Ok so it’s been a long week. This is not a grand piece on influencing others or a pontification on the art of leadership and effectiveness. Nope. This is about something so simple it makes me want to scream, reach through the computer, and grab ahold of the senseless offender every.single.time. it happens.

We’re talking about inside out e-mails:

What is an inside out e-mail you may ask? Well, it is essentially when you are asking someone to crawl inside of your brain and make sense of what the topic and contents of your e-mail are based on a short, unhelpful, and vague statement in the subject line:

• “Checking In”
• “Catching Up”
• “Call Today”
• “Call Tomorrow”
• “Call Yesterday”
• “Follow Up”
• “No Subject” < there should be potential to press charges here

We could go all day..

What are the contents of this e-mail? How exactly are we going to find the e-mail later? We do not know. And we will not.

Madam/Sir – what you are doing to the reader in the screenshot above is reckless, hopeless, and just plain mean.

Allow us to propose an outside in e-mail approach whereby an “outsider” is able to quickly determine the subject and contents “therein“:

• [Company A] & [Prospect A] Proposal Call: 2/20 @ 2pm PST
  • [Company A] Background
  • [Prospect A] Value Proposition
  • Proposal Agenda, Date & Time
• [Company A] & [Prospect A] Follow Up: 2/20 Call
  • [Company A] Notes
  • [Prospect A] Notes
  • Follow Up Items
• [Company A] – Acquisition Help Finding Top Candidates
  • [Company A] Personalized Pitch
  • Value Proposition
  • Wrap.it.up.
• [Name] – Thank You [Name] for 2/19 Coffee @ [Company A]
  • [Your Name] thank you for conversation with [Their Name]
  • Takeaways of what you learned
  • Follow Ups

Easily searchable. Easily readable. You’re welcome.