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Amy Jin
Leadership Coach for Founders and Their Teams | Inspirational Speaker | Advocate for Womxn
Amy Jin is a mindfulness-based leadership coach with a passion for supporting founders, leaders, and their teams. She is dedicated to helping individuals fulfill their potential and express their inner art by offering customized and intuitive coaching services. Amy's approach is a blend of research-backed methods and heart-led practices. She believes in the power of new ideas and old wisdom, aiming to create a better world by empowering those with a big vision and a caring mission. Amy holds a BA in Psychology and Legal Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, and has pursued studies in coaching, negotiation, and various subjects such as Italian, Baroque Art, and Ancient Roman Civilization.
Highlights
What are the new rules + best practices for follow-up emails?
This morning, I was helping a client craft an important follow-up email. These emails can be cumbersome and time-consuming, and their effect unknown. They are also a powerful communication tool, whether we’re fundraising, chasing a sale, interviewing, or creating a new relationship.
But isn’t the best follow-up email, no follow-up email? Imagine: You’re both so crystal clear from the conversation, you don’t need one. This is how I try to lead my conversations, as it helps both parties:
- Get clear on next steps, live (vs. asynchronously)
- Work through the complex/tricky things (including objections) together
- Minimize post-meeting tasks/work
That said, communicating in writing can be nourishing, and essential. Follow-up emails can:
- Deepen understanding
- Make the other person feel heard/seen, generate connection
- Enhance clarity
- Enhance credibility, especially if you’re new to each other
- Facilitate next steps
What about the length of a follow-up email?
- Short and concise is best, but here’s my hot take: too short is bad, too. Think: the generic one liner “Thank you…” At worst we end up becoming a task (a new email in the inbox!) without delivering much value for the other person. At best they’re using Google’s autocomplete email writing to send back a polite “You’re welcome,” and now our interaction has become meaningless.
- Too long, and we seem almost insensitive!
So, I use short AND long in my follow up emails. Here’s what I mean:
- Above the fold, I articulate my key message and ask.
- Then, I use the space below the fold to expand and extrapolate. This is where I’ll share more ideas, or relevant links, docs, resources.
- This increases the chances your recipient will read your email, and gives them the option to dive deeper/connect further.
- I create my own “fold” by using three hyphens “—“
Here’s what it looks like,
“ Hi Leon,
[Thank you, core message and ask…] You’ll find more below.
Love, Amy
—
Additional resources/thoughts for Leon: [Long as you want, within reason] “
Last, I also try to be as specific as possible in my follow-up emails.
- I replace generic sentences like, "I loved learning about you, your company, and your goals" with exactly what you love about them. For example, "I loved your tenacity, your company's powerful origin story, and your goal of building team trust."
- This shows a deeper level of listening, comprehension, and connection.
- It forces me to reflect more on our conversation
- It bypasses their "tune out" mechanism, i.e. when we read words we've read a thousand times before. It replaces the meaningless with meaning.
What do you think? What are best practices in good follow-up emails you’ve sent or received?
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Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
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Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
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