Should you send e-mail, make a phone call, or have a face-to-face meeting? We put a fun twist on our tips that will help you choose the right communication tool. Listen & read more here.
The BIGG Successs Show
The Communication Debate: E-mail, Phone, Or Face Time?
Welcome to our 23rd Big Success Show. Today, we'll talk about the communication debate. How to use the right contact method at the right time. The Big Success Show with George and Mary Lynn. So, today, we want to talk about how to use the right contact method. And specifically, we're talking about when do you use email, when do you use phone, and when should you use face-to-face? We're going to put a fun little twist on this here in just a little bit. So, first, let's just talk about communication and why it's so important. Are you saying our communication is twisted? Yes. Okay. Well, a good communicator, I think, is kind of like a surgeon. You know, surgeon has all of these tools available to him or her. And what they do is, they're very good at using the right tool at the right time. And we want to be the same way with our communication. So there's three things you should think about when selecting a method of contact. First of all, know your audience, I had a manager once, his pet peeve was email. He said, "Look, my door is open. Walk down the hall and talk to me." So certain people prefer certain methods. So don't necessarily think about what's convenient for you. Think about the person you're communicating with and what they want. And the next point would be to consider the subject. You know, some subjects are simple, very easily communicated via email. But when we get into more complex subject matter, usually, we're better off if we go towards the phone or in person, as opposed to just email. Which brings us to point three, which is think effectiveness. If you're going to be emailing back and forth all day, but yet you might be able to get this whole thing taken care of in a five-minute conversation, obviously that's the most effective way to do it. That's right. And so you want to focus on not what's fastest, but what's most effective. You want the result. All right. Let's put our fun little big success twist on this whole thing and illustrate with some situations. And what we're really going to do is we're going to talk about when do I want to see your lovely face? When would it be good to hear your sexy voice? Yeah, baby. Or when can you just email me? All right. So let's start with this one. You need a response, but not immediate. Just email me. Hey, what's that noise? Take your inbox. Okay. Next, if you need an immediate response in order to move forward, let me hear your sexy voice. Yeah, baby. Let's say you want to present an idea. I want to see your lovely face. And if you want to follow up on a meeting or an interview, you can just email me. You need to discuss a delicate situation. Don't wimp out. Let me see your lovely face. Ah, gorgeous. You need to talk to me and I'm a very busy person. Let me hear your sexy voice. Yeah, baby. You need to negotiate a deal. Let me see your lovely face. And you know, the thing is, Marilyn, I think the bottom line is, as a default, email is great, because email is the least invasive. The most invasive obviously is face to face. But the thing we have to understand is email sacrifices the richness. Face to face is the most rich. So let's review. Today we talked about the three methods of contact and when you should use each one. There are times when I need to see your lovely face. At other times, I just want to hear your sexy voice. Yeah, baby. And still other times, just email me. You can get a written summary of today's show on our blog at Big Success. That's bigwith2gsuccess.com. Let's get our big quote for the day. Our quote today comes from Lee Iacocca who said, "You can have brilliant ideas. But if you can't get them across, your ideas won't get you anywhere." So get it right, use the right communication method at the right time for the right crowd in the right way. Five rights can't be wrong. Next time we're going to talk about what to do in a co-worker bad mouse view. How should you confront this difficult situation? I'm thinking it's going to be a lovely face to face confrontation, huh? Until then, here's to your big success. Big Success.com. [MUSIC] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO]