Solomon’s email is full of spelling, capitalization, and punctuation errors. Moreover, the tone of the email is not professional enough, coming from a physician’s office. When the physician’s, in this case, Dr. Fishman’s signature is added; patients will assume that this email was written by Dr. Fishman or at least was proofread by him before it was sent. Dr. Fishman will lose his patients’ respect and maybe business, as well because it will raise doubts in their mind about his credentials.
I think the first thing Solomon should have realized was the gravity of the matter. When he was given the responsibility of sending the email by Dr. Fishman to his patients, he should have written the email as Dr.
Fishman would have written, that is, in a more formal and professional manner. He should have used proper grammar, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation. He could have used spelling and grammar checks to be doubly sure. He should have proofread the message himself or by Dr. Fishman before hitting the “send” button. In a professional email, no emoticons or smileys should be used. He should have added more details like the date when the patients have to register and the time when the program will actually start, who is the instructor of those classes and his/her background etc. The email didn’t have a proper closing also.
If I was Solomon’s employer, I would provide him constructive feedback so that he improves and is motivated to do better in future. I would ask him to send an email first to all the patients apologising for the previous email and to disregard it and that another email with all the important information will be out soon to them. Then I would give him all the details that need to be included in the email and ask him to draft another email which should sound more professional. And if he needed help drafting, then he can look up on the internet and find many useful resources on how to write professional emails.
And this time, I will ask him to double check the email after writing and show it to me for proofreading before sending it.
