Text, Emojis and Email Are Not Relationship Tools

Relationship Check In Moment

"232.5 Billion emails are sent and received everyday. 72% of them are spam."

People over Technology - while we live in a world of text messages and emails the reality is just shooting off an email or text is not giving the most to the value of the relationship.

Texting and Email do not let you see what people are thinking, it doesn’t allow the two way interaction or discussion with the receiving side looking you eye to eye. If you are using email as the only or as the key way you build relationships or text than it is time to stop and make sure you are building a strong, personal tie to the client. When was the last time you shook the client’s hand, or sat across the table from each other and had a cup of coffee?

The act of shooting an email or text off feels good, feels like something has been accomplished. If there is no chance to make sure that you and the client are aligned (especially at the beginning stages of a project and/or relationship) you might not be moving in the right direction. The more invested in communications and personal interaction will only increase the customer satisfaction at the end. To rush through and downplay this interchange is not giving the client, the project and the team the best chance to develop or re-commit to each other.

The other down side to emails and/or texting as the lead form of communications is the fact that many people click through and look at or respond to an email on the handheld unit and seldom go back to re-review or think about the point. You are catching people on the fly, in between meetings or standing in a checkout line (or even worse). This might not be the time for their best thinking or full attention. While we use these electronic communications tools for efficiency and documentation, always loop back with the human side.

Err on the side of people over technology. You are never going to get to truly know your clients via email or text.