Have you gotten e-mail out of the blue like the one below?

“Hi Brian

I wanted to check in with you now that the world is back at work full force. “My Company” is full service communications firm with expertise in brand development, digital/interactive services as well as, identity and design.

As always “No” is a fine answer but I’ll ask the question.

Is there anything on your horizon that we can help you with?”

The author of this e-mail lead with an “I”, the message is now all about him and what he can do. He never took any time to try and understand what I am trying to accomplish, fix or avoid. He made it about his company and lost my interest. The result, I end up treating his message like the countless other spam I receive everyday.

Let’s try it again, but this time focus the message around “you”.

“Hi Brian,

As you know your brand is one of your company’s most important assets. Managing that brand and making sure your message clearly reaches your customers is essential. Branded companies such as yours work with “Company Name” because of our expertise in brand development, digital/interactive services as well as, identity and design. Whether you need help with the fine or broad strokes of your message, we can help. Where should we go from here?”

Boom, the above message is now about me and a potential situation that I may be trying to accomplish fix or avoid. They have my attention.