The death of e-mail. Can it lose you business? Why do I say this? What happens if your server goes down? Yes, it can happen. It just happened to me which brings me to this post and what could have happened.
Every client, may it be the consumer or a realtor that I am building a relationship with, I always tell them if it's truly an emergency, please call me on my cell phone.
Gee, what kind of emergency can there be? I use to have friends that made fun of me when I first got into the business in 1992 while wearing a pager. The joke was, "emergency mortgage." Well, I like to be accessible to a certain point during the week.
In this case, my buyer needed a new updated pre-qual letter for his offer. He sent me an e-mail and didn't hear from me for a few days. And then he went to someone else to obtain a pre-qual letter. Even the realtor said that she sent me an e-mail and told the client that I hadn't responded. I happened to stop into his place of business during the middle of the week when he told me what had taken place. I said, "do you remember that I told you that I can be reached on my cell phone most of the time?' (I don't care for that 24/7 statement that so many use) I tell everyone that I can be reached up until 8 pm during the week and I have even taken calls on a Friday night at 11 pm before. And yes, I am available weekends. Don't worry, I do make sure that I have a life. (The comic to the right. What happens if Andy wasn't at his computer? No dinner for Andy.)
I live and die by e-mail for the most part of my business. It's a very easy, quick, and efficient way to stay in contact with the world per se. I even have my work e-mails go directly to my Treo 750, which I am starting to love so dearly. So, if I am not near a computer or have my lap top on the beach, I can use my trusty cell phone to stay in contact. And if my e-mail went down for a few hours, I can still receive phone calls and or call out.
Overall, we have to be careful on how we use technology and don't become too dependent on it. Look what happened with the BlackBerry several days ago. Even though it wasn't during business hours, people could not send and or receive e-mails via their phone. Here is a blog by Kaye Thomas that shows frustration on the part of those of us that depend on these kinds of technology. I Hate Technology! I thought this was cute, but how many of us have felt this way before?
How many of you can't live without your e-mail? Is it quicker than calling someone? How would you try and contact someone if it was very important, who has responded to your e-mails quickly in the past.
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