Emails, phone calls still reign

A highly capable young woman I hired not long ago recently came to me with a minor dilemma. A social media account she was taking over was linked to a phone number we didn’t recognize – possibly an ex-employee. She was wondering how to contact the person via text.
I offered some “old fashioned” advice: “Why not just call the number?”
The look on her face was priceless. Hadn’t really considered that. Making real-time voice calls – especially to strangers – wasn’t a top-of-mind communication method. But for “Generation Text” this is not at all unusual, says Ben Carpenter, author of “The Bigs,” a book that offers advice on business communication to young professionals.
When today’s young professionals have something to announce to friends and family, they don’t pick up the phone. They send a text, post on Facebook and tweet about it in 140 characters or less.
And yet email and phone calls remain the main methods of communication in the business world – big or small. Hence Carpenter’s question to millennials: Are your written and verbal communication skills going to cut it in business? In business – and especially small business – relationships are still built the old-fashioned way, by picking up the phone and checking on a client, for example, or taking someone to lunch.
Here are pieces of advice that business owners can pass along to text-obsessed employees about effective business communication:
• Know when to connect without a screen. There are times when email simply isn’t adequate for the communication job at hand. For example, what if a customer places an especially complicated order with special requests you need to confirm before sending. “If an issue is complicated or sensitive, pick up the phone and talk instead of lobbing emails back and forth,” said Carpenter.
• Be clear and be specific. Business isn’t Twitter. You don’t have to fit every message into 140 characters. Don’t be excessively wordy, but DO take the time and space you need to be clear and specific. Insufficient or vague information is both unhelpful and frustrating as it takes more time later to sort things out. Also, don’t make assumptions and expect people to “read between the lines.” • Listen carefully (even in email). Lots of communication goes awry because people haven’t “listened” in the first place to what the other person was saying or asking – either by voice or in writing. Read email requests carefully and completely so you don’t miss important information that causes you to respond inappropriately. •


Daniel Kehrer can be reached at editor@bizbest.com.

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