people keep asking me for meetings that could be an email

A reader writes:

I’ve read your advice on making meetings more useful, but need advice on how to make clear that I’d always prefer an email to a meeting, every dang time.

Due to the nature of my work, I receive a lot of requests from clients and partner organizations for advice or collaboration and, while I love the enthusiasm, they are really keen for meetings! Almost always, the meeting content could have been one dang email.

I think rapport-building may be part of the reasoning behind organizing endless Zooms, and while building partnerships is a (small!) part of my role, I find it hard to parse out which meetings are worthwhile on this front. I’m always up-front about needing a brief/context before arranging a meeting, but I often find people ignore that request, perhaps assuming it’ll save them time to present the brief in the meeting.

One recent example is an organization pushing to arrange a meeting and ignoring my request for context. Once we met, it turned out they wanted a couple of minor recommendations – literally a two-minute email’s worth.

I literally do not have time in my work week for constant meetings, whereas I can whoosh through emails at high speed. How can I phrase “Just email me!” in a way that actually works, without seeming dismissive?

I answer this question over at Inc. today, where I’m revisiting letters that have been buried in the archives here from years ago (and sometimes updating/expanding my answers to them).

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