About this ebook
Not because you do not know what to say. Because you do not know how it is supposed to go on the page — and every version you draft sounds either too soft to work or sharp enough to cost you something.
This book contains one hundred of those emails, written out in full.
Chasing somebody who will not reply. Saying no to your manager. Telling a client something has gone wrong. Asking to be paid. Admitting a mistake. Pushing back on a deadline. Turning down work. Asking for a pay rise. Writing to a colleague who has been bereaved. Ending a relationship with a supplier, a client, or a job.
Every entry gives you:
• The situation — what is actually going on, including the part that makes it hard<br> • Two subject lines — the safe one, and the direct one for when you have been ignored once<br> • The complete email — not a template with gaps in it; the whole message, greeting to sign-off, ready to copy<br> • What to change — the three or four things that are yours rather than mine<br> • The follow-up — a second complete email, and how many days to wait before sending it<br> • What sinks it — three phrases that undo an otherwise good email, and why each one does
The one rule behind the whole book: not a single model email in it is passive-aggressive. No per my last email. No gentle reminder. No as previously stated. No just circling back. Those phrases appear only in the "what sinks it" sections, where they belong — because the passive-aggressive email is the one that feels best to write, gets forwarded, and is remembered long after the deadline it was about.
Written to be used anywhere in the world: no currency symbols, no country-specific rules, no named products or companies, and dates written so they cannot be misread.
Four minutes, and the email you have been avoiding for four days is sent.
100 emails · 200 subject lines · 90 follow-up emails · 300 things not to do
