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To Whom It May Concern Is your correspondence wasting others' time?

By Lisa Kanarek

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Are you phoning when you should be e-mailing something? Would anovernight package be better than a 25-page fax? Ask yourself thesesix questions to determine if you're making the best use ofyour time and your clients' while corresponding.

1. Are you simplifying everything you write? When atwo-paragraph e-mail will do, stop there. Brevity is the key toeffective communication, so be concise and get to the pointimmediately. Think in terms of an inverted pyramid. The first levelhas the "meat" of the correspondence; subsequentparagraphs are less important. If your correspondence is clutteredwith unnecessary words, future missives may be ignored or givenlower priority.

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