When I listen to the way that people communicate these days, I am a bit embarrassed. To be truthful though, I am equally guilty, at least some of the time. People use texting, which is the most bastardized form of english that a person can imagine.
While many of us, if not most, txt, hopefully we know better than to use it for important conversations. The same cannot be said for email.
Now, I'm not an old grouch, hiding in a technology vacuum, in fact far from it. I send emails constantly, and probably receive about 100 per day on average. I think it is an amazing, and convenient tool to communicate information that has limited importance. Here's the downfall: people use email to avoid having tough conversations where full meaning should be conveyed by tone, context, and purposeful pauses in speech.
I am guilty of sending an email when I really should have called. It would be better customer service, but I have chosen the easy way out. I send an email to avoid the conflict, the tension, the discomfort. It's a shortcoming that I work to control.
Here's my point: If you want to understand your clients, and have your clients appreciate the service you provide, talk with them. Voice to voice, better still, face to face. It doesn't matter if it's good news or bad, it's better delivered the old fashioned way. Technology has a definite and ever increasing place in our society, but it will never replace a solid relationship where candid comunication is placed at the forefront.
You rarely lose a client by over-communication. I know I never have.
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