EMAIL EFFICIENCY
Despite its potential to be an extremely efficient means of communication, email has become a modern-day disaster. The ability to email anything to anyone, at any time, for zero cost, has led to a society full of anxious people who cringe with every addition to their inbox. However, I know that email can be efficient, so I spend a lot of time and energy speaking to people about ways to integrate efficiencies into the emails they send.
The following is an excerpt from Chapter Three of my book, The Efficient Hustle, where I explain ways to streamline emails and increase the chances of a prompt reply.
ADVANCE EMAIL
My primary document for gathering information during the advance process is an advance sheet, and I deliver most of the necessary information using a document called a production rider. Email is the preferred method of exchanging all this information during the advance process for nearly everyone, and drafting this email is an integral part of your tour preparation.
Your goal with the advance email is to always use as few words as possible. When someone receives a long, overwhelming email, they’ll often delay their reply rather than commit to reading something that requires a lot of their time. If you strive to make this email informative yet efficient and easy to understand, you’re more likely to get a timely response, and can complete the entire advance process with minimal correspondence.
Subject Line
The subject line of the email is your first chance to save everyone some time. All of us in production receive several emails daily, and the person receiving your email may not read it the day you send it. That is why it’s important to write subject lines that provide context so the recipient can easily search for it at a later date.
A well-worded subject line states the tour or artist, the purpose of the email, and the date of the performance. The person receiving your email might be advancing more than one show of the tour, so including this information in the subject line makes it easy for them to determine at first glance exactly which show you’re advancing with this correspondence.
A typical subject line for this Owl City tour looked like this:
Owl City Production Advance July 27, 2012
There is enough information here to let the reader know what I’m reaching out to discuss. And if my email gets lost in their inbox, they can search for the artist’s name or the show date and quickly locate the email.
Email Intro Line
The first line of any email acts as a reference point for the reader, clarifying and reiterating the following:
· Who you are (tour and/or production manager)
· Exactly what you’re looking to do with this email (advance)
· On whose behalf (the artist)
· For which performance (day and date)
· At which venue
The last part is significant because a promoter might be working on more than one show of your tour, and they may also be advancing for shows involving more than one artist on any given date. To avoid confusion, use the first line of your email to list the artist and the performance date, and include the venue. Straightforward with only the necessary details and the purpose of the email, the initial line of nearly every advance email I send looks like this:
Luke Meek here, production manager for Owl City. Writing to advance production details for Owl City’s Fuji Rock Festival performance on Saturday, July 27, 2012.
Body of the Email
The body of your email should be just as simple. Remember that you’ll request information using an advance sheet and provide information with a production rider, so this email is basically offering a road map for the advance. Again, a long, overwhelming email is less likely to get read. So, except for details that you feel are absolutely crucial, don’t double up on anything in this email that you’ve already covered in the attachments.
The method I use for drafting an efficient email begins with a rough draft, followed by a second pass to confirm clarity. Then I start to trim it down. By re-reading the email multiple times and making cuts with each pass, I’m able to express a lot using fewer words. This process of removing and reducing sheds light on just how inefficient our regular correspondence can be.
Always mention in your email what attachments you’re including so it’s immediately evident if you’ve forgotten to attach them (classic mistake), or perhaps one didn’t come through for whatever reason. Bullet points are an efficient way to list attachments, and it’s also helpful to reference them in your email by using each document’s actual title:
Please find the following attached:
· Owl City Production Rider
· Owl City Stage Plot
· Owl City Input List
When advancing international shows like the Fuji Rock Festival, Google Translate is a helpful tool to read text written in languages other than English. And the person you’re advancing with might be doing the same to read the emails you send to them. Because of this, writing an email that easily translates to the host country’s language is in everyone’s best interest. Avoid using industry slang, and instead stick with standard verbiage and terms.
Composing an efficient email is not difficult. Time is precious, and we owe it to each other to keep communication simple. Think about the person on the receiving end when reaching out. If you were to receive this email, would you be eager to read and reply? Or quick to file it away and forget about it?
I hope you enjoyed this excerpt; many lessons like this in my book The Efficient Hustle apply to people outside of the production industry. Please click here for details and to order your copy today!