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All Business Communications are Not Equal

At one time it was simple to communication with another business associate. To have a conversation with them, you called their office telephone number and talked over the phone. If a written proposal was needed, you sent it through the mail.

As technology changed, some of these changed as well. To have the proposal delivered, you would use a delivery service, such as UPS or Federal Express. Maybe you sent a fax. Now you can use email to send a file as an attachment or communicate by Cell Phone or Instant Messaging.

Everyone has their preferred way to communicate. While everyone may have a telephone number, (or more) or an email address, there’s no guarantee on how they use them. Some people may only check Voice Mail messages once a day. The same may be true with email.

Some may have a Fax machine that sits in the corner gathering dust maybe even without a telephone line connected to it. Others may wear out a machine a year.

Some may rarely use the telephone and use email as the preferred method. Others may even use other forms of text messaging.

Do you know how to reach the ones you need to communicate with in a hurry?

Let’s say you are working on a proposal for a client who has given you a deadline.

Do you know how they want it delivered to them? Did you ask?

While some may not have a problem with receiving an email with the proposal attached, others may want a hard copy delivered to their office by the time they stated. Others may accept a fax, but not an email.

How can you find out?

The simplest way is to ask. When beginning work with a client one of the questions to ask them is what is the best way to get in touch with them. In the above example ask how they want the proposal delivered. Making an assumption and sending it incorrectly may have your quote eliminated even before it’s seen.

It’s important to have a good relationship with clients or prospects. Knowing their preferred way to communicate with them can help with that relationship.

Recently I had a conversation with a 30 year old business owner. I’ve known this person for years and I know that when he was was college Instant Messaging (IM) was all of the rage around campus. He was telling me that he really dislike that way that Texting has become the rage. As he said what’s wrong with placing a call to someone. In his view Texting is impersonal while talking on the phone brings a personal relationship.

The reason I relate this story is that one should not look at a person’s age as a determining point of the correct or accepted way to communicate. I’m 51 and I would rather receive an email if an answer is not readily needed, while this 30 year old would rather have the phone call.

© 2007-2009 Steven G. Atkinson – All Rights Reserved

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