Written by Heather L. Cole, March 9th, 2023

I recently received what I felt was a curt email from our main supplier.  You know one of those emails when you read it you are like WOW did she really just send that to a customer.  At first, I thought I maybe was overreacting.  So, I decided to see what Christina on our team thought of it.  Christina is our super sweet, very customer focused, and solutions oriented renewal specialist.  She always sees the good in people.   Seconds later my phone chimed.  It was a message from Christina, “Wow… Interesting response from the rep…”

If you follow me at all you know I am all about learning and teaching people how to be more influential and persuasive because I believe if we all worked on these soft skills, analytics and data driven movements would be more pervasive.  linkedin.com/in/heatherlcole  Yes, I believe it’s our analytic minds blocking analytics, but more on that later.

I decided to try a little experiment, could ChatGPT help people become more persuasive and influential in email?  My hypothesis is that when we have bad news, or want someone to see our side of the situation, maybe AI could help.  I asked ChatGPT to take the original email from the rep and rewrite it to be more persuasive and customer focused. 

ORIGINAL EMAIL:
"Again, we can't do split bids for this renewal. What you do on your own paper, is up to you."

ChatGPT Version:

Dear [Customer],

I hope this email finds you well. Thank you for considering us for your renewal needs.

After careful consideration, we regret to inform you that we are unable to offer split bids for this renewal. However, we are committed to providing you with the best possible service and ensuring that you have all the information you need to make an informed decision.

We understand that flexibility is important to you, and we want to help you in any way we can. While we are unable to offer split bids, we encourage you to explore your options and make the decision that is best for you. Our team is always available to answer any questions you may have and provide guidance throughout the renewal process.

Thank you again for considering us as your partner. We value your business and look forward to serving you in the future.

Best regards,

Wow!  What a difference.  If I had received ChatGPT’s version I would not have felt compelled to personally send an email to the sender asking if she intended to be curt.  You see, sometimes we get stressed at work and well we get short, snarky, and curt.  We all do it.  But if we want to succeed at work and life in general, we need to STOP, pause, and read our email as if we were the recipient.  Then ask yourself how I would feel after receiving this email.

ChatGPT and Our Analytic Minds

I believe our highly trained analytic minds often get in our way.  We spend all our time looking at facts and data and forget that most of the world makes decisions based on emotion.  This has been a big hurdle for me personally as I am not what I would call a warm fuzzy person.  It’s taken years of practice and developing my still underdeveloped skills of adding what I call “sugar” to an email.

Maybe AI can help us all communicate a little better.  If we improve our emails by adding a little “sugar” we can improve our working relationships.  To help you improve your emails check out this blog I wrote years ago, How to Write a Powerful Email that gets Rapid Results.

Another interesting resource is, 12 Common Work Email Mistakes. 

I believe we all can benefit from remembering the insightful words of Maya Angelou when she said,

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Now it’s your turn.

Find an email you sent yesterday where you had to share bad news or try to persuade someone to do something.  Then log on to ChatGPT  and ask it to rewrite your email to be more persuasive and customer focused.  You will be amazed what it generates in seconds.