Company Ban on Friday E-mails

You are a handsome man with a winning smile Mr. Trump; I wouldn't mind talking to you face to face. Emails are better when you have to communicate with people whose vibes you don't like. Email provides a distance. As a matter of fact how many times have I sent a polite email while at the same of typing it I'm cursing the individual out. In their presence my body language would give myself away.

What about C-mails? That is, Camera-mails, where you record your voice and face and send it to someone via the computer?. With webcams becoming more ubiquitous and even built in on new computers it's about time someone invents a one-touch system to send C-mails.

Would you be up to that?

We do agree that a one to one meeting of the minds is what we look for in certain e-mails.

If people are wasting time on the computer, that is a much differnt picture. To us, e-mails can help, but also can dis-them by confusing the other party. We try a different approach...to be more selective and then inter-face with them. With that in mind, the phone sometimes is harder. So we schedule meetings and even a time to place a call. An e-mail strategy...that works well with us and others. Not wasting non-production of time.

A nice thing about e-mails: Anytime and anywhere. Try geting to the point by an e-mail with selective persons.

I find this a very quaint and poorly-thought out directive.

The problem isn't email any more than it is the phone, the travel, or the "workload". It comes down to time management and proper use of ALL communication tools.

Taking away a necessary employee communication method because some "don't like it" or are "overwhelmed" by it suggests a lack of understanding of the medium and an inability to prioritize. The email is a tool. Not using it correctly is the problem, not the medium in/of itself.

I have been a VP of sales for 10+ years. I live/die by emails, my customers generally prefer email communication. I am always in touch with my team, legal, senior management, marketing, customer support, SE's, etc.. via email, and while a phone call might be YOUR way of doing business, it is not necessarily the way others work.

Time would be better spent training employees on how to maximize the time they spend PERIOD, because I would bet that some chat too much on the phone, have pointless meetings without goals, work "hard" but not "smart", and are spending valuable time on priority 19, when priorities 1, 2, 3 are burning away.

always depends on conditions :

just remember, Bill Gates reply more than 1400 emails a day when he still active in Microsoft. he read client's complaints and needs, he even read spam to improve his knowledge about marketing. That's how The Microsoft became unbeatable for decades.

Friday nights. That's my favorite time for getting together with friends for great face-to-face conversations. We can sit outside a sidewalk cafe and visit the way the Europeans do. No email, no office, no barriers.

Well, unfortunately that does not apply to my work week. All phone calls are made using speaker phone, so as not to interrupt my keyboarding and email entries. I use Breeze or other webinar software for conference calls of more than 3 people which frees me to do my other work at the same time. What did we do before multiple windows?

I keep my inbox fairly managable at all times. I quickly delete items that are unnecessary, table items that are low priority, and respond quickly to high priority items. I do not use email for anything remotely related to interpersonal communications, but I find email invaluable for setting up appointments, meetings and other business.

P.S. I love reading all of your "electronic postings" on the "The Trump Blog" keep it up!

4/4/2008 7:46:21 PM
The e-mail is perhaps the greatest tool we may have to communicate with because we can deliver detailed information, directions, time, amounts of money, and many other valuable details in a single sentence. For the same reason, it REQUIRES each person who uses the e-mail as a tool to understand and cultivate this power for the superior means of communication it really may be. It has been my position here in my conversation regarding our role in the global market place that we must begin to understand that there is a actual dollar value to a e-mail, conversely there may be a dollar value lost when it is used improperly or used to generate misinformation. To take one day "off" of using the phone in a company as a "policy" would be fine if and only if your customers had some other means of communicating information to you. To take a day "off" of communicating with the world via e-mail is moot, because it is still there when you return the next day, except the e-mail account is likely to be overloaded with extra mail, because you did not deal with it the previous day. I have mixed feelings about this practice; I suppose it would be fine depending on the rates of productivity improving. Conversely, if this practice causes delay in getting the needs of a customer met, then it seems to me rather radical a move, and it might be best to simple hire some readers to sort the CRAP e-mail from the needs of the company and keep everything moving at a speed that pleases the CEO. The problem with this practice, is that some people use company e-mail for personal use, and that might be a tiny problem for a while, till everyone got use to the practice and refrained from that poor behavior. In my work here "The Power of a Single e-mail" I attempt to demonstrate the various use of the e-mail, and the high priority we have ignored in placing more study and research behind the use of e-mail in our culture. Clearly a company that is paying attention to how it may affect the rates of productivity and the psychology of the employees is 20 steps ahead of those who do not! The scope of what is possible with a e-mail may demand at least a day off,- hard to say, depends on the nature of your business. Clearly a porn based online business would not want to take that road- but then I would not know as I don't have one of those, I hear they do well online.
Best regards,
Tammie L Coffey
Director (as of today)

Loljust came from trump. com looking for an EMAIL ADDRESS

I had an idea i thought you may like...

its basically a program that buys a stock at what you set it to...and sells a stock at what you set it to...

forever

someone told me it sounded like a good idea

I think email is a productivity enhancer. It allows employees to communicate anytime and anywhere. Like any good thing used in excess it looses its value. When emailing stick to the basic protocols and everybody would benefit.

There is no doubt that when dealing with clients a personal touch is always preferred when appropriate.

HPS
Internet Marketing Specialist
http://www.ourmonmouthblog.com

I think this is a good idea. I can tell you in High School alone right now I see how e-mail can hinder projects become completed quickly and efficiently.
It is my job in our JROTC program to keep in touch with the media and I learned with in the first week that it’s nearly impossible via the net. You get much ****her in person, fax, or phone.
Face to face- they are more likely to hear you than just notice you. A fax requires reading; not just scanning over a computer screen which you’ve been staring at for hours and a phone call is more likely to give you instant gratification- as opposed to something sitting in a ‘Junk Mail’ box.
If we High School students know this- it’s about time a large scale corp. noticed this. Kudos to them- they deserve the profit they will make on this one day ‘e-mail fast’.

I predict that they'll lose business over this issue. Customers will be angry if their e-mails are not answered in a timely manner. Anyone who resorts to this kind of a measure has already lost in the management arena- employees who are happy in their work are not abusing e-mail. Employers also have the right to monitor e-mail and gert rid of employees who are spending all their time off-task. Properly used, it's a productivity tool- no more phone tag. It also helps those with communication problems- somehow writing on a screen is not as stressful as dealing with a human in person. This gives those who have social anxiety or autism-spectrum a much better chance to succeed. IMHO a poor decision all around.

no doubt, man. No Doubt!

It seems to me that the point of the "No Friday E-mails" campaign was to do exactly what many have suggested here: Draw attention to poor time management practices, over-reliance on email, and the tendency to lose our perspective on the value of the individuals involved in our business relationships. I also doubt seriously that the directive included ignoring customers and customer issues.

In the responses, I also see evidence of the unfortunate tendency to take literally stats that are publicized about the traits of successful individuals such as Bill Gates. Had Mr. Gates in fact responded personally to 1400 emails per day, he would have had to respond to an average of two per minute, every minute for twelve hours each day. I don't think that happened.

But - This is just one CEO's opinion.

It isn't the tool, its the application. Methods of communication are just like hammers and screw drivers. Used for the right reasons, in the right ways, they work great, used in the wrong way, for the wrong reasons, they are useless and waste time - and they may hurt people.