Chapter 16 Getting Adept with Mail and Correspondence

Mail moves the country, and ZIP codes move the mail—well, that slogan might have been accurate once. Regardless, most messages you receive—whether in the form of e-mail, faxes, or memos—will require your response.

The faster and easier you’re able to respond, the better your day, week, career, and life will be—and the greater control you’ll have over your time.

Options abound when it comes to speedily handling message replies. Let’s check ’em out.

What Are You Sending, and to Whom?

If you’re in sales (or another type of position where you initiate contact with potential customers), your mail and messages are proactive rather than reactive. You initiate them to get another party interested in your goods or services, although it’s likely that most of the information you send to others will be in response to requests they’ve made or an obligation you need to fulfill.

Speedy Correspondence 101

I’ll bet that too often correspondence that requires a prompt response falls by the wayside; you have to handle too many other things. Here’s a secret to managing your time: When a response doesn’t require formal business protocol (that is, when you know the other party well), or when the item merits only brief regard, remember that there are many ways to handle it quickly:

1. Some people use preprinted, plain-paper messages, such as, “Excuse the informality, but I feel it’s more important to respond promptly than to offer a more formal reply that would take much longer.”
2. Retain the return address information on the envelopes from the mail you’ve received. Thereafter, you can use this as your address label back to them and avoid having to engage your printer, copier, or label paper. Clip such addresses, or tear them out with the edge of a ruler.

   When I receive a package from someone, I clip the label from their package and attach it to the documents that came inside with a big paper clip or removable tape. When I’m ready to make a response, an address label to the other party is already available. (This will save you lots of time. When other people respond too slowly, often it’s because they haven’t devised a speedy reply system.)

3. Order a rubber stamper from your office supply store that says “Speed Reply.” I have one myself; it’s oversized and prints in bright red. When you receive a letter that merits a quick reply, stamp it with “Speed Reply,” and offer your reply on the space at the bottom of the letter. Alternatively, you could print labels that say “Speed Reply” and simply affix them to the page.

   You have the option of faxing the letter (the fax machine treats deep, bold, red ink as black), or you could copy and mail the letter. Techniques such as these enable you to get a reply to the other party quickly and give you a record of the correspondence. Such a response is helpful to recipients as well; it presents their message with your reply. Think of how many times you’ve written to someone, the person responded, and you couldn’t remember why you wrote in the first place.

4. If you’re mailing a response, insert one of your own address labels to help the other party keep in touch with you. I enclose my address label with nearly all correspondence I mail. If you surmise that you’ll write the other party again, include extra address labels.

   When you’ve successfully trained your correspondents to communicate adeptly with you, you both benefit.

5. Order a rubber stamp, or create a label that facilitates your fax replies as well. At the least include your name, phone, and fax number—your essential contact information. You could use the stamp on any correspondence you receive; it avoids using up the recipient’s fax paper.

   Often, when you receive faxes from a free-standing fax machine, the other party uses a full page to announce that a fax is coming, and then uses another page for a six- or eight-line message. The whole communication could have taken one-third of a page. When you initiate a labeling system, you let other parties know you respect their time and resources—and you keep your costs down.

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    A Stitch in Time Make a point of providing return address labels to your correspondents. Weeks later, you may begin to notice that you receive replies more promptly, and that the other party is using the address labels you provided. This tells you they’ve bought into your system.

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   And if you’re using a fax/modem, the same principles apply. Keep your fax identification information concise and near the top of the first page. Keep your message brief; it makes a response more likely and keeps your transmission costs down.

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    Time Out! Most professionals today indicate that they need more time to get their jobs done, often because of the correspondence they have to handle. Actually, that kind of thinking keeps you enslaved to the clock. More time is not on its way, and it’s not the solution if you aren’t operating efficiently.

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6. For longer or more involved hard-copy correspondence, use the back side of the page you receive. Make a copy of the front and back for your own hard-copy files. Sometimes you can consolidate the correspondence you’ve received and do the same for what you send. For example, if someone sends you a two-page letter but you only need to respond to one key paragraph, simply clip that paragraph, include it at the top of your transmission, and reply below.
7. Feel free to number the points in the correspondence you’ve received and address each point in your reply. This cuts down on the time and energy it takes to reply. Otherwise, you have to quote chapter and verse in your reply.

   When you number the points in the correspondence you receive, you can usually address everything in a one-page response. Formal responses that take two or more pages require copy-editing and tedious tweaking. They suck time out of your day and life faster than a vampire at a slumber party.

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    Chronos Says While business and organizational protocol may often call for formal responses, your mission (should you decide to accept it) is to offer efficient, informal responses, as often as appropriate.

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8. Seek creative ways to use your fax machine, fax/modem, printer, and copier in combination to generate fast, appropriate responses to messages you receive; don’t let correspondence pile up.
9. Design forms to handle routine communication. Better yet, see if someone in your office has already created one, or assign that task to someone. Many office-supply stores carry books with predesigned correspondence forms. They’re worth the $10–$15; you’re likely to save enough valuable time to pay for them the first day you use them.

Speed-Reply Options Abound

You’ve probably figured this out, but it’s worth mentioning: Any time you want to respond to someone’s message but you don’t want a lengthy conversation, you can time your transmission to arrive when the person isn’t in.

For example, if you’re on the West Coast and it’s 4:30 p.m., it’s a safe bet that if you respond to someone on the East Coast by fax or voice mail, he or she won’t be in at 7:30 p.m. to receive it. Your party will receive the fax the next day, which is fine with you because you didn’t want to talk to anyone anyway.

It’s also a good idea to order office supplies by fax so you won’t have to stay on the phone and spell things out to somebody who writes at a blinding snail’s pace. You won’t have to worry that the other party will record my information incorrectly. A third- or half-page fax/modem transmission can present everything needed to convey in seconds.

The Post Office Is Still Good for Some Things

You already know about the express-mail services because you probably use them often: FedEx, DHL, Purolator, Roadway, Airborne, UPS, and others. But it still makes sense to use the U.S. Postal Service, despite all their troubles, if you know how to use the system effectively. Here is a brief, alphabetical description from the public information at the postal service regarding standard services. Following that is a description of services to safeguard, protect, and document your packages. Because the Postal Service is always changing their rates, I’ve left these out. You can call your local post office and, with any luck, can get somebody to give you the current rates.

Tickle Your Files for More Timely Responses

Chapter 11, “Filing: Your Simple Salvation,” discusses setting up a file for each month and also creating a 31-day rotating tickler file. These files offer a home for things that you don’t need to deal with immediately, or that are best dealt with at some future time (you know, like the turn of the twenty-second century!). To handle mail quickly, tickler files are just what the time-saving doctor ordered.

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 A Stitch in Time The tickler file is your answer anytime you have hard-copy correspondence you need to address but that is best sent at another time.

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Suppose you receive correspondence that doesn’t have to be answered now. What are you going to do? Let it sit in the black hole known as your in-basket? Park it some place on your desk that is equally remote to a black hole? Create some new file for it that you never find again? All these temporary solutions are less than desirable.

While it may make sense to handle the correspondence now if it needn’t be transmitted till later, do what you have to do with it and then park it in your tickler file. For example, if you receive something on the 5th that need not be mailed until the 15th (to reach the other party by the 19th), take care of it today while it’s hot, fresh, and right in front of you. Seal it, stamp it, and put it in your tickler file for the 15th.

The electronic version of this technique is to type your e-mail message and then enter the date and time you want it submitted, or put it the Deferred mail box for sending when you choose.

You may recall that a tickler file is an ideal way to organize bills without paying them too early (which can cost you if you have an interest-bearing checking account) and avoiding penalties for paying too late.

Here are some other ways to use your tickler file for timed responses that save you time and help put you on top of things:

• Stash tickets to forthcoming events in the appropriate tickler-file date.
• Store coupons, discounts, and promotional items until you’re ready to use them.
• Park items you want to read on your next plane trip in the tickler file for the day before your trip.
• Find temporary locations for notes, outlines, or other documents you’ll want to have on hand when someone visits your office.
• Do the same for forthcoming group, department, or company meetings.
• Place any mail you receive but choose not to open now in your tickler file; choose a date that seems more appropriate for you.
• When you’re waiting for someone’s response, file a copy of your transmission in your tickler file or in a file labeled “Awaiting Response.”