The three most secure and well-encrypted email services. Write-call: Which method of communication is better to use for business communication Powerless e-mail or phone your question
Anna IZMAILOVA
Business coach, employee of the Stockholm School of Economics in Russia
Write a letter to a partner or immediately call him with a proposal, a new idea, criticism of the project? As a rule, we choose a more convenient option for us, without thinking that the person on the other end of the wire may have a different opinion. But not only the speed of the answer, but sometimes the result of the negotiations depends on what type of communication is convenient for the interlocutor.
How often have you heard: “I’m busy now, I’ll call you back,” and then the call didn’t follow? This behavior does not always mean a polite refusal. Some people prefer email over mobile phones. And sometimes they can be understood.
People like to plan their day themselves, and a call, as a rule, interferes with plans and ruins a slender schedule. Often businessmen do not belong to themselves, their working day is scheduled by the minute, so many of them will be grateful if you replace a call with a letter. However, there are those who unequivocally prefer telephone conversations to written communication.
Call me
In addition to the obviously higher speed of communication, the call has another important advantage - it can convey not only information, but also emotions. Sometimes it is important for a person to hear a voice in order to form an opinion about a potential partner and either close the door in front of you or open it wide to meet a commercial offer.
Often such people are extroverts - innate sociability in them stronger than desire act strictly according to plan. “Why write when you can just call?” they think. And this is quite logical: indeed, why complicate everything if you can get answers to all questions in a matter of minutes?
The frantic pace of life does not prevent sociable people from finding time for telephone conversation any duration
Besides, phone call allows you to better assimilate information using auditory memory, check the competence of the interlocutor and the speed of his reaction, get to know him as a person, quickly make a counter offer, and just enjoy communication.
The frantic pace of life does not prevent sociable people from finding time for a telephone conversation of any duration. As a last resort, you can always make a few calls in the car while stuck in traffic. Having received a call at an inconvenient moment, such people will definitely call back or will not mind a second call from you.
What should you pay attention to when talking on the phone?
Don't start a conversation without introducing himself. At the same time, it is desirable to avoid the hackneyed phrase "You are worried about ..." or "You are worried about ...". Telling a person that you are bothering him, you form a negative attitude towards yourself and your call.
Be sure to ask whether the person is busy, and whether it is convenient for him to talk.
Get to the point as soon as possible.
Adjust to speed interlocutor's speech. It usually corresponds to the speed of assimilation of information, so it is important not to let the interlocutor who speaks too quickly get bored, and the one who speaks too slowly loses his train of thought.
Use the hold function in your phone, if you need to leave the interlocutor on the line and at the same time protect him from unnecessary sounds around you. However, before pressing the Hold button, you need to ask the interlocutor if it would be convenient for him to wait for you on the line.
Main Rule telephone communication - listen to the person. Do not allow yourself to interrupt him and always give the opportunity to express your thoughts to the end.
Write letters
Despite the ever more rapid spread of mobile technologies, modern research suggests that for most people, email is the most convenient way to receive information. For example, in a survey by Yahoo! found that 74% of office workers say email is their preferred method of communication, and Litmus' January 2014 Email Analytics study found that inbox electronic messages are less and less ignored. If at the beginning of 2013 only 21% of all letters were read, then in December 2013 their number increased to 51%.
Probably in the Yahoo! mostly introverts participated, but it is hard to believe that the ratio of psychological types was so unequal. Perhaps mail is really more convenient?
many people find it harder to get back to business after talking on the phone
People prefer to read emails rather than talk on the phone because they can do it when it's convenient for them, not when your cold calling plan goes awry. Nobody forces them to listen to an unnecessary sentence and say banal phrases in response. Refusing something, they do not need to come up with excuses, feel embarrassed. It is also not necessary to ask for the name, position and company name of the addressee. When you receive a letter from a stranger, you can google his name or go to the website of his company. In addition, many people find it more difficult to get back to business after talking on the phone.
What should not be forgotten in business correspondence?
Give titles to your letters , but avoid meaningless titles. Try to come up with capacious headlines that really correspond to the subject of the letter, so that your interlocutor can easily navigate his mail.
Try to provide comprehensive information on the topic. Insert links, attach files - no need to force the interlocutor to write to you response letter with a request to clarify something, because until you receive it and answer, it may take a few more hours.
Include in your message excerpts from the letter you are replying to. It is possible that some time will pass from the moment of sending and the interlocutor will forget what was discussed.
Read letters carefully , you may miss something important and make unnecessary misunderstandings.
Use a short automatic signature, which must include alternative ways communication with you, in case your interlocutor hates e-mail.
What to choose
Perhaps not far off is the time when only one will be indicated on business cards. possible variant communications - mail or mobile phone. In the meantime, before you call or send another e-mail, you should think not only about what type of communication is convenient for you, but also what your partner, colleague or client prefers.
There are several ways to find out what type the intended interlocutor is.
Ask directly : “How will it be convenient for you to continue communication in the future?”
Note on markers in the speech of the interlocutor - “send me an e-mail, I’ll look”, “I won’t be able to speak”, “in our company everyone constantly reads mail”.
Analyze scope activities - how often a person is on business trips and at meetings.
Understand the psychological type - are there any obvious communication barriers, is the person restrained in communication or does he feel free.
By correctly identifying the type of interlocutor, you will increase the likelihood of successful communication. In combination with an individual approach to each interlocutor, good relationship and the results of successful negotiations will not be long in coming.
But if you still consider only one type of communication acceptable, and would ban all the rest at the first opportunity - try to accustom the client or partner to your way of communication, but do it carefully, minimizing stress. And to gain confidence in order to recruit a person to your camp, the recommendations described above will help you.
Cover photo: Fotobank/GettyImages
1. To improve the behavioral characteristics of the site. The recipient receives a letter containing a link to your website. If the reader is interested in the offer, he goes to the thematic page, spends a certain amount of time on it (obviously, not 5-10 seconds). As a result, domain-wide behavioral characteristics are improved: the average time spent on the site increases, the bounce rate decreases.
2. Reminder about yourself. This recipient may be a client of your company (previously made one or more purchases). If you promptly remind him of your existence, of the proposals, there is a chance that another deal will take place.
3. Formation of the target audience. The client could visit the site, but at the same time not buy anything, only leave a request. Well, it did not work last time (the deal did not take place) - you can try in the future. Tomorrow, next week, next month. The main thing is to send really interesting (for them) offers to the recipients.
4. Authority, work on the image. Newsletter can not only sell directly - it can improve the image of your company (organization) if you share valuable information with customers. useful information. In the long run, this will play a positive role.
5. Implementation of sales / repeat sales. Exactly what you are wasting your time and energy for. Thanks to the mailing list, you increase the awareness of your brand - in the future, when the buyer enters the site, it becomes easier to make a decision about the deal, because you are not a black box for him, not a secret with seven seals. Relationships are formed - conversion increases.
11 ways to get customer addresses and phone numbers
1. Applications through Onikon. As we said earlier, the Onikon service is convenient because it works in two modes. If the manager is in touch, the service allows you to start an online chat and answer the questions of a potential buyer in real time. If there is no operator (let's say it's evening) - Onicon turns into . In this form, the client asks a question and, of course, leaves his e-mail (to receive an answer). Careful saving in the database of all mail addresses will eventually accumulate a very, very decent "army" of potential customers.
2. Order (purchase) of goods. When placing an order, the client must leave their contact details, otherwise the transaction will not be completed. Almost all selling sites require either e-mail, or a phone, or both, because the operator of the online store must contact the buyer and make sure that he is really waiting for the goods, ready to pay for it. Save information about the client to the database - in the future it will be useful for newsletters.
3. Registration on the site. This is a rather delicate way - it must be used very carefully so as not to frighten off the visitor even before the start of a strong relationship. You can not immediately close all content from access under the registration form - after seeing this, a Web user will definitely leave the site. Rather, leave registration so that thanks to it the client can receive some additional bonuses and benefits (write comments, see special offers about discounts, promo programs, etc.).
4. Getting free information materials. We talked about a practical case describing this case in the issue of Two-Step Selling. Remember? If you forgot, be sure to look at an example on how to correctly set the direction of contact in relations with customers, how to increase the index of trust in yourself, how - by sending out information, useful to the client - .
Articles, books, practical guides in exchange for an email address where you need to send information - this is an interesting move!
5. Feedback about your company on the site. The client wants to leave a review on the site? About your purchase? Ask him to provide minimal information about himself - just to make sure that he is not a robot, the review is not spam. Only two fields in the feedback form (name and email address) will not strain the commentator very much, will not cause him perplexed questions. And they will help you over time to collect a “warm” base for newsletters and repeat sales.
6. Calculator on the site. Is there a calculator connected to your selling site that allows you to make an online calculation of the project (the cost of a kitchen, room decoration, window structure, interior door, chimney system)? Just add a small option to the calculator "Send calculation results to my address Email". And - if the potential customer left his e-mail - of course, use the address in the future.
7. Contests and prize draws(of course, with registration by e-mail). Two things are important here: a worthy prize for winning and a large number of participants. Actually, the first is very closely related to the second. If the prize is not very significant, you will not be able to attract a wide range of interested users to participate. And if there are not enough participants who “surrender” their mail addresses to the database, the cost of the prize will not pay off. Here, in fact, there is an exchange: for the money that the prize costs, you buy out the base of “warm” users for your business. If you offer a worthy "carrot" and make the competition long in time, then you can gain a decent base.
8. Coupons and discounts(for those users who register on your site). A very promising option. The site visitor registers, and this automatically allows him to buy goods at a discount (3, 5, 10% - you know better how much you can "move" in price). In fact, here again the mechanism of two-step sales is turned on. The first transaction goes “to zero” or with a very small profit - in order to have a user contact, which means to sell goods (or services) to him in the future.
9. Webinars, educational trainings. This option is good in situations where your organization (firm) has something to tell (show) to potential customers of goods or services. In what areas of activity is this mechanism applicable? Legal services. Accounting services. Consulting. Distance learning to work with the equipment. Demonstration of new technologies. IT-sphere. By the way, very often a similar mechanism is used in the SEO industry, in Internet marketing. Of course, only those who register for this (and provide their email address) will be able to listen to the webinar.
10. Use of aggregators. There are sites that offer ready-made databases (your target audience), or for a certain amount they will collect such a database according to your criteria. Of course, this method must be used very, very carefully, pointwise. Otherwise, your mailing will end up in spam. However, you can try.
Where exactly can you find targeted recipients?
http://soksaitov.ru/ - here you can buy ready-made databases (obtained by the method of automatic site parsing), or order the collection of addresses according to the required criteria.
http://work-zilla.com/ - here you can try to set the task to manually collect the base. In this case, the accumulation of data will not occur automatically, but due to the work of the performer (your remote assistant who is ready to complete the task for a certain payment - he will, as they say, "pick with his hands" sites and databases in search of information useful to you) .
11. Finally, such a way as "Do not miss your chance!" You can simply invite interested visitors to your site to subscribe to newsletter- so that they do not miss the moment when discounts are announced for a particular type of product, seasonal sales etc. There are people who prefer to buy during sales - it is extremely important for them to be at the right time in right place. Help them with this, make an announcement (for which they need to subscribe to the mailing list), inform them in a timely manner about the start of the distribution of "gingerbread". Read more about how to implement it technically in the tip of the day.
Tip of the day. Use the Maliver service subscription form to collect addresses
We talked about several ways to get addresses and phone numbers of potential customers for your goods and services. Don't forget about the ability to collect addresses in "passive" mode. Place a subscription form to your newsletter on the site using the capabilities of the Maliver service.
With the help of this form, visitors interested in your goods and / or services will be able to see valuable information in time. You will get the chance to work effectively with target audience which will only increase over time!
To learn how to install the code on a subscription page (one), .
If you want the form to be transparent (visible on all pages of the site) - .
Is it worth calling a cold client right away, or is it better to send an offer by e-mail first? Are cold calls effective, or is it just a myth? This question worries everyone who is engaged in the field of sales. However, successful salespeople always know exactly how to make the first contact, and in this they are helped not only by experience, but also by a competent assessment of the situation.
In fact, it is impossible to unambiguously say which is better: both are good. But when it comes to first interaction, it is important to right choice. In this post, we will talk about 3 criteria that will help you decide and choose the right approach to lead processing.
What time is it now?
The first thing to consider is the time and day. Open your calendar and look at your watch: according to statistics, the effectiveness of cold calls is maximum in the afternoon and at the end of the week. Obviously, with the approach of the evening and the weekend, people feel joy and satisfaction, which means that your proposal may be perceived more favorably. Thus, if you are faced with the task of getting in touch with a potential buyer (leads) or even making a series of cold calls, and it’s Monday morning outside, put it off “until later”: call in a couple of days, or at least after lunch.
But you call on time, but they don't pick up the phone on the other end? Leave a voice message. People love to look at their missed calls before they go home, so your evening voicemail will come in handy.
On the other hand, while waiting for the right moment to call, don't just sit back and start writing proposals. But take your time with mailing: email marketing also requires some regulation. Emails sent at the beginning and end of each hour - 10 minutes before and 10 minutes after - are less likely to go unnoticed, since this is usually the time when people take a break (between meetings, meetings, etc.), reading news and browsing mail on their smartphones.
By sending a message at this moment, you will increase efficiency mailing list, and letters are unlikely to be lost among others.
primary goal
When establishing the first contact with the buyer, ask yourself: what is the purpose of your appeal? Would you like to schedule a business meeting? Additional information or just get feedback or a recommendation - depending on the importance of the issue, you will understand which strategy to choose.
Serious goals such as a meeting, conference call, or testing a product trial require the customer to take some action, in which case a phone call would be more appropriate. At the same time, if you just need to clarify information or get feedback You may well submit your request in writing.
Interestingly, sales agents often do the opposite: they try to solve difficult questions by email, while taking up the time of customers and disturbing them with trifle calls. in this case tends to zero, as does the return on a telephone conversation. It's likely that salespeople do this out of fear of rejection, but the fact is that convincing a person to say yes over the phone is much easier, as well as handling their possible objections.
Don't let emotions take over: choose the appropriate way of communication for the situation, and you will not have time to look back, how your sales will increase.
Client status
If you work in sales, then you certainly know: the higher the status of a potential client, the more likely you will have to communicate with his secretary.
However, in most situations, this plays into the hands - regardless of whether you managed to talk with the right person or only with his representative, the follow-up email with the offer gives you the right to move on and seek favor at the level of management and top officials of the company. Direct interaction with decision makers is the secret to the success of talented managers, moreover, the higher the status of the client, the more calmly he perceives a call with a commercial offer.
Things are completely different with ordinary employees: if your call was missed and the number is unknown, then most likely they will not call you back. Moreover, ordinary employees, as a rule, do not hear the phone during the day - they can be in a meeting, on the road or work in a group, so if you can't manage to “catch” your client in any way, the only way to inform about yourself is to send him an email .
Instead of a conclusion
These are the 3 criteria by which you can determine which option - email or phone call - is preferable for the first contact with a potential client. But now the connection has been established, contacts have been received, what should be done next?
By e-mail, we share personal secrets, conduct business negotiations, and do many other things. But most emails are sent in plain text and stored in a format that is easy to read. Encrypted services have more high level privacy. Your letters will be encrypted both during transmission and on the server, and no one except you and the recipient (recipients) will be able to read them.
What is the best and safest mail?
There are encrypted mailers different types. Some work entirely in the browser, others are a desktop application, others connect to existing mail and create an additional layer of security in it. Let's figure out which email is the most secure.
Hushmail is one of the most famous encrypted mailers. Here your mail is stored in encrypted form and decrypted only when you enter with a password. Between accounts within Hushmail, mail is decrypted and encrypted automatically. When sending a letter to another mailer, you can use a secret question that the recipient must answer to decrypt the letter.
By clicking on the link, the recipient must answer the question, and if the answer is correct, the letter will open. 
But it is worth noting one detail. In 2007, Hushmail issued correspondence from three mail accounts by court order. How did he manage to do this if all mail is encrypted? The fact is that the system captures user passwords. In a candid interview with Wired Technical Director Hushmail Brian Smith said: "Hushmail helps you avoid the usual Carnivore-type government snooping and hackers, but it's not good for data protection if you're into criminal activity and you have a Canadian court warrant against you.” So it’s definitely not necessary to consider the most secure mail.
Some people don't use Hushmail because of this, but we note that any other service can also, under pressure from the outside, one day change its system so as to capture your encryption key. Only decision in this case Enigmail or similar program at the do-it-yourself level. But even with such programs, the authorities in most countries can still force you to give out an encryption key.
VaultletMail, included in the VaultletSuite package, is designed as a desktop program, not a browser program. If two users are using VaultletMail, the messages between them are always fully encrypted. If you want to send a letter to another postal service, you can use the SpecialDelivery system.
With SpecialDelivery, you can create a secure passphrase that your recipient will use to decrypt all messages they receive from you via VaultletMail.
What additional features does the VaultletMail e-mail box have?
VaultletMail has a lot of possibilities. It protects the recipient from forwarding, copying, printing and quoting letters. You can set the time after which your message will self-destruct in the recipient's VaultletMail. You can even send letters from anonymous addresses, thereby allowing you not to recognize their sending.
Enigmail is a free extension for Mozilla Thunderbird. There are similar plugins for other popular email programs. To work with Enigmail, you need to install the appropriate extension in Thunderbird and the GNU Privacy Guard program in the operating system.
After installing Enigmail in Thunderbird, a new OpenPGP menu will appear with a setup wizard. This wizard will guide you through the setup process, including creating or importing public and private keys.
By default, messages are only signed digital signature, thanks to which the recipient will be able to determine that the letter came from you. To enable encryption, select the "Encrypt This Message" option in the S/MIME section of the composing window.
What are the disadvantages of this mail extension?
To correspond with other people, you need to exchange keys with them, so the setup procedure is somewhat complicated. Alas, this is always the case when working with encrypted mail. But there is one plus: Enigmail can be used in combination with other postal services, such as Gmail. There is no need to create a new account. With FireGPG, a popular extension for Firefox, this could be done directly in the browser, but this extension is no longer supported and there is no more compatibility with Gmail.
Will Yandex and Gmail help answer the question of which mail is the safest?
How secure are standard email services? Many people ask this question, so let's answer it by starting a brief overview with the Russian service.
The Russian mailer over time has acquired security services sufficient for ordinary users. For example, Yandex identifies phishing emails on the fly, allows you to set up two-factor authentication, and can also include special passwords for third-party applications.
Naturally, there is also a visit log, the ability to set white IP addresses for logging in, and much more. But Yandex does not know how to encrypt correspondence, which means that it will not work to call its mail the safest.
The protection capabilities of the American postal service, of course, are wider than those of the Russian one. It all starts with two-step (and not two-factor) authentication, adding allowed programs (not just IP addresses) to access, as well as flexible configuration of the access mode for sites and applications.
However, Gmail has no phishing alerts and, like Yandex, there is no option to encrypt messages.
Conclusion
There is another option on how to make the most secure mail on the Internet yourself: with the help of special encryption programs, you just need to encrypt messages and send them by regular mail as attachments, which the recipient must then decrypt.
Of course, encryption helps in protecting privacy, but it is not a universal lifesaver against government encroachment, and with it you will not receive the most secure email on the Internet. Neither Hushmail nor Enigmail's own encryption will help here. Often, codes and passwords are obtained not by hacking, but by knocking them out of the owner in one way or another. And encryption in this case, alas, is powerless.
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