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email Etiquette

gabagoo

New Member
Received an email yesterday from some guy and it started off with..."Hey".

Right away I don't like the %^%$ head.....Oh I see he was refered by a slow payer...OK, I send back a response that I need to see what he has for me to work with before quoting a proper price to do his vehicle, followed by my NAME and company info.

This morning I get another email from him...and again it starts with "Hey"!!!

Who starts off an email to a total stranger with "Hey"?

I am adding 20% to whatever price I come up with for this jerk.... No wait 25% to cover my time typing this up lol:smile:
 

nikdoobs

New Member
I wouldn't think twice about it if I got an e-mail that just said Hey. Would you prefer Dear Sir or Madam?
 

Flame

New Member
You are a strange duck sir. Nothing wrong with starting a conversation with a "hey". It's casual, and to be honest, most of us aren't dealing with high end, suit and tie types. We're dealing with average joe, small business owners or managers. Maybe I've just seen worse, but I don't think "hey" is all too bad.

Now the tone after that, I think is much more important. You can usually catch on if this is a tire kicker, a lazy **** (bane of my existence), or just a total tool that needs 24/7 ego boost. If they place DEMANDS in the first email, red flag that this could get interesting, fast.
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
When sending a first-time e-mail to someone, I will always address them with courtesy and including the ending/signing off part. Once I feel comfortable, I will just use Hi So & So and end it with just my first name. I'm on a first name basis with just about every customer we have....... all 4 of them. :wink:

Receiving a bad written e-mail is a little different. Many people in business today have little to no business background, thus you get poorly written and hard to understand letters and all kindsa openings to closings and in between. For me, I try to ignore it and get on the phone with them, get a deposit, a job and then the balance. I'm not gonna discriminate, just because someone has bad manners or poor writing skills. Their money's still green and cashes at the bank. Heck, look at 3/4's of the sign people here who can't write worth a ch!t............:ROFLMAO:.... and it's in their job description.
 

InstantOneMedia

New Member
When I receive a resume, and the cover letter / email starts with "Hey", I delete it immediately. Otherwise, I'm just so excited a potential customer found ME, and I didn't have to hunt them down, I'll take any greeting they use. The more vulgar the better.
 

gabagoo

New Member
If I know you then HEY is fine...but for the first form of communication in business, it is totally unacceptable. having said that, I won't turn away business and I am sure he is probably a pretty decent hard working guy.

I just needed to get my post count up :Big Laugh
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
If I know you then HEY is fine...but for the first form of communication in business, it is totally unacceptable. having said that, I won't turn away business and I am sure he is probably a pretty decent hard working guy.

I just needed to get my post count up :Big Laugh

Welcome from PA................................................. :Oops:
 

Flame

New Member
I don't think so.

I'm pretty sure your target market is completely different that a lot of other members on here.

Trust me, I'm into motocross and all that stuff...and if that was MY target market a casual "hey" would be 100% acceptable but I treat our clients (and expect them to behave to a certain extent) with respect and with a certain level of professionalism.

If you contacted a professional, say a lawyer or engineer (yes I realize we're not on that same level but just for arguments sake) would you really start your first communication with "hey" and think that they wouldn't question if they want to do business with you based on that first impression?

Just saying. I don't think anyone with manners is a "strange duck".

I didn't say having manners is being a strange duck, I meant the level of frustration he was having with someone starting a conversation with "hey", made him a strange duck. And by saying that I hope you know I was totally being facetious and making a funny.

In this day when we get text orders, text orders, and grammar that's a throwback to second grade... you have to realize it could be worse. Maybe it's partially the area I'm in, but there are apparently is no "etiquette" at all. I try to be professional as can be, but as an example to my point... I got an order in a couple days ago, to letter 4 dump trucks. Nice size order, from a good sized company, and their first TEXT to me (I had to call and ask them to email instead) started with "do you guys do like street sign s**t? I need some of those slapped on my trucks, how much?". Yep, welcome to the Pacific NW.
 

nikdoobs

New Member
I only except "hey" if it's in the subject line.

Paris_Tuileries_Garden_Facepalm_statue.jpg

...coming from the guy who takes a bad introduction over bad spelling.
 
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