he Green Sheet receives hundreds of e-mail messages a week. While we want you to continue writing to us, in any medium that meets your needs, at times it's hard to understand what you mean because of some of the abbreviations you use in your correspondence.

For example, I recently received a message that began, "IIRC The Green Sheet once ..." I later found out that "IIRC" stood for "If I recall correctly."

I also received an e-mail that closed with, "ARBISOIG." I think this meant "A really big ISO in Georgia."

In addition to the fact that we all work in an industry that loves to use acronyms vs. spelling things out, such as "MSP" for merchant services provider, "ISO" for independent sales organization and "MLS" for merchant level salesperson, it seems we're also creating entirely new languages in the process.

While much e-mail is sent to the writers, Webmaster, Editor, and to other members of The Green Sheet staff, my e-mail address, paul@greensheet.com, is also a well-traveled path.

Over the last two years, we've identified two very distinct types of readers. There are those who prefer reading the paper versions of The Green Sheet and GSQ, and those who prefer the electronic versions of these publications, which are available on GS Online (www.greensheet.com).

While no one can actually say how many MSPs, ISOs or MLSs there are in the U.S. and Canadian markets (mostly because they are changing every week), The Green Sheet has determined that about 12,000 of our readers prefer paper to electronic. (They are not readers of both.)

Interestingly, a small percentage of our readers of either type still prefer to send us "old-school" letters via the U.S. Postal Service.

I think that with e-mail now being the dominant form of written communication, we should all take care that the recipients of our messages are able to understand them.

If your goal is to get me to understand your point, question or complaint, then GAOGAB, and spell it out.

Good Selling!^SM
Paul H. Green

P.S. Success tip of the month: Earlier to bed, early to rise, work like hell, and advertise.