Your Telephone: Better Than Email

The telephone is the most important piece of office equipment you have. Although it shares certain attributes with email, there are several areas where the telephone excels.


It's immediate. Although voice mail is the bane of our existence, once we are talking with someone, we can resolve situations immediately. There's no need to send a message and wait hours before you get a response. Time is a premium these days but too many people spend far too much time checking emails for responses. It's something that's just hanging out there as opposed to having a resolution. Between land lines and cell phones, it's never been easier for people to reach you immediately.


It's honest. Since the telephone is so immediate, people don't have the luxury of waiting and carefully composing the "correct" answer to your inquiries. You get the opportunity to hear spontaneity or hear that catch in the voice while an answer is calculated.


Opportunity for give and take. Although text messaging can give you the appearance of the give and take in a conversation, messaging cannot possibly convey the shadings and meanings that voices can.


It's easier to discern a person's meaning. The voice is a powerful communication tool. It's powerful for the speaker as well as the listener. The speaker uses inflections, pauses, tones and shading to help convey their meaning. The listener is able to use the speaker's voice to help discern what isn't being said. Our voices say our words and meanings but a good listener is able to figure out if there is a difference between the two.


Today, many people opt to take the easy way out by avoiding situations involving verbal communication. The problem with this is that communication skills must be used regularly in order to keep them sharp. It's the old "use it or lose it" syndrome. If we don't speak to each other regularly, we fall out of the habit of being good listeners; we fall out of the habit of using our voices and our words to their best advantage.


Using email instead of the telephone can be deadly for sales results, particularly telephone sales environments. Although many inside sales units would never identify themselves as "telemarketers", many of the principles remain the same. This means that actual telephone conversations should rule the day, not emails. It's one thing to follow up a call with an email confirming information; it's another when you find yourself spending more time with your emails than on the phone. It's easy to forget that inside sales should be not only about cost effectiveness, i.e. phone vs. car expenses, but about reaching as many people as possible. If a company wants to primarily send emails as a form of marketing, they don't need a staff of sales people to do so.


When you actually speak with people, you develop your ability to read more into the conversations. You become a more effective communicator and your sales success will grow. You spend more time connecting, conversing, and conveying your message. Don't let your skills grow rusty. Step away from the keyboard and make that call.