In the new service economy, the push for automated communications, heightened productivity and maximized profits has compelled most companies to blindly accept, rather than resist, change.
Consequently, too many consumers encounter frustrating communications quandaries that leave them wondering whether to leave a voice mail, send a fax or e-mail, or contact another company, hoping to connect with a live person.
That’s why a precious few entrepreneurs purposely avoid using automated, electronic and cybernetic technologies to communicate with customers.
“Voice mail, e-mail, fax and other communication methods have become standard in today’s business environment, but these technologies have created a whole new set of advantages for businesses but disadvantages for customers,” says W. Rod Covey, president of Covey & Koons Inc., a Canton-based advertising, marketing and public relations firm.
Leslie Ungar, president of Electric Impulse Inc., a presentations training and communications coaching company in Akron, says that today’s messaging technologies actually inconvenience customers.
“When you think about who is actually inconvenienced, it’s unfortunate,” says Ungar.
More important, she says, such communications methods rob companies of opportunities to enhance customer relationships.
“That’s the danger of these technologies,” she says. “They’re wonderful if you’re using them to confirm things — a price, an appointment or receipt of something. But since connecting is based on conversation, you’re missing out on opportunities to enhance and cement relationships when you’re sending e-mails or leaving voice mails.
Edward Hopson, a business loan broker and founder and managing director of Enterprise Capital & Business Advisors Inc. in Akron, confides that a local bank’s reliance upon such messaging methods incited him to stop doing business with that financial institution.
“A couple of years ago, they started notifying me via e-mail of my declined client loans. But when a client is turned down for something like a lack of collateral, insufficient cash flow or not enough industry experience, that information should never be faxed or e-mailed,” he says, referring to the sensitivity and security of financial transactions.
“You never know if someone else might retrieve the fax or if someone else is monitoring the boss’s e-mails.”
Hopson’s financial industry experience has taught him that some things are better left unsaid unless they’re communicated in person. As an advocate in the borrowing process, he’s focusing on face time, phone conversations and secure, personalized, hand-delivered communications.
And when it comes to voice mail, Hopson says he tries to avoid it entirely.
“Instead of voice mail, I’ll use my cell phone to touch base with clients. My goal is to make it easy for clients to reach me, and the easier they can do that, the easier my job is — because I don’t have to keep calling them back and getting stuck in their voice mail,” he laughs.
Covey says that when clients call Covey & Koons, they reach a live person — not a superfluous recorded message.
“Today’s messaging technologies are making two-way communications a thing of the past, because people are hiding behind voice mail and computer monitors where there’s no eye contact, no telling body language, no small-talk, no handshake and no way to ask questions for further explanation,” he says. “But we need personal contact, because working together successfully is based on shaking hands and two-way communications.”
How to reach:Covey & Koons Inc., (330) 456-4901; Electric Impulse Inc., (330) 668-6569; Enterprise Capital & Business Advisors Inc., (330) 374-7828
