What is a memo?

A memo is a note to a group of people telling them to do

something, or informing them of a new policy.

Examples of reasons to send out a memo could be:

 An IT guy sending a reminder that all passwords need to

be updated every 60 days.
 An Office Manager reminding people to put all dishes in
the sink by the end of the day.
 A CEO explaining a new bonus policy.
 A VP telling their division they’re falling behind for the year
and need to meet certain numbers.

A memo is usually sent as an email, and can replace the need

to have an entire meeting about a small subject which could be
explained over a memo.

Memos have a tendency to become looonngg and

booriingg….and a long & boring memo can easily waste a lot of
time, and start causing people to HATE getting (and reading)
future memos.  This is bad!

Fortunately, there’s a few super-easy tips we can follow that will

make our memo easy to follow, quick, and possibly fun!

Before writing your memo, just remember these 5 things:

Memo Tip #1: Make sure you have a crazily-easy-

to-understand request BEFORE writing your memo.

A lot of memos are long, rambling, and by the end you don’t
even know what the heck it’s about.
Ask yourself these questions first:
 “Does this even NEED to be a memo?”
 “This will take up people’s time….is this something that
can wait?”
 “If I got this memo in my inbox, would I just roll my eyes?”
 “If I could get people to take ONE action after reading this
memo, what would it be?”

If you cannot answer any of those questions, perhaps you need

to re-think if you should send out this memo.

Needless memos take up time, cause needless frustration, and

pile more work onto already-busy people.  So let’s make sure
the memo is 100% necessary before sending it out!

Memo Tip #2: Get the “essential info” out of the

way, in the shortest space possible.

Sometimes the header of a memo will get comically long, and

make it very difficult to read.

The header is often not very important, so you’ll want to

minimize the amount of space the header takes up, such as:

_______________________________
From: Neville Medhora
To: Entire sales team.
Reason: Email me back your quota progress by 5pm today.
_______________________________

Remember that a lot of people open their messages and emails

on different devices such as tablets and phones, and if your
header is too long, they have to scroll a significant amount to
see the real meat of the memo.
 

Memo Tip #3: Your memo should convey all the

information in the smallest amount of text possible.

If you followed Memo Tip #1, then you know the exact action
you want taken by the readers of your memo.  Get to this action
part fast as possible!

There’s no need to drag out the memo, add unnecessary

commentary, or use large words to appear smart.  Just get
straight to the point.

Memo Tip #4: Repeat and bold the action people

should take at the end (in one sentence).

Make sure you re-iterate exactly what you need from people at
the end of the memo:

_______________________________
WHAT I NEED FROM EVERYONE:
Email me your favorite type of cake by 5pm today!
_______________________________

Simply stating what you need from people at the end will
dramatically increase how many people take the action.

 
Memo Tip #5: If action doesn’t need to be taken,
then tell them.

Let’s save a massive amount of time for everyone, if something

needs to no action, just say it!

At the end of your memo, just write at the end:

_______________________________
No action required.
_______________________________

Those three words let everyone know there’s nothing further

they have to do.

Example of a great memo :-)

Characteristics of a great memo:
 Very first section reminds them what action to take.
 Main message is super short and to-the-point.
 Very last section re-reminds them what action to take.
Example of a bad memo :-(
Characteristics of a bad memo:
 Super long header.
 Speaks in very “corporate-y tone” which bores people.
 Suuupppeerrr long body of text that’s hard to read.
 Lots of unnecessary details.
 Main point of memo is not immediately obvious.
 Last section does not re-state the action people need to take.
The Good Memo Checklist:
A quick checklist to run through before sending a memo.
So before sending a memo, just
remember to follow these quick
guidelines:
 Make sure the action you’re requesting is worthy of an entire
memo.
 Give a one-sentence explanation of the memo in the header.
Shorter = Better.
 Get to the point right away.  Re-read your memo and eliminate
needless chatter.
 The last part of the memo should say exactly what action you
want people to take.

How to Write A Great Memo video!

https://youtu.be/n2C4hOXbCG0