At the recent Design and Construction Networking event in Washington, several guests enjoy posing for this picture. I want to be sure I have every one’s name correct before identifying the individuals in this group, however.
In a recent blog posting, Ford Harding asked: “Are phone calls obsolete?”
Twice in recent weeks I have been told that no one makes phone calls anymore. One person, who I will call Lenore, put it this way:
No one uses the phone just to stay in touch with old clients and maintain relationships anymore. The phone is too intrusive, and clients prefer emails, which are more convenient for them. They’re too busy to take calls. Today, the phone is just for when you have something specific and important to talk about.
Is Lenore right in saying that the phone shall nevermore be used for staying in touch, schmoozing and developing relationships when selling professional services? Or is this just the latest in an endless list of excuses to mask call avoidance?
You can read comments from several readers on Harding’s own blog (and if you are under 30, he welcomes your comment, because, I think he believes the answer may be different for younger readers). I’ll use this blog to give my own answer which, if not explained further, is a cop out.
It depends.
This week, for example, a significant project moved forward between live meetings and emails, with the phone serving a limited — but crucial — role. The initiative started as an inbound email to one of my company’s websites. (I won’t go into great details about the specific project, because it is still in the early stages). I don’t have full decision-making authority for this initiative, so responded quickly by email that I would get back to him as soon as I had more information, and then forwarded the communication by email to our partners committee.
The partners, again by email, all agreed that we would discuss the issue at our next scheduled meeting.
The initial inquirer a few days later sent another email, asking where things were. I responded again by email, but immediately picked up the phone, after receiving instructions by phone from at least one of my partners on how to handle the communication. In the conversation, I asked some important qualifying and clarifying questions, and let the other person know when we had our meeting scheduled, and that I would respond as soon as possible after the meeting.
At our meeting, we decided to “go” for the project, but rather than prepare a formal proposal, we would request an informal round-table meeting between our group and the other organization.
On Friday, I sent the other person an email outlining this decision, and offering to speak on phone if he wished. He responded by email that he has his own committee meeting on Tuesday. I then emailed an offer to send him by courier samples of the current product, and answered a specific question he had about who we thought should attend the inter-group meeting. We didn’t speak a word by phone. I quickly CCed the email exchanges to my fellow committee members, keeping everyone in real-time communication (while conducting several other types of business simultaneously).
Good for email. Note that in this potentially truly substantial business project, I’ve only spoken with the other group’s representative once on the phone, and that occurred when I sensed there might be some misunderstanding or frustration on the other party’s side — and I used that conversation to delve constructively in greater detail to obtain the information our committee needed to decide the seriousness and importance of the inquiry. (I learned a lot during the phone conversation, including the really great news that the other person had truly been impressed when he had read our publication, and these elements resulted in our taking the “go” decision on the proposal.)
Note as well, that this project will only mature into a real venture after we have a live face-to-face meeting with everyone involved in the decision-making. This will involve some significant committee of time and expense on our part, as we will have to travel out of town, as a group, to attend the informal meeting.
These points explain, in part, my visit to Washington, where I connected personally with a couple of candidates hoping to be publisher of the Design and Construction Report, and attended (more briefly than I would like because I didn’t want to miss my flight home) the live Design and Construction Network event. As part of my evaluation, I invited the two candidates to come to the event on their own and even provided key information on who they should speak with while at the event. One showed up, and followed through (I saw him there briefly). The other failed to attend. Who, would you guess, is still in the running for the permanent paid career opportunity?
Frankly, I’ll admit I don’t much enjoy live networking events. I’m really not good at small talk, and find myself uncomfortably awkward in large social gatherings. (I get around the problem, in part, by morphing back into a journalist, with my camera, and on Wednesday took several pictures — and collected even more business cards — in my half hour there than anyone else. I need to verify who is in this image with one person in the group who accepted my request to be a “guide” in photo identification.)
I appreciate that different forms of communication are appropriate in different circumstances, and that while much business can be done by email, you won’t further your relationships unless you can connect through other media, especially face-to-face meetings and social events. Whether spontaneous, uninvited phone conversations or personal one-on-one meetings are appropriate, is another question. I sense that unless you can know ahead of time that your call or “drop in” is welcome, you should proceed with caution. The best approach may be to ask permission first by email — and if you call or visit unannounced, be especially respectful of the person’s time and certainly ask if it is convenient to talk before continuing the conversation.
