s/o to all the summer analysts out there. We know that u the new slaves.
— Wu-Tang Financial (@Wu_Tang_Finance)
There are a few types of people when it applies to email. I think I’ve probably encountered most of them at this point in my career and would like to list some of them here. Understanding what type of person you are dealing with helps tremendously with correspondence and expectations.
Here are four stereotypical inbox folks-
The Fast Responder: This is the type of person who responds to every email within a 2-hour period. They don’t have the longest responses, but they are tied to their mobile phone and get back to you quickly. It’s tough to hate on this type of person because they respond to you when you email them (whether good or bad, it is better than silence). There are a few breakouts of the fast responder. One is the fast responder who knows you. Another is the fast responder even if they don’t know you. Some people are just nice and respond to everything. In both cases, the fast responders are great. The only downside is on their end: that being so “ON” probably doesn’t give them time for anything else besides work.
The Once-A-Day Responder: This individual usually responds to all emails in the morning or at night. During the day, they skim through their inbox and only respond to time-sensitive emails (i.e. changes to meetings that day, family, etc.). Depending on the individual, they can be a morning or night person. Personally, I’m a once-a-day responder. I’m a night owl and usually get to all my emails at night. I try to get them all done before going to bed, but sometimes I need the next morning to finish up.
The Organized One: This stereotype usually has crazy inbox filters with color coating and an exact strategy to be efficient with email dealings. They aren’t put into the other buckets because their strategy is a hybrid. Some filters get the fast responder, others get once-a-day, and a bunch goes into the empty abyss (inbox blow-upper). I sort of envy these people. I’ve tried to be The Organized One, but haven’t found a strategy I can stick to yet.
Inbox Blow-Upper: The last group here is aptly titled because they periodically blow up their inbox and claim inbox bankruptcy. They are the types that if you get lucky and catch them at the right moment you will get a fast responder persona. But most of the time the email gets lost in a inbox black hole. Inbox Blow-Uppers are not bad people. It’s usually not their fault. It’s usually founders of companies or executives who have so much inbound, and if they don’t have an assistant, it’s just not fair to expect them to respond to a large majority of emails. They have meetings day and night; have internal things to do (presentations, board meetings, etc.) and answering their email for a few hours is not their top priority. The best have other avenues to contact them (gchat, text messages, the PHONE!) and know if someone truly needs to get in front of them they will find a way.
So why is this important for BD? Well if you email someone who frequently blows up their inbox and starts over or responds to non-core things once a week you need to make sure you follow up periodically with a nice note, so you can get back on their radar. It’s not you, it’s them. You just happen to hit them at the wrong time (could be for a myriad of reasons) and a nice follow up and note could get everything back on track.
Did I miss any other email types? Share in the comments.
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