Pull It and Bullet: 5-step process to strategically write emails and get noticed

Ever sent an email and felt like it disappeared into the void?

You spend 35 minutes crafting it, making sure every detail is perfect, hit send, and…crickets.

Or worse, you get a half-baked response that makes it obvious they barely skimmed it.

The Problem

If your emails look like walls of text, no one’s reading them.

Especially if they are going to higher-ups in your company. You know, the ones who matter for your career.

When you bury the point, you lose influence.

The Big Small Thing

Use my “Pull It and Bullet” technique:

1. Pull out 50% of the text in your email.

2. Extract 3 takeaways as bullets. Bold the first few words of each bullet as “topic titles.”

This simple method makes your emails easier to read, more actionable, and more likely to get the response you want.

Here’s what it looks like in action:

✅ Good Example:

Emily sent me this email when she was applying for a marketing assistant role.

She knew I was receiving dozens of intro emails. Emily’s email stood out because it was short, strategic, and focused:

See how she:
– Uses bullets and bolded headers to organize her points.
– Highlights her strengths (aka superpowers) without over-explaining.
– Focuses on what matters to ME, not just what she wants to say.

Spoiler: Emily got the job.

❌ Bad Example:

Now, here’s a version of an email I once sent. This email is a bonafide train wreck. Especially as the first impression to a hiring manager, senior stakeholder, or prospective client. I had the same goal—highlighting strengths and experience—but my execution, let’s just say, left something to be desired:

Even just visually, it’s overwhelming. No bullets, no focus, no clear ask.

Guess what? I didn’t even get an interview.

There’s no need to Pull It and Bullet for every email you send to your bestie at work. Try it for the 5% of emails that matter most for your career.

So how do you do it? Here are a few practical steps:

1. Write your email and come back to it an hour later.

2. Ask a friend or partner to review it. No pride, no shame. Ask for help.

3. Ask your boss to cut it down. My manager once cut 80% of my email that was going to the CFO of Google, and I loved him for it. I’m always eager to do this for direct reports too. It’s so much easier for me to see the fluff than for them. What would take them 40 minutes to edit, takes me 4. Your manager is there to help you look and sound awesome. Use them.

4. Gamify it so that no single bullet goes over one line of text like Emily’s email above. This is surprisingly fun.

5. Add a link for “more details here” and then go hog wild in that doc with all the gory details you want. This is especially helpful if you truly need to send the nitty gritty of a project plan, event, or strategy. And it keeps your email uncluttered.

I know, I know, as the saying goes, “If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.”

Yes these steps take time and effort, but isn’t that worth it for your most critical emails that impact your career?

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How This Helps You Chase What You Want

Pulling 50% of your text and writing in bullets forces you to think about what’s important to your audience.

(Not just what’s important to you.)

It shows you’re concise, thoughtful, and strategic.

And that’s the kind of communication that gets people to respond, take action, and say yes.

Try it in your next email. I promise you’ll see the difference.