Why was I told off for saying 'To whom it may concern' in an email to client's customer?

[autisticconsultant]

Just joined this year

I basically cc'd a customer into an email chain where a bunch of client employees were discussing how to best help the customer

Then some lady from the client complained to my manager and said I shouldn't have

She also said me emailing a pair of managers 'To whom it may concern' sounded frosty and unprofessional (?)

I used 'to whom it may concern' bc my email was addressing a bunch of people in senior positions and I thought it was more professional than going 'Dear X, Dear Y, Dear Z, Dear A' or 'Hi all'

My manager told me that essentially the lady felt annoyed that I gave this client problem without trying to sum up the problem myself and present her with some action points and her complaints re the To whom it may concern email were to do being put off by the massive problem I gave her re the client

No, just autistic

Your post isn't very clear tbh.

Are you saying your manager is complaining about using 'to whom it may concern' ? As some have pointed out, this is used when you are unsure who will read it, it is still used and it's best to use this if you are unsure who's reading, I personally dislike receiving emails addressed 'dear sir', my name is clearly female.

Or are you saying your manager is complaining re cc the client into the chain ? This I think is more inappropriate, the client really shouldn't see the whole goings on, it could backfire if a person doesn't cop the client copied in .

I wouldn't respond to an email that opened TWIMC, it says to me that you have no idea who you want to email. More like a sales spammy email.

The content part is still unclear but I'm assuming that you are supposed to provide advice to your client about their customer but you cc'd the customer in too which is a big error and makes them look unprofessional, they should be dealing directly with their customer.

Have I deciphered this correctly:

You work for Firm A. Firm B have engaged your services (therefore they are known as your client) and that includes something related to a customer of theirs, Mr Smith.

You have cc'd Mr Smith into an email trail involving you and employees of Firm B? And it was addressed To Whom it May Concern?

There's a few potential issues
-was it OK to cc in Mr Smith? Depending on the nature of the email and the issue, this could be wildly inappropriate and may disclose content that shouldn't be disclosed to a customer

Addressing it like that is rude - you know who the email is aimed at, you could have just said "hi all"

The customer probably didn't know why she had been included and what, if anything, she needed to do with the email.

If it was a chain of internal back and forth with technical jargon or something like that, she wouldn't want to sift through it to figure out if any of it was for her to action.

If you are going on to forward this sort of thing I would expect something like:

Hi customer,

We have been discussing the issue you raised with us relating to XYZ.

As you can see from the conversation below we think the issue is X an we feel that the best solution is XYZ.

We would like to implement this at a time convenient to the business.

Please can you advise that you are happy with this way forward and when we can carry out this work.

Thanks etc.

It absolutely does not! How are you supposed to learn if you don’t make mistakes!
Sounds like you are getting on great and they are able to discuss issues with you.
Keep going, EVERYONE makes mistakes.

If I've understood this correctly, you should have agreed with your internal colleagues what to summarise for the client and then presented a problem and potential (with recommended) solutions. Not just an email chain of discussions. From your colleagues' perspective, there is nothing more annoying and unprofessional than someone choosing to cc someone else into a commercially or politically sensitive discussion without agreement.

Dear all or a good morning/ afternoon works well for emailing a few people and you want to be slightly more professional than 'hi all'.

Rule of thumb is never copy anyone in unless they need to be. If in doubt check with a colleague.

OP, when someone asks for clarity - copying an pasting the same message isn't very helpful!

You would get better answers if you are able to clarify, particularly the first issue.

If you copied a customer into an internal e-mail, even if they are mentioned it the content, that is not how things are usually done.

If the client is frustrated that you sent an e-mail chain without an summation, that is minor, but something you would be able to improve on in the future.

In e-mails, it is usual to use names, even if that person is more senior as you would have the name available in the e-mail address. To whom it may concern is only if you do not have any details for the people you are addressing.

The most important thing is to understand exactly what the problem with this communication is and how your manager would like you to do it differently in the future.

As you've said, you've not been there long. Aim to impress with how your handle the feedback and improve rather than focus on the error.

Yes, sorry it does sound unprofessional.

I would never forward an existing email chain to a new person, especially a customer. This is because:

1- the people on the existing chain would have worded their emails for the audience they were aware of. They wouldn't have been expecting the customer to see the emails, and may have included content/wording that they wouldn't have wanted the customer to read.

2 - the people on the existing email chain sound like they were sharing ideas and gathering input. They may not have been ready to share this yet.

3 - it is not a good customer experience for the customer. They don't want to have to read through the whole chain, trying to figure things out. If you wanted to update them, you should have started a new email, with a summary of the suggestions and clear actions you need from them.

The "to whom it may concern" email is also not appropriate, because:
1 - it sounds too formal and un-personable.
2 - it should only be used when you do not know the name/s of the person you are contacting e.g. if you are sending a letter to a company, or emailing a generic mailbox.
3 - A customer will want a more personal approach, so that they feel valued.

Hope this helps!

what sort of work is it @autisticconsultant ?

Incidentally if I am emailing a group of people I would head it Dear All

consulting

i think you need to sit together with your manager and go over this instance and get pointers on exactly where it went wrong.

So - you get now that TWIMC is impersonal and incorrect if you know names. Find out from your manager what your organisation's style guide says about how to address more than one person in an email. I'm not in UK and the language i write in has a great phrase to use which basically translates to "Dear/Hello everyone" is that an option? This will stop you falling into the TWIMC trap in future.

If i understood correctly, within your organisation there was a chain of emails discussing an issue relating to a client? I am going to assume that you thought that because the issue was being discussed, if you forwarded that discussion to the client they would be able to work it out? That's wrong for 2 reasons:

1. it is bad form (as pp have suggested) to forward internal discussions to an outside party.
2. it is lazy: you are there to serve the client. You should always summarise issues, then mail them to the client, cc to anyone internal you think should be involved. That kind of thing is great for clients who may not have the time or aptitude to wade through an email chain, especially if they don't know all the people and why they are involved.
3. it is better for a client to have one point of contact who can provide such summaries, feedback and questions

Are you new to the job or the world of work generally? it's always a good idea to try to get on top of all this kind of thing early on.

I think people should be kinder and a bit more clear in explanations, the clue is in the OP's username.

OP it sounds like you have two issues:

First you copied a customer into an email chain which was talking about them - this is usually not recommended, a good rule to abide by here, if the customer is included in the email chain from the start, then assume the information is meant for them. If the customer is excluded from the email chain, assume that the information is confidential and should not be shared with the customer. If unsure, ask someone before you copy a customer into an email chain which is discussing them which they are not currently a part of.

Secondly, using the address "To whom it may concern". If I needed to address somebody professionally and I did not know their name or sex, I would use "Dear sir or madam," or "Dear all," for a group of people.

It might help people give advice if you can say what the client/customer relationship is all about - my assumption is that this may be some kind of public service, where the "customer" is the recipient of the service and the "clients" are workers who are helping the customer. However, if this would cause an issue with confidentiality, then don't reveal this on mumsnet.

You say "just joined this year" - the company, or mumsnet?

To go back to the first problem, it seems like this is a problem because usually the expected thing to happen would be that all clients would discuss the case and agree on a course of action for the customer. This would then be summarised by somebody and presented as a course of action with action points to the customer.

Sending them the entire email chain will be confusing, overwhelming, might contain information which is no longer relevant and might contain sensitive information which would be upsetting for the customer to read, which is why it is not usually done. (I am making an educated guess here).

I think your manager is trying to be nice by saying that "To whom it may concern" was a secondary complaint caused by the customer's lady who complained being annoyed by the situation in general. What she means is that you should not be upset by this as a complaint, but it probably is still important.

It is important to use the right address ("Dear Sir or Madam / Dear all", not "To whom it may concern".)

It is more important to ensure that standard communication procedures are followed when sending information to clients and customers.

But both things are helpful feedback to take forward. If you have trouble with things like structuring emails, your manager might be able to find or collate a set of guidelines for you to follow.

You need two things:

(1) Some a course/some books/online tutorials about effective ways of communication, both generally and in a business context.

(2) A mentor within your company, or at least someone who knows what is expected of you and who is willing to help you achieve your goals.

I was being lazy and didn't understand best practise... it was an engagement I had to do as a consultant...
I was originally hired to do come up with strategy and provide financial analysis

What's wrong with "Dear All" or "Dear Both"?

It's obviously more about house style than anything else but TWIMC is technically incorrect anyway, because you have an address for the person CCed in. TWIMC is for an unknown audience, or something being passed on by a third party.

It's feedback. It's minor. They are correct but you'll live.

At least TWIMC usage is something you can learn the rule for, so it's aspie friendly.

Don't let it get to you, OP.

Every engagement you do with clients is first and foremost about the client.

TWIMC is poor comms, that is learnable.

The bigger issue is bringing the client's customer into a mail chain with the client without agreeing that first with the client. Did you at least remove the mail chain history?

Your manager is correct as well in that if its appropriate to bring the client in you should at least have an agreed summary of the situation and solutions to discuss with them.

The role you have been engaged for is irrelevant - throughout your career you will find yourself picking up roles or pieces of client management outside your official job title.

Ask your company what they have by way of training in client management, client communications etc. Any large consulting organisation will have a ton of this kind of training.

An opportunity for you to ask your manager for more explicit feedback, now and moving forwards. You learn through mistakes!

OP you have two threads running about issues at work - not sure if this one is about the same problem you have described in your other thread.

Your communication skills on both threads are very poor. As others have pointed out, if people can't make head nor tail of what you are on about the first time you explain it then just copying and pasting the same (garbled) information again really isn't the way to make your point clear.

Regardless of the content of the email the company I work for uses To Whom It May Concern all the time. We are quite an old fashioned company in many ways though.

I don’t want to make this thread worse for you but please don’t use the word moron. It’s outdated and was used in psychiatry to mean someone had learning difficulties. It’s offensive.

A lot of the situation is very unclear. The two things I would say:

• Avoid “to whom it may concern”, use “dear all” or “good afternoon/good morning” or similar
• never add in a third party to an existing email chain without clearing it with the appropriate existing recipient(s). That is very bad practice and could lead to some really awkward/actionable situations!!

We all live and learn