Phone vs. Email

• Some people are good with phone; some are not so good with phone.
• Some people are good with email; some are not so good with email.

This was made clear to me this afternoon during a phone call with a client.

I’d phoned to get a confirmation of what I was about to investigate (an apparent bug in a program), but before I could get my question out the client assured me that there wasn’t a problem. “OK”, I said, “I’ll not worry about it”.

(Less revenue for me, less cost for the client, more problems down the road).

This got the client’s attention. “Write me an email and I’ll organize a meeting”.

The client’s company believes in meeting as frequently as possible, which is why so little gets done.

Remember, I’d started with what ought to have been a 3-minute confirmation call, after which I would have issued an email for discussion, but my client’s habit of interrupting and jumping to conclusions before the facts are in, side-tracked the question and built a meeting out of thin air.

The same client who does not believe in written goals and written objectives now wants a written statement of a minor problem.

There’s a fine line between phone and email, and with this client I need to take 60 seconds before picking up the phone, 60 seconds before writing an email, and decide which method is less likely to set off unnecessary fireworks.

Talk to Me !