Phone vs Email
This post written by Stephanie Fader, Marketing & PR Manager
I had a thought earlier today: Do we really need office phones anymore? These days most business communication is done via email. I know I personally prefer email over the phone for several reasons:
- I can respond whenever I want to. If it’s something urgent I can address it as soon as it comes into my inbox. If it doesn’t need immediate attention, I can focus on other priorities until I’m ready to take action.
- Some people are just very hard to reach by phone so unless you want to leave a voicemail (which will likely go unanswered), email is the best way to get in front of them.
- I like the “paper trail” that comes with using email. If you’re organized like me, email is a great way to keep track of important information.
- We can now video chat in our email (Google’s gchat), which makes communicating with remote coworkers much easier.
- I don’t like getting calls from sales people. I know it’s their job and I appreciate that, but in most cases I’m not interested and it just takes up my time. I read every email that comes into my inbox so email is a much better way to get in touch with me.
The irony here is that while my preferred communication style is email, when I first started at MyPunchbowl I made a big deal about needing a phone line. The reason is there are still those occasions when you just need to pick up the phone and call someone:
- While a lot of people out there claim to read every email, they certainly do not respond to all of them. Calling to follow-up about something is sometimes the only way to get the attention of busy people.
- Other people and companies continue to rely on phones as a means of doing business. We had an instance at MyPunchbowl where another company needed to call and speak to someone in our office in order to verify that we existed!
- Phone communication is a good way to build relationships — if you’re able to get through!
What is your preference? Do you think we need office phones? Does it make a difference depending on industry or job type? Share your thoughts in the comments.
June 3rd, 2009 at 7:46 am
I have seen an increasing incidence of people using email etiquette and organization with their phones. They employ the ability to screen and respond ‘when convenient’ rather than address the issue. We all know that that convenient time never comes. If my phone call is wasting your time it is really simple to politely tell me so in less than a minute. On the other hand, if I believe that my communication warrants using the phone, I am not going to stop calling until I get through. My response is often to call every day. This means that I will waste much more of your time by crossing the plate multiple times.
When sending out I defer to email and use the phone for urgency or if I can’t get a response. I just wish people would respond to phone calls with an understanding of that level of urgency. It would save them everyone’s time.
One of my favorite stories of professional dedication was a potential internship (Travelers Championship) I called and didn’t get through. I left a message and thought that I would be calling the next day. She called back at 830pm from the airport on a transfer. Now I am a lowly potential intern, but if they treat me that way then it goes all the way up. In the end it saves time and creates a reciprocal culture of respect and efficient information exchange.
June 9th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Email, although effective, is also the most impersonal form of business communication. It adds almost no personality or context to a conversation which may be beneficial in some aspects, but can typically fall short especially when establishing a relationship with someone on the other end of the planet. Working with people overseas, having a personal phone conversation gives meaningful context to their perception of you. You’re not just someone on an org chart with a signature after their name… You’re actually a living, breathing human being with a unique voice.
Also, in terms of quick communication, email is very clunky an inefficient… Even chatting in an IM window is slower. There’s something to be set for real-time transmission of information, where each party doesn’t have to wait for an IMAP or exchange synch up and manage to notice the little blink in their dashboard. If I need quick information, phone is the way to go. Plus, in a business setting, who uses office phones? It’s all cellular. And, almost all professionals I know answer their phone immediately when it’s a business related phone call coming through. That’s why the company subsidizes our bill.
If you want to look at the future of text communication. look no further than Google Wave. They’re at least trying to optimize the email process. It has been virtually unchanged as a medium since the 70s, and is in need of a serious overhaul.