Arming Your CxO for a Decision: Email

Using Email to Move Your Project Forward

You need the CxO to give your proposal a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down.

Thumbs-up and your project can race forward collecting resources, attention and momentum. Thumbs-down and you need to quickly redirect your focus to something more important.

Unfortunately, executives are bombarded by questions and problems every hour of every day. How do you cut through the noise, get their attention, and guide (drive) them to make an informed decision? Always remember that the “easiest” decision for an executive is to make no decision at all.

During 12+ years running global advertising at Oracle — including a period reporting directly to Larry Ellison — I learned how and when to use email, one-page briefs, powerpoints and Amazon-style narratives to “get to a decision”. Hopefully you can learn from my many, many mistakes.

In this article, let’s look at old-school email as a tool for driving a decision.

When to Use Email:

If speed is of the essence and your CxO won’t answer the phone, then email is an obvious choice. More strictly, I would argue that if the inputs to the decision plus your recommendation plus the alternatives can be read in less than three minutes, then email is viable.

When Not to Use Email:  

If reading takes more than three minutes, your executive will likely set it aside “for later” when they have more time. But they never have more time, will never come back to it, and your project will be stalled.

Keys to Success:

Fine tune the subject line. Why should this busy executive open your email among the hundreds they received today? Think of this as a highly-tuned ad to an audience of one. I suggest leading with a benefit to be gained or a pain to be avoided. For example, “Proposal: Target +7% in Won Deals, Flow Leads to Specialists” or, “Decision: Minimize PR Backlash with Immediate Mea Culpa”.

Apply “bonzai” editing skills to the body. To start, expand on the benefit/pain you promised in the subject line and then sell your recommendation while acknowledging the risks. Next, knock off the alternatives by showing they are weaker or more risky. Finally ask for the decision. 

Keep trimming words and rewriting until this is as concise as possible — hence the bonzai analogy. Aim for two or three paragraphs tops.

Include “additional details” as a post-script. Provide answers to the top three objections you foresee but explicitly label this section as supplemental. I often use italics to imply visually that this information is not core to the decision. The goal is avoiding another email back and forth — while keeping the body of the email small enough that the executive doesn’t park this for later (a.k.a. never).

Ask for the decision. Sounds crazy, but don’t forget to explicitly ask. CxOs read email like you read a billboard next to the highway (a mere glance). Consider highlighting the single sentence “ask” in a bold, red font so it stands out against a black and white email.

Read, edit, set aside and reread. I’m embarrassed to admit how many times a typo in a key fact or a meaningful grammatical error forced me to send a follow-up, corrected email. Give yourself a day — or at least several hours — before reviewing one final time. That break will mean that you read the copy with fresh eyes.

Yes, email is old-school. But it is still the most common tool to drive day-to-day decisions. Be brilliant at it!