Are you making this email mistake? This is how you sabotage your own career!

Imagine this: You've spent hours working on the perfect email to the most important clients. The content is brilliant, the arguments are powerful. You press "Send" and are proud. What you don't know: Your counterpart reads the email, shrugs his shoulders - and immediately classifies you as sloppy and inattentive.

The reason? Not the content. Not the arguments.

It's that one damn, superfluous comma you put after your greeting!

"Best regards,

Max Mustermann"

YES, exactly THAT comma! And no, that's not a small thing. It's a slap in the face to all professionalism.

Why you need to stop using it immediately

This comma is the grammatical equivalent of a coffee stain on your shirt before the big meeting. Everyone sees it. Everyone knows you should know better. But no one says anything. They just quietly question your attention to detail.

1. You look like you're stuck in 1985. This comma is out of date. Period. The Duden dictionary has long since adapted this rule. Anyone who still uses it today is signaling: "I'm not up to date. My knowledge is rusty." Do you really want to send that message?
2. You are wasting valuable attention. The recipient reads your email - and instead of concentrating on your brilliant ideas, their eyes get stuck on this archaic punctuation mark. It's irritating. It disrupts the flow. It robs your message of impact.
3. You come out as a follower. "That's how it's always been done!" - No, it's not done anymore. 90% make this mistake because they have never thought about it and are blindly copying. Do you belong to the critical mass that doesn't think, or to the 10% of professionals who get it right?

The merciless truth: how to do it RIGHT

The solution is so simple it hurts. You only have to press ONE button: DELETE.

That's it:

Best regards,

Your Max Mustermann

Start with:

Best regards

Yours, Max Mustermann

SIMPLE. WITHOUT. COMMA.

The line break takes over the separation. Clean. Elegant. Modern. Professional. This is what every dictionary, every style guide editor and every serious company expects.

The excuse that counts for nothing (and exposes you immediately)

"But that's how it used to be!"

YES! AND PEOPLE USED TO HAVE TELEPHONES WITH DIALS! Time does not stand still. Language is evolving. If you want to make it in business, you have to play along - or be labeled an amateur.

Conclusion: Your career is worth this one button

Every e-mail is a piece of your personal brand. Every detail counts. Why would you voluntarily maintain a detail that immediately marks you as outdated and unprofessional?

Delete that comma. Now. Immediately. Check your signature template. Correct your colleagues. Don't make a fool of yourself any longer.

Are you angry? Good. Then take action.

Or are you one of those people who make fun of details like this - and then wonder why their emails are never taken seriously?