I Love Phone Calls and You Should Too.
We find ourselves more remotely connected than ever before. A lot of hypotheses have been confirmed about the future of our working conditions. Many of us will continue to work from home indefinitely. The need for mega-offices, parking garages, and over-priced lunch spots will prove less and less valuable over time.
Our communication styles have flipped overnight to video conferences and Slack messages. One communication method that has seen a resurgence (or at least should) is the phone call.
As a small business owner and soloist, it’s essential that I get to know as many of my potential clients as possible. I don’t have a call center or a team that does outreach for me. I need to get in as many conversations and be able to create a rapport quickly.
1. Phone calls expose our Humanity
Email and Slack have made introverts out of all of us. We are able to hide behind well-crafted and spellchecked messaging that reflects what we want the world to see. Even an LOL doesn’t do justice to actual laughter aloud. But why am I concerned about this? Email and Slack enable us to communicate quickly and effectively across the globe in an instant. But at what cost?
The problem is that they haven’t invented a font for sarcasm.
The phone call exposes our humanity by exposing our flaws. Robo-spammers send mass emails to millions of customers — a phone call forces a one-on-one interaction. And with a realtime conversation comes realtime mistakes and imperfections. We are all chasing after being more “authentic”. I would argue that hearing someone’s voice; someone’s nervousness is about as real as it gets.
2. The phone call is information-dense and lifts the fog
I’m not a writer by nature and to fully explain my life’s history, purpose and expectations in written form take hours to compile. Over a phone call, I’m able to communicate this in about 3 minutes. What’s lost via email or text are the hundreds of human emotions and body language cues. Tone and vibe being the two most important factors.
What I’m hoping out of a phone conversation is to pick up on the subtleties of personality, interest in working together and how they handle creating a first impression. By the tone of their voice, I can tell if they're distracted, checked out, or genuinely excited to talk with someone new. The fog is lifted.
3. Phone calls lead to action
When you’re looking to help someone else in the world, sending an email or DM is a subtle start. I feel strongly that what I do can help creative small businesses and the last thing I want to do is gently tap them on the shoulder once. I have to interrupt their day and say, “Look, I have the life raft. Get in!”
And if they don’t want help, I want to hear it from them. Why delay the truth if we’re not afraid of it?
We can’t automate ourselves on a phone call — it requires us fully being conscious, listening and speaking in real-time. An email is easily ignored.
Cheers,
Jordan P. Anderson
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