Don’t Email Me Without A Good Signature!

Dec

2008

Don’t Email Me Without A Good Signature!

I just received an email from someone inquiring about a partnership with my company, Tatango.com and I had to get a blog post up to air my frustration at what I saw. There is definitely a lot to learn about how best to structure a first email, but to make this quick, there is one simple thing that is inexcusable for you not to have. A GOOD SIGNATURE!!!

I get tons of emails everyday, and nothing bugs me more then just a name at the end. Usually in that first email the bases are covered, such as what company you represent, what your company does, the value proposition, etc. but most people don’t take time to tell me who they are as a person (sometimes with unisex names, I can’t even tell if I’m talking to a guy or girl). Connecting personally with a business partner is so important nowadays, and I find you can do this very simply with a good signature. My signature is below, and I think it’s pretty good at telling you who I am as a person.

Derek Johnson
Founder and CEO, www.tatango.com
206.334.4012

Friend me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/addfriend.php?id=37521058
Read my blog: http://www.thederekjohnson.com/
Follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tatango

Make sure that when you email me, you have all your basic contact info, and at least one of the following that lets me know a little about who you are as a person. If you don’t have at least one of these things, please don’t email me, I don’t do business with people I don’t know.

Blog URL

Recent press about your company

Facebook, Twitter, MySpace profile URL

School you attend (this is good if you don’t work for a company yet)

Viewing 17 Comments

research papers topics 9 months ago 1 point
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I found very interesting information in it and it is really helpful i think people should look forward to it this is really nice work done and i will refer other people to check it out...nice work done

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http://www.writingservicescompany.com/

BV 1 year ago 1 point
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A signature should accompany every email you send. This will improve your image and consistency and should include name, title, company, phone, email. Your colleagues and clients will appreciate having your contact info close at hand.

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http://www.bvrelief.com

research paper 1 year ago 1 point
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Well, Jared Lyda links are automatically hyperlinked through software :) any way thanks for the link

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1 /people/florian1/ /people/florian1/following/ http://www.pureresearchpapers.com/

Jlyda 1 year ago 1 point
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Thanks for bringing this to your readers attention!
Beyond the frustration of no email signature is the problem of long, babbling emails. I wrote a recent post on this because, like you Derek, I became frustrated at the emails I was receiving. My issue though, was with the lack of concise, short emails.

Here's the post: http://fireandmotionblog.com/?p=4

Jared Lyda
www.fireandmotionblog.com

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2 /people/Jlyda/ /people/Jlyda/following/ http://www.fireandmotionblog.com

Derek Johnson 1 year ago 1 point
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Jared, just read your blog and you are dead on. I twittered the link to your blog post, definitely think it should be read by all my followers. Keep up the good work!

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http://www.thederekjohnson.com

Jared Lyda 1 year ago 1 point
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Absolutely! Thanks for commenting back and forwarding my post! I'll continue checking in on TDJ.com. Also, I've linked it on my resources page......relevant, quality content without a gadjillion adsense ads is hard to find....

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http://www.fireandmotionblog.com

Jared Lyda 1 year ago 1 point
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I don't know what the crap that tdj . com link is all about.....I was referring to thederekjohnson and it hyperlinked automatically....sorry...

Jared

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http://www.fireandmotionblog.com

mrxinu 1 year ago 1 point
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Can't argue with that one.

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4 /people/mrxinu/ /people/mrxinu/following/ http://twitter.com/mrxinu

dan_mcweeney 1 year ago 1 point
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Owning your Google search is even more effective -- anyone who is interested is going to search your name anyway. I use my real name for everything I do on the Internet so, if you want to see who I am / what I'm doing just search.

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1 /people/dan_mcweeney/ /people/dan_mcweeney/following/ http://blog.danmcweeney.com in/danmcweeney dan_mcweeney dan_mcweeney

Derek Johnson 1 year ago 1 point
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That's a little hard with a name like "Derek Johnson" but I'm working on it! Who doesn't Google someone before a meeting, date etc. I think though facebook and LinkedIn are starting to replace Google in terms of initial searches for people.

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http://www.thederekjohnson.com

Eric Pratum 1 year ago 1 point
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Because of the industry I work in, Facebook and whatnot tends to go unused, so I leave it out of my signature. But, I do have a link to my Linked In profile, my work blog, directions to our location, etc, etc, but that is all embedded in images in what appears as as actual business card in the email. For personal emails, I usually just use my name, number, and email address.

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8 /people/ericpratum/ /people/ericpratum/following/ http://www.grizzard.com/author/epratum/ in/ericpratum http://twitter.com/ericpratum ericpratum mutarp

laurenmichell 1 year ago 1 point
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I'm a journalism student, so a lot of the e-mails I send when I'm writing articles are to my sources. I tend to simply leave my name, phone number and a link to my portfolio (not my blog or my Twitter) just because I feel like it's not a good idea to promote myself to a source. I've always wondered whether I was right in doing that. What do you think?

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1 /people/hlmn23/ /people/hlmn23/following/ http://www.interactblog.net in/laurenrabaino laurenmichell

Derek Johnson 1 year ago 1 point
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I think in your industry a link to a portfolio is a great idea, it lets your source know what type of a writer you are. Anything that can give someone a little insight into who you are as a person is positive. Regarding your blog and twitter, I'm of the mind that it's not promotion but more of a way for your source to connect with you on a personal level. Who knows, if they feel like they know you personally, they may be more open as a source when your talking to them.

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Cameron Watters 1 year ago 1 point
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Great post, but here's the thing: your signature would be considered pretty obnoxious by a fairly significant group of people.

People should certainly include all of the above mentioned info in the situation you describe (an introduction/cold call email), but not necessarily in their default signature. For many emails, your seven-line email signature is probably longer than the message content itself. Additionally, if you're engaged in an email exchange that includes multiple messages from each person, having your signature applied to each message is going to get annoying, since the other person already knows all of that info.

Most decent email programs allow someone to create a couple of signatures. Maybe have a long one for when it's appropriate, but keep a shorter one (2-3 lines max) as the default.

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http://cameronwatters.com

Derek Johnson 1 year ago 1 point
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Great point! The signature above is my cold call email signature. When you are doing back and forth emails, I agree that you should use a reduced signature, usually something like the following...

Derek Johnson
www.tatango.com
206.334.4012

Thanks for commenting Cameron!

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Matt 1 year ago 1 point
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Totally agree with this. How hard is it to write a few extra lines ONCE in order for people to know who they are getting an email from. Great tips on how to write a good one Derek!

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1 /people/mdigirol/ /people/mdigirol/following/ http://mattd.me mdigirol medigirol mattd

Derek Johnson 1 year ago 1 point
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Thanks buddy, it's so easy, I'm amazed people don't put that extra effort in. I guess some people don't know, that's the reason I wrote this post.

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http://www.thederekjohnson.com