20 Apr 07 @ 11:06 am
Seven Reasons to use the Phone instead of Email
We’re decreasingly using phones—many people don’t even have landlines—and when we do it’s often mobile phones and PDAs for texting and emailing. Who doesn’t love the convenience of emailing several people at once or avoiding a lengthy conversation? While I’m all for efficiency, I know there are times we put our relationships, and credibility, at risk when we choose email instead of the phone.
Send: The Essential Guide to Email for Office and Home is two parts Emily Post and one part survival handbook, truly a great guide to emailing in the modern world. Authors David Shipley and Will Schwalbe, provide seven instances (and I argue that list could be longer) when the phone is preferable to email.
- When you need to convey or discern emotion.
- When you need to cut through the communication forest. Remember that meeting that had already taken up sixty-seven emails? In three phone calls, it’s all set. (Date, time, location, roster of participants, who’s having what for lunch.)
- When you need to move fast. (Yes, it’s true—even with cell phones, you can have trouble finding someone, or you can get stuck in voicemail. Still, the phone is faster and more reliable than anything else. When you’ve actually found someone, you know it.)
- When you want a remote communication to be private.
- When you need to reach someone who doesn’t check their email.
- When you want people to be able immediately to engage and respond. The fact that we can talk at the same time and interrupt each other means that we can communicate the way we do in person. The phone allows our words and ideas to overlap, mingle, and amplify one another. Instant messaging and texting mimic this—but it’s not the same.
- When you need to send a harsh email, you can soften the blow (or distance yourself from it) by calling first with advance warning. (”I just wanted you to know that I’m going to be sending you a formal email letting you know that your bid wasn’t successful. I value our relationship and hope that we can speak tomorrow, after you’ve read it.”)
The next time you find yourself scrolling toward Send, ask yourself if the benefits of voice-to-voice don’t outweigh the ease of email … then reach for the dial pad.
posted in category(s): Who We're Reading, Worth Reading
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