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Can anyone help me reconcile the apparent inconsistency between the recommendations of communicating cordially with suppliers as in Email Relationships with Suppliers, taking a BLUF approach to be clear as to the purpose of the email and adapting one's communication style to fit the recipient's DISC profile? I understand why one would want to keep communications with suppliers cordial, I understand the benefits of BLUF, AND, I really struggle with DISC in real-time.
Is the best compromise to be BLUF about the problem, and then softening it with some subsequent 'I know you worked hard on this, how can we work together' stuff? That wouldn't be my natural approach as an off-the-chart High-S, High-C, yet it would be my approach based on my understanding of these recommendations.
Maybe this is simple and I'm just not seeing it. I suspect it really depends on how good a relationship one has with the supplier. Some vendor-supplier relationships are/have to be email only, so I understand the benefits of the recommendations in Email Relationships with Suppliers.
Thanks
Mark
Short and sweet might help
Two points to consider.
1. It is more likely that a supplier contact will be a High I or High S. They would be more likely to be relationship people.
So the advice fo use a communication style that tends to the I o S is pretty sound.
2. It is possible to add all that friendly stuff in a short and simple way, and still do somthing of a BLUF and/or High C bullet list.
Put a few friendly statements at top.
Put a friendly statement at the bottom.
Right smack dead in the middle ...
Use bullets
or dashes
or
============
equals signs to "box" things together.
============
Put in there your BLUF ask request
This way if the supplier is a High S or C they will read everything and get both the friendly stuff and the clear request.
or
If they are a High I they would see the first friendly statement, make them smile, and then thier eyes will be drawn to the "shiney" stuff that is set off with unusual characters.
or
If they are High D they will just look for the clear ask that is set apart, and ignore the rest.
Here is an example from a recent email I sent last week.
I saw that the supplier's name had changed and looked in Linked in that she had just gotten married.
=====
Cheri,
Hi!
Wow, I know it's been a while since we have talked. I hope things are well with you.
Congrats on your wedding.
It is time again for us to go over our annual renewal. We are looking forwad to renewing your product again and would consider another multi-year deal with an annual price cap to control costs.
~~~~~~~~~~
Could you please provide us with both a
* One year price quote
and
* Three year price quote
for comparison ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'll take it all back to my boss and staff for discussion.
Thanks for the help.
I hope to see you again at our local conference vendors fair.
Sincerely,
T
[included business .sig]
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An Effective Hybrid
Nice, I'll try that.
Thanks