Such an awesome and comprehensive article, Torsten. And +1000 to the section on the exec emails. I think the exact same thing. The paragraphs are humongous walls of text that no one else aside from them could get away with. Appreciate the candid callouts, fixes, and examples!
Classic halo effect at work. Since these emails are being shared (and celebrated) so much, I'm worried people will try to emulate the style ("If Mark / Elon does it, it must be good"). So I'm trying to do my small part to address that :)
Good point about putting the call too action in the subject line. I started doing something similar this year for client emails but hadn’t thought to use brackets like your example shows.
Great job, Torsten! I particularly enjoyed the topics below:
* You should observe how the rest of your organization operates and adjust accordingly.
* When in doubt, over-communicate. Don’t leave out stuff because you think it’s obvious — it might not be.
* There is plenty of research showing that repetition is key to making sure that we remember something.
* The real question: “Can you get this done before the 18th?”.
* Visual aids are great for communicating complex subjects in a simple way.
* Reestructure message using pyramid principle: We should launch weather-based real-time incentives.
* Give the context where necessary: Following up on your request to look into pipeline optimizations, here’s what we should do:”), and linking to relevant prior conversations or documents.
> If you sketch things out on a digital or physical whiteboard instead, you can make sure your verbal explanation and the visual are in sync. Explaining a process while you’re drawing a diagram, for example, is a powerful way to keep your audience focused and engaged.
Love this section on using the whiteboard. Back when I was a front-line sales guy, I would use this tactic all the time in sales presentations.
I learned this from my managers at Uber and Rippling; whenever a meeting wasn't going anywhere, they'd just whip out the whiteboard and sketch things out.
It took me some time getting used to doing this myself, but it's super effective. Glad to hear it worked for you, too!
Man, this is so comprehensive and useful!
I will probably send it to may team too.
Thanks a lot for the effort of putting this together!
Thanks so much, it would mean a lot to me if you shared it!
I have a newsletter coming out tomorrow morning and I'll put it as one of my 3 weekly recommendations ;)
Such an awesome and comprehensive article, Torsten. And +1000 to the section on the exec emails. I think the exact same thing. The paragraphs are humongous walls of text that no one else aside from them could get away with. Appreciate the candid callouts, fixes, and examples!
Classic halo effect at work. Since these emails are being shared (and celebrated) so much, I'm worried people will try to emulate the style ("If Mark / Elon does it, it must be good"). So I'm trying to do my small part to address that :)
Good point about putting the call too action in the subject line. I started doing something similar this year for client emails but hadn’t thought to use brackets like your example shows.
Small tweak, big impact!
Great job, Torsten! I particularly enjoyed the topics below:
* You should observe how the rest of your organization operates and adjust accordingly.
* When in doubt, over-communicate. Don’t leave out stuff because you think it’s obvious — it might not be.
* There is plenty of research showing that repetition is key to making sure that we remember something.
* The real question: “Can you get this done before the 18th?”.
* Visual aids are great for communicating complex subjects in a simple way.
* Reestructure message using pyramid principle: We should launch weather-based real-time incentives.
* Give the context where necessary: Following up on your request to look into pipeline optimizations, here’s what we should do:”), and linking to relevant prior conversations or documents.
> If you sketch things out on a digital or physical whiteboard instead, you can make sure your verbal explanation and the visual are in sync. Explaining a process while you’re drawing a diagram, for example, is a powerful way to keep your audience focused and engaged.
Love this section on using the whiteboard. Back when I was a front-line sales guy, I would use this tactic all the time in sales presentations.
Appreciate you sharing!
I learned this from my managers at Uber and Rippling; whenever a meeting wasn't going anywhere, they'd just whip out the whiteboard and sketch things out.
It took me some time getting used to doing this myself, but it's super effective. Glad to hear it worked for you, too!