Source: brotherhoodofbaldpeople.com
“I installed a skylight in my apartment…the people who live above me are furious.”
- Stephen Wright
Yes, I’m a Stephen Wright fan. †His humor is both bizarre and hilarious to me (“If you shoot at mimes, should you use a silencer?”). But I was reminded of his skylight quote above based on a recent observation by one of our Gen-Y associates.
Get off the phone!
This associate mentioned how much more productive our interactions are with clients when we actually meet with them even though the topics might have easily been addressed via phone or email. Being the old guy in the office allows me to reminisce on a regular basis, so †I shared with him the client communications process that one of my early bosses instilled in me. †It went like this:
- “Go meet with the client. †Whatever it takes, get a meeting.
- If it’s impossible to get a meeting, then place a phone call. †But if you’re on the phone in the middle of the morning instead of meeting with your clients, then you’re not doing your job.
- As a last resort, send a letter. †But it better be a damn good letter.”
The obvious purpose of this sequence was to establish a relationship with my clients that went beyond simply being a vendor. †But times have changed and there are many more forms of communication that didn’t exist 30 years ago. (Wow, it’s been that long?)
Get off the email!
Millenials are instinctively comfortable with email and various forms of social media, to the extent that those are their initial forms of communication. †Rather than walk across the room to speak with someone, an IM is sent. Instead of presenting a proposal in person, we send it via email. †This is not necessarily wrong, it simply comes from a different perspective than mine. †If we strive to truly partner with our clients, we need to invest in the interpersonal relationships that don’t naturally evolve from digital communications. †When was the last time someone you know was distressed by their interpretation of an email they received? Often, the sender never intended to communicate what the receiver interpreted, and the misunderstanding is easily addressed through a meeting or phone call (yes, in that order).
What does the future hold?
So, as the old guy, I regularly challenge our team to go out and meet with clients or call them on the phone rather than defer to email for every interaction. †If we don’t invest in these efforts and develop the relationship building skills that result, how will we be able to create those relationships in ten years, when communications has become even more digitized. If everyone is solely reliant on quick and direct exchanges, how do we really get to know our clients? Which means that the only ways to differentiate ourselves from the competition will be price and/or responsiveness, both of which are tenuous foundations. When it comes to relationship building, going old school has its advantages.
Otherwise, you might end up like this Stephen Wright quote:
” I live on a one-way street that’s also a dead end. I’m not sure how I got there.”
Mike
2 Comments
“Why are the pictures square if the lens is round?”
You know, he STILL has a pony.
Being the young guy in the office, I’d have to say I’m actually with you on meeting face-to-face. When I was off on my own, I almost always preferred a face-to-face to a phone call or email.
Maybe this is because in such a visual and interactive field, it can be difficult to communicate if there are problems, or if there’s an effect the client is going for. I just always found a meeting more productive.
I think emails are great for co-ordinating, documenting, and set-up. But nothing beats face-to-face for productivity.