職場雙語閱讀：給老板寫郵件的必殺技
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職場雙語閱讀：給老板寫郵件的必殺技
如果你希望電子郵件能有效地傳遞信息，那么就一定要去揣摩讀者的心態(tài)。
If you really want to get your message across, make sure you understand the mindset of the person you’re emailing.
亞馬遜(Amazon)上關(guān)于“商務(wù)寫作”方面的書將近有6,000種，再讓你讀這方面的相關(guān)內(nèi)容，你或許會覺得難以理解。不過，一旦你把從書中學(xué)到的付諸實際，你就會發(fā)現(xiàn)你的郵件仍然無法實現(xiàn)那個最終的目標(biāo)——讓讀者作出你想要的回應(yīng)。一封出色的電子郵件能夠說服讀者采取特定的行動，比如：批準(zhǔn)一份投資方案、提供信息、同意提供一份證明或者接受邀請等。因此，如果你的郵件無法讓讀者按照你的希望采取行動，你就浪費了別人和自己的時間。
Amazon AMZN 1.60% lists close to 6,000 book titles on “business writing.” You might wonder why you need to read anything else on the subject. Well, once you start practicing what you’ve learnt from many of these books, you might find that an email of yours still fails to achieve its ultimate purpose: to evoke the response you want. A good email persuades its reader to take a specific action, such as: approve an investment proposal, provide information, agree to provide a testimonial, or accept an invitation. So, if your text doesn’t get your reader to act as you intended, you have wasted both your and her time.
以下是能幫你寫好郵件的七個建議，這些都是從我擔(dān)任戰(zhàn)略顧問的25年經(jīng)驗中總結(jié)而來。這七大訣竅有一個共同點，那就是都非常注重揣摩閱讀者的心理。為什么這一點非常重要?在對方收到你發(fā)出的郵件后，他就會馬上在心里將你的郵件進(jìn)行分揀歸類，很有可能就歸入了那些糟糕的類目下，比如：“忽略并歸類為垃圾郵件”、“以后再讀”、“現(xiàn)在讀，但不采取行動”等等。而顯然，你所期望的是對方將你的郵件歸類為“現(xiàn)在看并馬上采取行動”。
Below you’ll find seven tips to help you be a better email writer, which I have drawn from my 25 years’ experience as a strategy consultant. What these seven tips have in common is that they focus on the psychology of the reader. Why is that important? As soon as a reader receives a text, he mentally pigeonholes it into one of several, possibly damning categories: “ignore and ditch,” “read later,” “read now, but no action.” Obviously you want your reader to pigeonhole your text in the “read and act now” slot.
如果想要你的閱讀者做出積極的回應(yīng)，懂一點社會心理學(xué)和行為經(jīng)濟學(xué)會對你有所幫助。具體來說，關(guān)于這兩個領(lǐng)域的一些基礎(chǔ)知識，有兩本書非常值得一讀。第一本是羅伯特•希爾蒂尼(Robert Cialdini)的《影響力：說服的心理學(xué)》(Influence:The Psychology of Persuasion)，這本書對順從行為進(jìn)行了心理學(xué)分析，即什么因素能讓一個人答應(yīng)他人的要求;另外一本是由理查德•塞勒(Richard Thaler)和卡斯•孫斯坦因(Cass Sunstein)合著的《推動力》(Nudge)，這本書對各種系統(tǒng)進(jìn)行了分析，幫助人們提高作出對自身更為有利選擇的能力。雖然這兩本書本身不涉及商務(wù)寫作，但是包含了一些非常實用的相關(guān)理論。在這些理論的基礎(chǔ)上，我總結(jié)出了以下的建議，它們與你在別的地方學(xué)到的那些常見的商務(wù)寫作技巧，比如“避免使用被動語態(tài)”、“避免使用行業(yè)術(shù)語和縮略語”、“變換語句的長度和結(jié)構(gòu)”等，將互為補充。
To get your reader to respond positively, it helps to understand a little about social psychology and behavioral economics. Specifically, two great books serve as a good intellectual foundation to these fields. The first is Robert Cialdini’sInfluence: The Psychology of Persuasion, which addresses the psychology of compliance, i.e. the factors that cause one person to say yes to another person. The second is Richard Thaler’s and Cass Sunstein’sNudge, which examines systems that help people improve their ability to select options that will make them better off. While these books don’t deal with business writing per se, they contain relevant and applicable insights. They lead to tips that you will find complementary to the often technical tips about business writing that you find elsewhere, such as “avoid the passive voice,” “avoid jargon and acronyms,” and “vary the length and structure of your sentences.”
下面就說說這七個建議。
Let’s move on to the tips.
技巧1：要考慮到你的上司會在何時何地閱讀你的郵件。在當(dāng)今這個快節(jié)奏的時代，以字節(jié)信息為載體的高速通訊可以隨時隨地實現(xiàn)。因此，寫完了一封電子郵件之后，你也許會忍不住馬上發(fā)給對方，而這也很容易實現(xiàn)。但是，請考慮一下對方會在何時何地收到你的郵件。舉個例子，如果你想要給老板發(fā)封郵件，申請請兩個月的假，那么周五晚上就不會是一個很好的時間點。這個時候，你的上司正被困在擁擠的機場，等著晚點的飛機帶他回家;在此之前，他剛剛與工會代表進(jìn)行了長達(dá)三天的緊張談判，結(jié)果不歡而散。你的請假申請也許理由萬般充分，措辭流暢有力，但是你不妨多等一會，讓你的電子郵件在一個更好的時間和地點進(jìn)入上司的收件箱。
Tip 1. Take into account where and when your boss reads your text.In today’s fast-paced world of instant, omnipresent and byte-size hypercommunication, it is easy and tempting to fire off a text to your targeted reader as soon as you have finished writing it. But think about when and where he will receive your text. For example, it may not be a great idea to mail a request for a two-months leave of absence to your boss on a Friday evening when he is waiting at an overcrowded airport for a delayed return flight home after three days of intense and unsuccessful negotiations with union delegates. Your request may be perfectly reasonable and eloquently worked out, but you’d better wait for a more auspicious time and place for it to land in your boss’s inbox',event)">inbox.
技巧2：利用主題線索讓郵件在收件箱中更為顯眼。商務(wù)人士都非常忙，因此他們無法為作出一項決定花費太多時間。所以，他們往往是根據(jù)過去的經(jīng)驗，或者僅僅根據(jù)呈現(xiàn)給他們的一條書面線索就下意識地作出決定。首先是給電子郵件擬定標(biāo)題，這不難做到。標(biāo)題要讓閱讀郵件的人感到這是機會，并且會有好處，而不是要他們費力做什么事情，或者謀求他們給予恩惠。例如，你要寫一封邀請別人參加基準(zhǔn)管理培訓(xùn)的電子郵件，如果標(biāo)題含有類似“學(xué)習(xí)”這樣的字眼，就會讓人產(chǎn)生“如何提高績效”之類讓人不安的聯(lián)想。更高深的技巧是，要拉近郵件閱讀者和你的心理距離，例如，提及共同利益或夸贊對方。當(dāng)然，這種做法稍不留神就會走偏：你不想去誤導(dǎo)、欺騙或操縱讀者;只是想勸導(dǎo)、說服、促使他們作出決定。
Tip 2. Stand out in a crowded inbox',event)">inbox by using clues.Busy as businesspeople are, they cannot afford to think too long about every decision they have to make. They often make fairly automatic decisions based on past experience or just one written clue that is presented to them. It starts with simple things like the subject header of your mail: it should convey opportunity and benefit to the reader rather than effort and goodwill from him. For example, when you write an email to solicit participation in a benchmarking exercise, the heading “Study” may evoke more dreadful associations than “How to improve performance.” More profoundly, make yourself likeable to your reader, for example, by referring to shared interests or flattering him. Of course you’re walking a fine line: you don’t want to mislead, deceive or manipulate your readers; you simply want to convince, persuade and facilitate.
技巧3：對消息進(jìn)行個人化處理。有時候，你會需要將相同的文本發(fā)送給多名讀者。比如在需要從多位同事那里獲取數(shù)據(jù)來建立商業(yè)案例時。你可以群發(fā)同一條請求，或者針對不同讀者分別發(fā)送請求。雖然群發(fā)乍看之下效率較高，但是也讓你面對著遭遇“旁觀者效應(yīng)”的風(fēng)險。首先，每個人都會認(rèn)為其他人會做出響應(yīng)，因此什么也不做。其次，每個人都等待其他人做出反應(yīng)，以判斷請求是否真的那么嚴(yán)肅或重要。如果花一些時間對消息進(jìn)行個人化處理，你可能會獲得更高的回復(fù)率。當(dāng)然，這并非只是潦草地將抬頭從“大家好”換成“蘇珊你好”，而是要在細(xì)節(jié)上下些功夫。
Tip 3. Personalize your message.There are occasions when you have to send essentially the same text to several readers, such as when you need data from several colleagues to build a business case. You can either broadcast a standard request or send personalized requests separately. While the broadcast initially may appear more efficient to you, you risk running into the so-called bystander effect. First, each person reasons that others will respond, and therefore will do nothing. Second, each person waits for a response from the others to find out whether the request is really that serious or important. You will probably get a higher response rate if you take some time to personalize your messages. Of course, be a bit more sophisticated and less lazy than simply replacing “Dear Team” by “Dear Suzy”.
技巧4：注意受眾中的神秘讀者。任何一本優(yōu)秀的商業(yè)寫作指南都會告訴你，必須考慮到接收你消息的各種不同的讀者群體。例如，如果你正在寫一份并購目標(biāo)評估報告，公司的首席執(zhí)行官、董事會以及投資銀行家都可能閱讀這份報告，你知道他們的需求各不相同。更難應(yīng)對的是神秘讀者——那些你一無所知的讀者。比如，你的某個目標(biāo)讀者可能(不經(jīng)意地)將消息轉(zhuǎn)發(fā)給你認(rèn)為不應(yīng)該讀取該消息的某個人。請記住網(wǎng)絡(luò)版的墨菲定律：“有可能出錯的事情總會出錯。”另外一個例子就是在你和目標(biāo)管理者之間充當(dāng)哨兵的個人助理，這些人會瀏覽和過濾所有來信。遇到這種情況時，你可以先寫一封郵件作掩護(hù)，專門讓助理去處理。不要忘了，一份文件可能會儲存很長時間，有可能在幾年后才會被不知原委的人閱讀，因而可能出現(xiàn)誤解。所以要充分考慮神秘讀者的存在，以及如何進(jìn)行應(yīng)對。
Tip 4. Beware of the mystery readers in your audience.Every guide on business writing worth its salt will tell you that you have to take into account the various reader segments that your text is addressing. For example, if you’re writing an assessment of an acquisition target, you know that both your CEO, your company’s Board and their investment banker, each with different needs, may read it. Much more tricky to deal with are the mystery readers — that is those you don’t know about. For example, one of your targeted readers may (inadvertently) forward your text to a person who in your mind should be the last to read it. Remember the cyberversion of Murphy’s infamous law that “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” Another example is the personal assistant who stands as a sentinel between you and your targeted executive, scanning and filtering all incoming mail, in which case you might write a cover email designed to make her act first. And don’t forget that a document can have a long shelf life and be read a few years later by people who have no clue about its original context, and thus may misinterpret it. So think through the mystery readers and how you could cope with them.
技巧5：堵上挑刺者的嘴。當(dāng)然，絕大多數(shù)讀者都不傻。他們知道內(nèi)容重于格式，漂亮的格式(干凈的構(gòu)成模塊、漂亮的布局、頁碼等)并不能保證內(nèi)容的質(zhì)量。但是，他們也會經(jīng)常下意識地推斷，如果作者連格式都不關(guān)心，那么很可能也不會重視內(nèi)容的質(zhì)量。注重格式質(zhì)量還可以讓所謂的“挑刺者”閉嘴。我們對這類人都很熟悉：在參加演示會時，他們會立即翻到有餅形圖的那一頁，檢查所有百分比加起來是否剛好100%。雖然這些吹毛求疵的人既不會致命，也不會增加價值，但是不要讓他們能輕易抓住你郵件報告的把柄，把讀者的注意力從真正的信息上引開。
Tip 5. Kill the mosquitos. Of course most of your readers are no fools.They know that content is more important than form, and that an attractive form (clear building blocks, an appealing lay-out, page numbering, etc.) is no guarantee of the quality of the content. Nevertheless they often reason unconsciously that, if the author didn’t even bother about formal quality, in all likelihood he didn’t bother about the quality of the content either. Form quality also neutralizes the so-called mosquitos. We are all familiar with them: the people who attend a presentation and immediately turn to the pages with a pie chart to check that the percentages add up to exactly one hundred. While these nitpickers are neither lethal nor value-adding, don’t make it easy for them to criticize your email presentation and distract your audience from your real message.
技巧6：讓回應(yīng)你的郵件變得簡單。評價一塊布丁的好壞要靠品嘗，而檢驗寫作的質(zhì)量則是要根據(jù)讀者的反應(yīng)。切記，不回復(fù)往往是一種更方便的選擇。雖然你很難迫使讀者作出回應(yīng)，但是至少你可以刺激一下他們。為此，從開頭的第一句話就要表明來意，說明你為什么寫這份郵件，以及你希望對方作出什么樣的回應(yīng)—— 商務(wù)信函不應(yīng)該像是推理小說。到結(jié)尾時，要為讀者提供默認(rèn)選項，方便對方做出回應(yīng)。例如，你可以在郵件中寫：“如果您在周一之前沒有回信，我就會當(dāng)做您同意了我的建議。”(當(dāng)然，如果郵件的接收者是你的頂頭上司，這一點就很難做到。)默認(rèn)選項的威力巨大，因為人們往往不愿意花太多精力去做別的選擇。人們往往很難對默認(rèn)選項說不，特別是當(dāng)你指出，你提供的選項是正常的，或者甚至是被他人所推薦的。如果默認(rèn)選項不太好想到，你可以明確向讀者表示你期待回復(fù)，并請他們告知他們的打算，以及相關(guān)的時間和方式。僅僅是詢問人們的計劃就可以起到推動作用。
Tip 6. Make it easy to respond to your text.If the proof of the pudding is in the eating, then the proof of your writing is in your reader’s response. But remember that not responding is often a more convenient alternative. While it is hard to force a response, at least you can prod. To start with, make it clear, almost from the very first sentence, why you are writing to the reader and what you expect from her – business texts should not be mystery novels. And when you come to the end, make it easy for the reader to respond by providing her with a default option. For example, you might include in your email: “Unless I hear from you by Monday, I will assume that you agree with my recommendation.” (This might be difficult if your reader is your boss.) Defaults are powerful because people often are not willing to spend much effort coming up with other options. The choice for the default option is especially hard to resist if you suggest that yours is the normal or even recommended choice. If there is no easy default option, you can explicitly tell your readers that you expect a response, and you can ask them to let you know what they intend to do, by when, and how. The mere fact of asking people what they intend to do acts as a nudge.
技巧7：反復(fù)修改。沒有偷懶的辦法。寫出一封非常出色的郵件需要時間和精力。想想托馬斯•愛迪生那句最被人喜愛的格言：“大多數(shù)人錯過了機會，因為機會穿著工作服，而且看起來像工作。”只有付出時間提高郵件的質(zhì)量，才有可能獲得回報，贏得機遇。只需要按下發(fā)送按鍵，你的讀者就有可能注意、查看、理解你傳遞的信息，并采取行動。
Tip 7. Work and work again on your text.There is no escape. Writing a high-quality text takes effort and consequently time. Consider Thomas Edison’s most endearing maxims: “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” The opportunity relates to the return you might get from spending a bit more time on raising the quality of your text. Chances are your audience will then notice, read, understand, and act upon your message after only hitting the send button once.
總而言之，郵件作者應(yīng)當(dāng)像設(shè)計師那樣精心設(shè)計自己的郵件。好的商務(wù)郵件作者既不是藝術(shù)家也不是工程師;他是可以預(yù)見人們需求或想法的設(shè)計師，然后據(jù)此精雕細(xì)琢出一封恰當(dāng)?shù)泥]件。利用這一方法，你可能就會得到自己想要的回應(yīng)。
In summary, a writer should behave like a designer. A good business writer is neither an artist nor an engineer. He is a designer who envisions what people need or are thinking and then crafts an appropriate email. Follow that approach and, chances are, you’ll get the response you want.
赫爾曼•萬特拉彭是布魯塞爾戰(zhàn)略咨詢公司Akordeon的董事總經(jīng)理，以及《The Executive Action Writer》一書的作者。
Herman Vantrappen is the Managing Director of Akordeon, a strategic advisory firm based in Brussels, and author of The Executive Action Writer
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