RSS at Feed Burner2007 - The Year of the Phone
Email is a fantastic tool. But spam issues have gotten so bad that attempting to contact someone for the first time dramatically reduces your chances of actually getting a response. This can be a result of spam filters, the person not paying attention to it or taking your email serious since they aren’t sure of the legitimacy, etc. In fact, our response rates on emails have fallen by over 50% just in the past year, even though they were relatively consistent for the previous 3 years.
Mainly as a result of the hungry and foolish whiz kid (Brandon) in the office, we are all starting to pick up the phone more often. You don’t have to worry about spam filters and will definitely have the person’s attention, but you will have much better chance of achieving whatever it is you are after.
I just had to do something with the BBB regarding a reliability seal for a site. I sent an email to the specific address regarding the seal. I then made a note to check back in a few days to see if I had received a response and if not, I could follow up with it. Then I remembered the phone, I made the call and got it taken care of immediately.
Not only can you get results faster, but it saves time - you can talk 3-4 times as fast as you can type. In addition, VoIP can reduce your costs if that may be a concern for you.
Don’t be a slave to email and it’s uncertainties. Achieve better results (and in less time, to boot) by using this revolutionary device called the telephone. 2007 will be the year the phone makes a comeback.