James Siminoff

The email excuse

I think that email has brought great productivity to the world and specifically to my life.  In fact PhoneTag was built as a application on top of email so I have a lot to be thankful of when it comes to the invention of email.

However email has made us sometimes forget about a more powerful communications tool, the telephone.  How many times have you heard directly or overheard, “I emailed them but they did not get back to me yet.”  My response to that is and always will be “Get them on the f*cking telephone.”

The telephone is one of the best ways of communicating when you truly need to get something done.  It not only allows for real time interaction but also lets you hear the emotion of the other side.  This is especially important when you are working with people/vendors that have a critical impact on your success.

Just as an anecdote, the number one way that debt collectors get their money is by reaching the debtor on the phone.  Even though in reality the debtor can just hang up as easily as they throw away the notice that comes in the mail, they don’t.

Email, SMS, IM, and every other acronym for communication tools are great.  Just don’t forget about the dumb old telephone as it is still one of the best apps ever built.