The Green Crow

Get Real With Your Communication

You know what game nobody loves to play? Phone tag. It gets old really fast. Someone calls while you’re out cutting cheques or in a meeting, and leaves you a hasty message saying nothing more than “Call me back.” That’s real helpful. You call them back and they’re not in, so you leave a message confirming their call was received ― on the day they decided to take off to relieve some stress at the local driving range. This goes on and on until you finally manage to catch each other, but the timing is inconvenient so you arrange another time in the future to have a more detailed conversation. How much time are you losing at these switchboard games?

The Phone Isn’t the Best Answer

This may not be so much of a problem for people in the younger generation who grew up with digital communication and are just as comfortable emailing and texting people as they are with making a full-production TikTok video. Us older ― I mean “wiser” types are still hung up on our old-school telephone conversations. It is great to be able to pick up the phone and talk to someone, but if you are busy with your business and you’re trying to contact someone else who is busy with theirs, it can be very hard to actually make that happen. However, if you send an email with the information you’re looking for, you can let the other person respond carefully on their own time. If you really want to have a phone conversation, email them and agree on a time that you can put on your calendar. 

The Beauty of Email

What I’m driving at here is that there are a lot of inefficiencies in communication between businesses. Why bother emailing someone to say that you tried calling, but never mention what you were calling about in the email itself? You could easily write up a detailed run-down about what you’d like to discuss so that they can respond directly to you with an answer. You don’t have to write a novel, but email isn’t Twitter, so you can use more than 140 characters! I mean, doesn’t it just grind your gears when someone sends you an email that says, “Hi, I tried calling but couldn’t get in touch with you. Call me when you have a chance.”

Texting?

What about text messages? Everywhere we go, people are pounding out little messages on their smartphones. Can texting be used for professional purposes? It seems a little too personal somehow, someone making your pocket rattle to say, “Hi, your invoice is ready.” Do you feeI slightly violated? I mean, FedEx will text you when your package arrives, and that strikes me as nothing but convenient. Is it alright if your yoga instructor texts you about an upcoming class? Or if your hair stylist texts you to ask what time you’d like to see her? There might not be a single answer to these questions. Maybe you’re fine with texting anyone and everyone, or maybe you reserve that mode of communication strictly for family and friends. 

Whatever the case, don’t step halfway in. Use something to its full potential. Your personal life is one thing, but communication between businesses needs to be about efficiency. If we trim the fat from our frantic voicemail attempts and beef up our uninformed mini emails, we might emerge with a strong model for communication that actually saves time and works for us, instead of against us.

Greenlight Design is a graphic design and marketing company. We can be your guide in identifying a marketing plan, catered to your company or organization. Contact us today to learn more.