Twenty years ago, who would have guessed that there would one day be a law against texting while driving? Was there even such a thing as “texting” twenty years ago? Emailing was in its early stages and only a few companies were using it. Now businesses can’t live without it! This is today’s main form of communication for incoming, outgoing, and internal information. Twenty years ago you could quietly shop undisturbed from a catalogue. Now when you’re browing on a website, you get a “pop-up” stating someone wants to “chat” with you. I don’t know about you, but I can’t hit the “No, thank you” button fast enough!
Cell phones are now anything but phones. Most of the people using cell phones are texting, emailing, taking pictures, recording videos, watching movies, playing games, surfing the web – and that probably just scratches the surface! Phones are used for everything except actually talking to another person! We’re sucked into this vortex of technology – emailing simple replies, email and text conversations that sometimes go back and forth for days, setting appointments by email, even corresponding with co-workers sitting twenty feet away by internal mail. I know if I spent the time improving my texting skill, I’d just be even deeper in the smart phone cyclone.
What’s happened to us??? What happened to communicating with another individual by actually talking to them? We’ve been inhaled by the cyber twister and forgotten that you can actually talk to someone using a phone. Even a smart phone – no special app required. This is, after all, the purpose for which a phone was originally intended!
Recently, it hit me that we have customers I’ve been corresponding with with for years but I’ve never actually talked to them. They email me and I email back. Simple, but not very personal. I’ve never really gotten to know them. A phone call will allow you to have a conversation that lets you know how someone feels about doing business with you and your company. Is there an app for that?! And situations requiring resolution are probably best handled by a simple phone call eliminating the back and forth emails that could go on for who knows how long.
Information trails are good if you need them, but before you send that next text message or email, stop to think about it for a minute. It might just be easier and quicker to simply pick up the phone. Who knows, you might actually get to know someone you’ve been “chatting” with for years. Give ’em a call!