It didn't matter if that letter was to a prospective customer, to pay an account, or to the Prime Minister, any correspondence leaving our premises had to be on a letterhead and neatly presented.

So the question I pose - as a business owner would you, or do you, allow your staff to send out company quotes, mail outs, or even general correspondence on a plain piece of paper - or not on company letterhead? I thought not...

In today's fast paced world - email and computer generated correspondence are fast replacing the old, print, mail and post scenario common from yesteryear. Thus it comes to a great surprise that a number of small and medium sized businesses and their owners have not adapted their circumstances to suit the modern cyberspace world and continue to allow their staff to send out plain paper mail, in an electronic format, otherwise known as email.

Plain paper email - messages, correspondence, quotations, and letters without any company logos or references.

True Story

My girlfriend was recently sourcing quotes for some customised shutters at home.

She had asked 2 companies to quote - and they both came in approximately $10 000, (shutters are expensive these days).

She brought the two quotes home for us to both make the decision on which company we would choose to install them. The first quote I looked at was professionally presented on company letterhead and came with colour brochures and diagrams of the shutters.

However, the second quote (the least expensive quote) was on a plain piece of paper with no logos or company description. At the bottom it simply read - Thanks Craig.

My immediate and gut reaction was to go with the more expensive, better and professionally presented quote - as the shutters were costing a small fortune, I wanted quality work and needed to deal with a reputable company.

I was then informed that the second, cheaper quote had come via email.

That may have been the case - but how many people are judging you and your company on the initial presentation, like I did with my shutter purchasing decision?

Worse still - how many $10 000 jobs was this company losing because of the way they were presenting their quotes - via a very plain email format?

Email has come a long way since its inception as a plain text form of correspondence.

Today's email can be a combination of visually rich images and interactive elements, clickable links and interactive forms, which engage the receiver. Even the more exotic things can now be done in an Email, such as embedding sound or video data.

Thus I pose another question? Do you or your staff currently have a signature file at the bottom of every email correspondence generated in your business? If you are asking what is a signature file? - Then I am assuming you don't.

A signature file is the set of text that you attach to the end of all of your emails that identifies you, your company's products and services. A signature file generally contains the name of the person who is writing the mail, the business or company name, preferred means of contacting the person or the company, and the information showing the benefits of contacting the person or the company.

Dynamic Emails however are the next generation of signature files. A dynamic email is principally a 21st century letterhead, incorporating the basics of a signature file into a fully interactive letterhead for your business.

Dynamic emails let you and your staff

?send personalised and professional emails that are company standard and consistent

?have visually appealing messages that make your company stand out from your competitors.

?incorporate interactive forms or clickable links to your website

?keep your brand, service or product top of mind with your clients (become on-sellers of your business)

?load automatically for ease of use and control of company branding

?give you an electronic letterhead for every email message you and your staff send.

Consistency and standardisation is the key when you and your staff are communicating your message to the outside world.

You could probably build a dynamic email or letterhead for yourself by putting a few logos or images on an email in html format.

Chances are though that either you will make the resulting file way too large and it will take forever to download on the other end (upsetting the end user) - or the look and design of your email will not look the same on the other end (due to different email applications).

As well there is a good chance of your email getting picked up by the SPAM filter.

There are a number of techniques a professional will use in ensuring that your company's? dynamic emails are consistent modern day letterheads.

Is it time you invest in some online stationary?