E-Mail Alternatives: One-On-One Communication
When is a phone conversation the best form of business communication?
Picking up the phone for business communication is good when you can reach someone and you want to talk about something in a synchronous time frame. In other words, if you know you can pick up the phone, call them first thing in the morning when they're in their office, and you can have a business conversation about something that you can probably handle in a 2-minute telephone conversation live, synchronous and back-and-forth to one another. This is compared to e-mail which is asynchronous, as you can have that some business conversation but it may take 2 to 3 weeks worth of e-mails because of the asynchronous nature of e-mail compared to how quick it is with a phone call.
When is leaving a voice-mail the best form of business communication?
The most appropriate time to use voicemail would be when you need to express some vocal inflection. In other words, you want to show your excitement, or your disappointment through your business communication . You can easily hear it in the tone of someone when they say “Congratulations, we've hit our numbers”, or “Hey, we really need to pick it up, the numbers aren't as strong as they should be”. I could type that message, but it wouldn't be perceived the same way as when you hear my voice through a voicemail.
How do I leave an effective business voice-mail?
When moving business communication to phone compared e-mail, the difference there is that the phone business communication is going to be picked up by voicemail most of the time. Seventy percent of the time we pick up the phone and we're going to get voicemail. Most of us pick up the phone and think we're going to get a person, but in reality we get voicemail. So again, voicemail suffers from very similar things business e-mail does, such as starting off with "Hi, Ben, this is Tim... I'm not... I'm going to be late... " You sort of ramble, and then you realize what you're going to talk about so you get to the end, but at that point you're speaking really fast and you leave your phone number really quickly, and that's how most business communications via voicemails take place. Knowing when you pick up the phone that you're going to get voicemail, you should leave your telephone number first, speak slower in the beginning and convey a short, concise business message with the action up front, and then finish with the close.
When is 'texting' the best form of business communication?
Texting in the business arena really should be avoided, because most of us are not texting in that environment. When we're texting on cell phones and that sort of application, trying to bring text into the e-mail arena is often difficult. There's no reason to text if you've got ten fingers and you've got a QWERTY keyboard with all the keys, indeed you should use them all. Text messaging is more appropriate for cell phone and text messaging some personal messages to friends and family and that sort of stuff. Texting is not appropriate for business communication really then at all.
When is using 'instant messenger' programs the best form of business communication?
Instant messaging in the business arena has really emerged over the last several years, and is growing within corporations. It's an excellent vehicle when used appropriately. An instant message should be, just as it says, an instant message, something short, something something brief, such as can you make next Tuesdays meeting, yes or no? When you start to put more into instant messaging, you're borderlining the area so that maybe you should move that business communication to an email or some other kind of conversation. Now, beyond instant messaging, if it's a business conversation that you need right away and some people have their instant messaging turned off, then perhaps the cell phone becomes appropriate. So, e-mail is your first call for business communication, then instant messaging, and then if urgently-needed right away, the cell phone maybe is the best way to go.
