With all of the ways to communicate, relationship building is not an either — or game. Many times, it is a combination. I have always believed that the face-to-face and personal touch is the absolute best way to build relationships, and that has not changed in my view. However, with our reach stretching across the country and throughout the world, that face-to-face interaction becomes much more challenging. Telephone conversations are second, because two people have an actual exchange and discussion. You can hear the other person’s reaction and respond accordingly.
All this does not eliminate the power of social media for staying in touch with people. With the 24/7 harried world we live in, sometimes a quick touch is better than nothing. Many people avoid phone calls because they fear they will get hung up too long. It is up to the individual to determine which is the best medium to use. Frankly, I enjoy seeing LinkedIn status updates about the people in my network, and I occasionally respond to them. The same goes for Facebook. Actually these Social Mediums have replaced the group list joke e-mails that just about everyone hates receiving.
Bottom line, it really depends on how much you need to stay in touch with your clients and prospects, how they prefer to receive communication, and the amount of time you have to put into it. The rules are changing, and no one really knows what they are…
Email can be extremely costly if not used effectively.
When you consider the average recovery time from any interruption is about 4 minutes, you can imagine the cost to your organization when people look up every time an email is received. Do the math. If you stop what you’re doing every time you receive an email and get 30 emails in one day, that equals 120 minutes of recovery time—two hours of waste! And that doesn’t include the time spent handing the email. Now multiply that by every employee, everyday, and you can see how profitability can be seriously impacted.
In order to instantly combat this loss, give everyone in your organization “permission” to turn off auto-receive, and instead schedule email deliveries every 90 to 120 minutes. So, instead of 30 interruptions, you now have 4 or 5 a day. This can shorten recovery time to about 30 minutes – a saving of 90 minutes added right back to your bottom line. This and more are in my eBook, “Help! I’ve Fallen into my Inbox and Can’t Climb Out.” And for more solutions, visit EganEmailSolutions.com
We’ve all groaned when we’ve gotten that “reply all” that we REEEALY didn’t need to see… Someone copying everyone, telling the meeting organizer that he can’t make a meeting… Someone hitting “reply all” with a mere Thank You… Another sending a note of congratulations to 30 people, when it was intended for just one.
This all goes back to — “THINK before you send!” combined with some business etiquette that respects the recipients. Why does e-mail give people an excuse to be careless or lazy? Even more than that, don’t they realize that when others see people hitting reply all, they draw (negative) conclusions about that person? Can be career limiting!
Consider what you thought when you got those “reply alls” that made your eyes roll. Yup. You though less of the person. You may have even resented the person for wasting your time.
And you don’t think hitting “reply all” can be career limiting???!!!
Think again. And… remember…
THINK before you send. EVERY TIME.
