Magnus Marketing Blog

Oh my! What weenies Twitter and Email have wrought with the interpersonally challenged. I can't understand why people just cannot pick up the phone and actually speak with people to communicate or get anything done? I love the response one of the reporters or editorializers of the news made with respect to the BlackBerry (Research in Motion) outage. S/he essentially said, this outage would not be a big deal if people would have just used their phone and CALLED people instead of texting or waiting for an email to appear.

We have become a nation of anti-socials, phone reluctant because that would actually mean you have to hear cadence and emotion in voices and possibly be rejected with feeling. Of course, so much easier to hit the delete key, right?

This week, two issues occurred that highlight the need for the kiddies to drop the texting and email and learn how to use the phone.

1) A prospect at one of my clients had a few simple questions about a software solution his company was very interested in using. The prospect was already qualified and was inches away from signing on the dotted line to acquire the software. I sent an email to my client with these questions, the email was acknowledged. I waited, waited, waited - almost five days for a response. Meantime, the prospect is evaluating solutions and response time can affect perception of service. In between I sent another email to my client, which was acknowledged, saying has there been any response? To which it was stated that the company was contacted and was awaiting response. Finally, a week later I gave up, risking the ire of the client, and called. In exactly 2.5 minutes the questions were answered and the prospect was emailed AND called, a response thanking me received not more than 2 hours later. It was clear that my client, who has done this before, has phone reluctance. The deal could have been blown because of a fear or disregard for dialing the phone.

2) A manager at Kohls was overheard complaining that some type of signage was needed at the store. She stated she had emailed the district manager who had not acknowledged the email and ended up bringing signs that were incorrect. She never picked up the phone to reiterate that an email was sent and specifically what she needed. She too is in the younger generation.

Relying on text and email solely, particularly at this generational point is not effective. As in case number one, a sale could have been blown - REVENUE LOST because of a lack of appropriate communication. In case two, the wrong materials were brought or may have not even been acknowledged.

This also goes to the importance of backing up emails and marcom with some type of point contact. With any other marketing channel, email, social media, web will become cluttered with crap - tons of it, more than ever with greater filtering and scrutiny to the point that much of it will be ignored making it REALLY difficult to reach anyone effectively. As long as phones exist, particularly desk phones or published cell - a phone call can make the difference between revenue and "out of business".