Exclamation Points in Your Emails

Before every email you send, they say you should remove one exclamation point.  By “they,” I mean the self proclaimed “business experts” on LinkedIn.  I guess enthusiastic can read unprofessional, especially when you’re a woman who looks like her high school graduation is coming up in June.

I used to be overly concerned with the way I was perceived at work, like I had something to prove despite my age, gender, and experience level.  The longer I’m in this business, the easier it is to pinpoint what I’m actually good at.

I like my clients.  I like seeing them succeed.  I like making them feel secure.  I like the honest relationship we form because it allows me to use education and communication to make the beast that is insurance feel a lot less scary.

To accomplish that, I can’t be the overly professional, cold, to-the-point salesperson I thought I had to be a few years ago.  First of all, it’s inauthentic.  I’m a softy.  I had a webinar yesterday, and it was genuinely the worst presentation I’ve ever listened to.  I didn’t have the heart to leave the webinar, though, because I didn’t want to hurt the presenters’ feelings, so I just muted them and went on with my work instead.  All this to say: I’m a lot of things, but a cut-throat salesperson is not one of them.

I don’t delete the exclamation points in my emails anymore.  I like them, the enthusiasm is genuine, and I can be nice while still being good at my job.  There are different routes to success, and maybe some people need to wear suits and frowns on their personal journeys.  If that’s what works for them, great.  As long as it’s authentic to you, you can be just as successful with smile on your face a skip in your step, and exclamation points in your emails.