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Email Signature Success for Meeting Partners

Why is it, 20 years after email was born, that we STILL can’t seem to figure out the necessity of a proper email signature?  Am I alone here?  I will receive an email, and alongside the vague subject line and content,  I can’t figure out what hotel meeting partner works for!  In some cases, the email signature simply says “Susan”.

Baffling.  And so easily avoidable.

Folks, whether you are a meeting planner or a meeting partner, make things easy for your recipient and create a complete email signature!

Some of your brands and organizations will provide you with an email template – this is GREAT and should include all the following details anyways!  But if you are liberty to create your own signature, or your organization has not provided you with a template to work from, here are some tips to help ensure your signature is complete and accurate:

What to Include in Your Email Signature

  1. Name and designation (CMP, etc) – your designation is part and parcel of your brand and professionalism in the industry.  If no one else will care to see it, I will 🙂
  2. Hotel name – if its not clear where your hotel is based on the name (ie Fairmont Empress), also include the destination (Victoria, BC)
  3. Full address – this saves your clients and prospects from having to Google your hotel to find out general location
  4. Title and market  segment you serve – this is great for hotels, who may have several people working in sales ie. corporate sales manager, association sales manager, sales manager for planners who are over 5’7″ tall and reside in Eastern Canada who plan meetings with over 10,000 guest rooms, etc.
  5. Telephone number – simple enough, but often forgotten. Even if email is your preferred method of communication, giving your planners the option is what builds relationships.
  6. Email address – especially if your email doesn’t clearly reflect your hotel or brand. There are lots of hotel salespeople who use an email of their management group versus their hotel brand. Many email formats look different from their brand completely, especially with DMOs (for example, Tourism Toronto peeps can be found @torcvb.com)

What’s Nice To See If You Have Room On Your Signature

All of the above items can make for a very LONG and crowded signature, but good formatting will help you give your clients and prospects everything they need to clear up confusion and create clarity on how to best get a hold of you.  If you have room, also try to include the following

  1. Website of hotel
  2. Social media handles – for hotel and for yourself – you may want to check with your organization’s social media policies on which ones to include

Now about those emails written from your phone…..

If you are writing back form your phone, make sure your phone email signature is set up similarly to your desktop email.  At minimum, please include the following:

  • Full name – please ensure you use both first and last name
  • Name of hotel
  • Phone number – and perhaps not your cell number that you’re writing from, but rather your desk phone if you prefer.  If you include your cell number, they may call you on it 🙂

And about those other phone email habits…..

When you receive a message from someone’s cell phone, it can often be accompanied by a note saying  (excuse the brevity) or (sent from my iPhone).  I blame planners for creating a culture where we expect partners to accessible 24/7, and forcing them to answer emails via cell phone.  I would much prefer to have a full answer when the partner has time to craft something appropriate and typo-free, whether that is by phone or computer.

There are a number of websites out there that provide email signature templates – you can compare the software over at Capterra.  Pricing varies on number of people and capabilities.

RELATED – Email tips and tricks for reaching meeting planners