Thoughts, ideas, and lessons learned from real-world customer engagements and interactions...

How we communicate has changed…

6 Apr 2009 | No Comments | posted by admin | in Sales

I am sure that I am not the only one that has said this over the last few years. In fact, I am sure that you have heard it from a number of people even over the last few months.

I was at a house party with some friends who my wife works with in the local education system. Somehow the topic of email and the lack of live conversations came up. We had a great conversation with the hostess of the party and she was telling us about how even in the office where she works, they use email as their main form of communication. She went on to tell how several of the people she worked with operate so much through email that even if she did have a conversation with this person, they would ask her to send an email with any types of commitments or activities that need to be completed. She communicates more by email, than she does with a live conversation with her coworkers a few cubicles away! My wife and her then spent a few minutes talking about how many of the children in the schools rely more upon social networking, instant messaging, and texting in order to communicate with their peers. In many ways they have a hard time communicating with each other on the phone or in person and often opt just to send a quick text message or tweet.

So, what is the big deal? Well, it really began to sink in on how the world has truly changed as it relates to how all of us, including our children communicate. Although I am of an age that is more comfortable in picking up the phone and calling someone, there are more and more people that the only way you can communicate with them is through some sort of electronic medium. I looked at my own children and the amount of texting, and instant messaging that goes on with them and their friends. In their world the phone is an antique.

Even though this topic is one that has many different views and this one topic can fill a whole blog by itself, my point was to simply bring it up so that you can think about it in your own terms. The one thing you always have to remember is that people buy from people. Relationships and a feeling of trust and sincerity go a long way when dealing with current as well as potential customers. If you are communicating with them through an electronic medium like email, then you may very well be loosing out on the opportunity to build trust and demonstrate your sincerity with your clients. It is next to impossible for you to read body language or to even show true sincerity in your voice when it has to be communicated via a keyboard. So, pick up the phone and call someone. Spend a day calling your current customers or even your potential ones. Although you may not be able to change the world back to the time when the phone and live meetings were how business was done, but who knows maybe by simply making a phone call you can set yourself apart from your competition.