Have We Become Too Lazy to Make Telephone Calls?
Mark Evans
I do marketing that helps make sales faster and easier for B2B & SaaS companies | Fractional CMO & strategic advisor with GTM, brand positioning & content marketing expertise | podcaster | ex-journalist
When did people stop making telephone calls?
When did it become alright to communicate via text, email or Slack?
Why did we stop talking to people? Are telephone calls too much work, too intrusive or take too much time?
Whatever the reason, the pendulum needs to swing back from texting to talking.
This need struck me a couple weeks ago when I received an email from an unhappy client. My work had not met expectations so they sent a rather strident email expressing their displeasure.
I thought about how to respond. Should I send an email back to get a better idea about how to fix the situation? No. Instead, I decided to make a telephone call. If I was going to get my knuckles rapped, it was probably better to face the music directly.
The tone of the conversation was positive and involved constructive guidance. In other words, it was slant than the email. The problem with email is words are often ineffective delivery mechanisms for tone and feelings. When someone reads an email, it is easy to make assumptions or jump to conclusions. It is probably why email can cause situations to blow up because they exist with little emotional substance.
On the other hand, telephone calls cut to the chase. You can hear someone’s voice, get a handle on their feelings and quickly identify the key issues. It’s a conversation, rather than a series of back and forth digital snippets.
The return of the telephone call will be a challenge for many people. We have grown accustomed to easy and quick communication. It takes time and energy to talk on the phone, while a text or email takes no time at all. The growing number of digital communication tools is making us lazy. We operate in communication silos, seemingly afraid to communicate directly.
I’m not suggesting anyone abandon email or texting but maybe we shouldn’t see them as easy alternatives to telephone calls. Maybe people should spend the time to think about conversations that require context, rather than speed and instant replies. There are many situations in which a telephone call saves time, energy and aggravation.
So here are two tips about rediscovering the telephone call:
- When you receive a text, update or email, pause before answering. Think about the most effective way to respond. Think about what would make the most impact. Think about what would generate the most immediate results.
- These days, telephone calls are novelties because few people make them. In some respects, phone calls go against the grain. As a result, they could deliver an advantage because they are not competing against a tsunami of emails and text messages. It reminds me of how podcasts have come back into style again. The people who re-embraced podcasts have thrived because they stood out in a world dominated by social media and content marketing.
The time has come for Telephone 2.0.
I’ve worked (and called!) with dozens of startups and fast-growing companies looking to accelerate growth with marketing powered by storytelling. My services are driven by frameworks to create messaging, strategic plans and content. If you want marketing that makes a difference, let’s talk.
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Founder PlumCom I specialize in bridging the gap between lead generation and sales success for the exposition industry.
8 年When did we stop sending notes through the post office....
Principal Engineer at Amazon
8 年It isn't about laziness its about the right tool for the job. A phone call is disruptive to the person receiving the call and the caller requires that the receiver be available to get any benefit from making the call beyond what a text would provide. In the early days of mobility, texts were expensive and not ubiquitous like a phone call. But quickly a text became more appropriate in more cases when a phone call would normally have been made. I totally agree about the tone and when assessment or conveyance of emotion is important then a call is to be made. Unless of course you think emojis are the answer.. ;) I think this is why many professions such as sales and recruiting, service, seem to default to the phone because they always want to assess tone primarily. It's interesting nowadays that the phone call is a 6 phase process whereas originally it was a 2 phase process. Now: 1) initiate call, 2) leave message, 3) check message, 4) text back for arranged call, 5) call again, 6) answer call. Then 1) initiate call, 2) either answer or ignore call.
Business Growth Leader | Digital & Brand Strategy | CRM | SaaS
8 年Balance and context are the key. When email becomes the default it waters down its effectiveness. We need to coach our young people at home and at work when "by phone" and "in-person" are the better choice of action.
Helping Real Estate Agents to Thrive
8 年Emails have caused more miscommunication in my career than they have constructive communication. You're bang on when you talk about the need for tone and emotion. We need that to accurately know how to approach an answer. It gets much more done, more quickly. Three cheers for phones and face-to-face.
I'm still a phone guy, but you're right for most people