent note to sit in the corner…your drafts folder.

And that’s precisely the point about email: you shouldn’t be sending emails that engage your emotions. Full stop. When your pulse is racing, the only email you should be sending should look like this, "Hey, I’ve been thinking about X and propose we get on the phone or meet in person. What’s this afternoon look like?"

Parking your notes in a drafts folder will do the following: improve the grammar and clarity of the note, prompt you to shorten the note, and make you think whether or not the note should even go out!

Ahhh, making progress! Love it.